Davis & Gruber 2021, Leg stiffness, joint stiffness and running-related injury

Prospective cohort study in Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine: 49 recreational runners (98 legs), baseline 3D lab gait assessment followed by up to a year of weekly injury tracking (2,742 person-weeks). About 30% of legs sustained a running-related injury. Leg stiffness, ankle stiffness and knee stiffness showed no significant association with injury rate; except at extreme values the hazard-ratio confidence intervals stayed below 2.0. The authors conclude that leg and joint stiffness are probably not important drivers of running injury, and that the modest stiffness changes produced by gait retraining are unlikely to raise injury risk. Open access.