Effect of Running Shoe Cushioning on Muscle Activation using OpenSim

This study aimed to investigate the differences between muscle force generated by hard and soft cushioned running shoes during running. Six healthy Malaysian male amateur runners were recruited into this study (age: $29.67 \pm 3.44$ years; height: $170.32 \pm 3.36$ cm; body mass: $68.23 \pm 4.90$ kg). Participants ran on the instrumented treadmill with embedded force plates at fixed speed of 12km/h. Running gait models were developed using open-source software – OpenSim, and muscle activations were estimated using the static optimization method. Pearson’s Correlation analysis was used to determine the correlation between simulated and experimental surface EMG data. Strong significant linear correlation was found in biceps femoris, rectus femoris and lateral gastrocnemius, while moderate significant linear correlation was found in tibialis anterior. Independent-sample t-test was used to investigate the differences between the muscle activation while run at hard and soft cushioned shoes. Results demonstrated that there were significant differences found in the rectus femoris (10-30%, p $\lt0.001$; 40-60%, p=0.014). However, there is no significant differences been found in the biceps femoris, lateral gastrocnemius and tibialis anterior between the hard and soft cushioning groups. Further analysis on the effect of shoe cushioning can be studied as the running distance increases.