Effects of a Combined Proprioceptive and Kinesthetic Awareness Intervention on Running Efficiency in Full-Time Army National Guard Soldiers (Poster)

Running is a ubiquitous modality of fitness in the Armed Forces.Musculoskeletal injuries account for 65 percent of the Medically non-deployable forcein the United States Army and has been reported as nearly 60 percent of themechanisms resulting in limited duty status for Soldiers. Injury rates of runners rangefrom 17.8 incidents per 1000 hours to 7.7 incidents per 1000 hours depending onrunners’ experience level. The running strategy of heel striking has been seen inupwards of 85 percent of the population and has been suggested to not only decreasemovement efficiency but also to increase injury rates for runners. It has been posedthat running form strategy can be modified through intervention addressing bothkinesthetic awareness and proprioception. If injury rates can be decreased throughmodification of running form, then it is reasonable to infer that long-term adaptationin running form could increase readiness and deployability of the Armed Forces.