Impact characteristics of female children running in adult versus youth shoes of the same size.

The purpose of this study was to determine if ground reaction forces were influenced by shoe design (adult vs. youth) for female children when running. Subjects (n = 10, 12.0 ± 1.1 years old; 154 ± 4.9 cm; 46.2 ± 14.3 kg; shoe size 3.5-7 youth) were fit with a shoe model available in youth and adult sizes. Subjects ran 10 trials per shoe condition across a force platform placed in the middle of a 9-m runway. Impact force, second maximum force, loading rate, stance time and average vertical ground reaction forces were recorded for each trial. Shoes underwent a mechanical impact test with peak force, peak acceleration, and percent energy returned recorded. Each variable was compared between shoe conditions. From the impact testing, it was determined that peak force, peak acceleration and percent energy return were 7.1%, 7.1%, and 18.9% greater, respectively, for the youth vs. adult shoe (p < .001). From the running tests, it was determined that loading rate was different (p = .009) between shoe conditions whereas impact force, second maximum force, average force and stance time were not different between shoes (p > .01). Young girls had a greater loading rate when running in youth vs. adult shoes even though the shoe size was the same.