Background/Purpose Relationships in leg length, stride length and cadence have been investigated in children walking; limited research exists examining these characteristics and when they stabilize in children with normal running gaits. This study's purpose was to describe relationships between these variables in elementary school children running 400 meters.
Method Participants were 314 students in two elementary schools (K-6) who ran 400 m at a self-selected speed wearing pedometers.
Analysis/Results Leg length did not correlate strongly with stride length (r2 = 0.09) or stride frequency (r2 = 0.08). Stride length had a small negative association with stride frequency (r2 = 0.09), but accounted for 54% of the variance in course time (r = -0.737). Stride frequency was less related to time (r2 = 0.14). Regression predicted the dependent variable, course time, with the independent variables, stride length and stride frequency, which accounted for 93% of the variance in running time (adjusted R2 = 0.927, p=.001). Stride length (standardized â = -0.929) was a stronger predictor of running time than stride frequency (â = -0.650). Stride length correlated strongly with running speed (r2 = 0.76, p < 0.001), which increased (0.2 m•sec-1 yr-1) between the ages of 4 and 6 years, and more slowly (<0.1 m•sec-1•yr-1) from 7 to 12 years.
Conclusions Results suggest that running gait appears to stabilize by age 7. Participants increased speed by 25% between the ages of 5 and 12 years. It appears that more than a third of the expected change in running speed occurs before the onset of puberty.