Running Biomechanics and Metabolic Power Across Four Heel-Toe Drop Levels

20 runners were studied running at 3.5 m/s in custom footwear with heel-toe drops of 0, 10, 20, and 30 mm. The dataset likely contains biomechanical and metabolic measurements from this experiment, authored by Kaleigh Renninger and published on figshare in May 2026. A 1.6% reduction in net metabolic power was observed when changing from a 20 mm to a 0 mm heel-toe drop.

Use Cases

• Modeling the relationship between shoe heel-toe drop and net metabolic power based on the reported effect sizes.
• Analyzing the impact of heel-toe drop on ankle plantarflexion angle and medial gastrocnemius fascicle length.
• Investigating how shoe geometry influences knee moments and vertical ground reaction forces during running.

Strengths

• Experimental design controlled for shoe model and mass, isolating the effect of heel-toe drop.
• Includes specific statistical results (η²ₚ and p-values) for multiple biomechanical and metabolic variables.
• Provides a clear, actionable conclusion for runners based on the metabolic findings.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset is small (41.5 KB), indicating limited scope or a summary dataset rather than raw observations.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Experimental study of 20 runners in controlled laboratory conditions.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-22 18:46:39; freshness should be verified.