The mechanical response to hockey-specific running gait: implications for the objective monitoring of (p)rehabilitation.

Field hockey is characterized by a unique dribbling position which has been associated with a prevalence of low back pain and lumbar injury. To quantify the biomechanical response of the hockey-specific running gait, twelve field hockey players completed treadmill running at speeds of 6, 9 and 12 km·hr-1 with a normal running gait and whilst manipulating the hockey stick to replicate dribbling. Mechanical loading was quantified using tri-axial accelerometery at L4, and muscular activity was measured for biceps femoris (BF), gluteus medius (GM) and quadratus lumborum (QL) of each limb. Running with the stick elicited greater mechanical loading in the medio-lateral (p = 0.001) and antero-posterior (p = 0.003) planes, and increased peak (p = 0.004) and mean (p = 0.002) EMG response of QL (p = 0.004). The greater planar mechanical loading and QL activation in response to hockey-specific running technique support epidemiological observations of lower back pain prevalence. The sensitivity of uni-axial mechanical loading to the hockey-specific running posture provides an efficacious means of objectively monitoring mechanical loading in-vivo, whilst the QL activation response has implications for (p)rehabilitative interventions. Running posture and speed can be considered as discrete progressions when considering training load.