RCT in 320 novice runners: 2 weeks of gait retraining with real-time visual feedback aimed at lowering impact loading cut loading rates (d > 0.99) and was followed by 16% vs 38% running injury over 12 months (HR 0.38, 95% CI 0.25-0.59, 62% lower risk) versus treadmill running without feedback
Novice runners had a baseline biomechanics test on an instrumented treadmill in their usual shoes at 8 and 12 km/h, were randomised to 2 weeks of gait retraining with real-time visual feedback or to the same treadmill time without feedback, were retested, and were tracked for 12 months on an online injury surveillance platform.
Participants
n=320 novice runners completed the study: 166 gait retraining, 154 control.
Protocol
Retraining: 2 weeks, real-time visual feedback aimed at lowering impact loading; control: treadmill running, no feedback; identical training time.
Outcome: vertical loading rates after training; running-related musculoskeletal injury over 12 months.
Key Results
Injury over 12 months: 16% with gait retraining vs 38% in controls; HR 0.38 (95% CI 0.25-0.59), 62% lower risk.
Vertical loading rates fell at both speeds with retraining (P < .001, Cohen's d > 0.99); in controls they were similar or slightly higher (d = 0.03 to -0.14).
Background: up to 85% of novice runners are injured in a given year (as cited by the authors).
Practical Application
For a novice runner, a short block of impact-focused retraining with live feedback is the one intervention here with RCT support for fewer injuries; Inference: the target was lower loading rate ("softer footfalls"), not a forefoot strike.
Inference: without an instrumented treadmill the feedback cannot be copied directly; cues for a quieter landing approximate it but were not tested here.
Limitations
Single club, novice runners; transfer to experienced runners is untested here.
Control group got no feedback, so attention and expectation are not fully matched; injuries self-reported online.
The abstract does not report adherence after the 2 weeks or whether foot strike changed.
How this entry was checked and changed
Why this level
RCT with a clinical injury outcome; single centre, online self-reported surveillance