Current Pedorthics | March-April 2019 | Vol.51, Issue 2 | Page 19

Differences and mechanisms "Girls and young adults typically wear a variety of athletic footwear when running. On the basis of previously published criteria, athletic shoes are usually classified as ‘stability’ or ‘neutral’ shoes." an increased perpendicular distance (mm) from the knee joint centre (KJC) to GRF vector (i.e., the knee-GRF lever arm), resulting in higher peak KFM; however, this notion is yet to be confirmed. Likewise, the sagittal plane resultant GRF magnitude may also be influenced by footwear [24] , and thus may be another potential contributor to alterations in the peak KFM. Hence, lower limb kinematics, the knee-GRF lever arm and sagittal plane resultant GRF magnitude are likely relevant variables to explore as potential mechanisms underpinning changes in peak KFM observed with footwear during running. The primary aim of this study was to examine differences in running-related peak KFM between barefoot, stability and neutral footwear in adolescent girls and young women spanning early to post-puberty. A secondary aim was to determine whether the knee-GRF lever arm, sagittal plane resultant GRF magnitude and sagittal-plane kinematics (i.e., hip flexion angle, knee flexion angle, ankle dorsiflexion angle all at time of peak KFM, knee flexion excursion and knee flexion angle at initial contact) were associated with the change in peak KFM between footwear conditions. The primary hypothesis was that both the stability Current Pedorthics | March/April 2019 17