ABSTRACT
Running is one of the most popular leisure sports activities (van Mechelen, 1992). However, when doing this activity, runners usually experience impact force due to the collision of the foot with the ground. Impact force has been evaluated to be approximately 2.5 times the runner’s body weight in distance running (Cavanagh and Lafortune, 1980). High injury rates have been found in examined runners. The recorded injury rate per 1,000 hours of training is 2.5 in long-distance/marathon runners and 5.6–5.8 in sprinters and middle-distance runners (Lysholm and Wiklander, 1987). A 12-month follow-up survey participated in by 1,680 runners showed that 48 per cent of them experienced at least one musculoskeletal injury (Walter et al., 1989).
