Focus of a Running Schedule and Risk of Running Injuries

NCT ID: NCT02349373

Last Updated: 2018-02-06

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 839 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2015-04-30
• Study Completion Date: 2017-10-31

Brief Summary

Running is a natural part of human locomotion and humans have been running for million of years. In modern society, running has become a popular way of exercise and is undertaken by many people worldwide, possibly because it provides a cheap and easily accessible form of exercise, and the positive effects of running on health and fitness are well known. Unfortunately, running is also associated with a high risk of injury.

The purpose of this project is to investigate how a running schedule which focuses either on running distance or running speed influence the overall risk of injury and the types of injury sustained in recreational runners.

Detailed Description

Trails directed at investigating differences in injury risk in relation to the focus of the running schedule have been conducted without any firm conclusions. People engaged in recreational running or choosing running as a new and active lifestyle needs guidance on which running schedules minimize the injury risk, aiding their chance of an active lifestyle and possibly reversing the increase in people developing a lifestyle disease. To develop running schedules minimizing the risk of injury, an understanding of the mechanisms that the different training variables impose on the human body is necessary. The existing literature on running intensity and the development of injuries show conflicting result. More studies are necessary to ascertain if there is a relationship between the intensity of running. In such studies, it is important to include other training variables in the analysis and to quantify running exposure using an objective method of measuring the relative intensity and absolute volume.

Conditions

Running Related Injuries

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Preconditioning running

An 8 week preconditioning period. The variables of interest are running distance and running intensity: running speed \>80% VO2max (maximal oxygen uptake).

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

An 8 week preconditioning period

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Receipt of a weekly running schedule through an online training diary.

Follow-up period

The Volume group progress 23% in total weekly running distance in the last adaptation week in the prior 4 week block.

The Intensity group progress 23% in weekly distance of running above 80% VO2 max (maximal oxygen uptake), based on the distance of running above 80% VO2max in the last adaptation week in the prior 4 week block.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

16 week training period

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Receipt of a weekly running schedule through an online training diary.

Interventions

An 8 week preconditioning period

Receipt of a weekly running schedule through an online training diary.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

16 week training period

Receipt of a weekly running schedule through an online training diary.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• on average 1-3 weekly running sessions the past 6 months
• owns a pair of running shoes
• internet access and mail address
• owns a Garmin GPS watch (pulse rate watch) or an IPhone/Android phone

Exclusion Criteria

• previous injury in lower extremity within the past 6 months
• unable to follow the running regime in 6 consecutive months
• do not want to use GPS (Global Positioning System) watch or Android/Smart phone to register training
• unable to read or understand Danish
• deprecated by personal GP (General Practitioner) to run due to former surgery or physical disease
• mental condition that does not allow participation (e.g. externalizing behaviors, dementia)
• pregnancy
• participants with blood pressure above normal according to WHO guidelines will need to consult own GP (General Practitioner) for approval

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 65 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

University of Aarhus

OTHER

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Northern Orthopaedic Division, Denmark

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Sten Rasmussen, M.D.

Role: STUDY_CHAIR

Aalborg University Hospital

Daniel R. Joergensen, PhD student

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of Aarhus

Locations

Clinic for Neuro- and Orthopaedic Diseases, Aalborg University Hospital

Aalborg, , Denmark

Countries

Denmark

References

Ramskov D, Nielsen RO, Sorensen H, Parner E, Lind M, Rasmussen S. The design of the run Clever randomized trial: running volume, -intensity and running-related injuries. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2016 Apr 23;17:177. doi: 10.1186/s12891-016-1020-0.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 27107810 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

N-20140069

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id