Intrasession and Intersession Reliability of Running Mechanics during Treadmill Sprints

Olivier Girard (1) , Franck Brocherie (1, 2) , Jean-Benoît Morin (3) , Grégoire P Millet (1)

1 UNIL - Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne
2 SEP (EA7370) - French Institute of Sport (INSEP), Laboratory Sport, Expertise and Performance (EA7370)
3 LIBM - Laboratoire Interuniversitaire de Biologie de la Motricité

To determine the intrasession and intersession (ie, within-and between-days) reliability in treadmill sprinting-performance outcomes and associated running mechanics. Methods: After familiarization, 13 male recreational sportsmen (team-and racket-sport background) performed three 5-s sprints on an instrumented treadmill with 2 min recovery on 3 different days, 5–7 d apart. Intrasession (comparison of the 3 sprints of the first session) and intersession (comparison of the average of the 3 sprints across days) reliability of performance, kinetics, kinematics, and spring-mass variables were assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficients of variation (CV%). Results: Intrasession reliability was high (ICC > .94 and CV < 8%). Inter-session reliability was good for performance indices (.83 < ICC < .89 and CV < 10%, yet with larger variability for mean velocity than for distance covered or propulsive power) and kinetic parameters (ICC > .94 and CV < 5%, yet with larger variability for mean horizontal forces than for mean vertical forces) and ranged from good to high for all kinematic (.88 < ICC < .95 and CV ≤ 3.5%) and spring-mass variables (.86 < ICC < .99 and CV ≤ 6.5%). Compared with intrasession, minimal detectable differences were on average twice larger for intersession designs, except for sprint kinetics. Conclusion: Instrumented treadmill sprint offers a reliable method of assessing running mechanics during single sprints either within the same session or between days.

Mots clés: sprint performance; reproducibility; between sessions; within session; kinetics; kinematics

Domaines: Sport; Analyse du geste sportif

Olivier Girard, Franck Brocherie, Jean-Benoît Morin, Grégoire P Millet. Intrasession and Intersession Reliability of Running Mechanics during Treadmill Sprints. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2016, 11 (4), pp.432-439. ⟨10.1123/ijspp.2015-0145⟩. ⟨hal-01627097⟩