Each year, 50% of runners suffer from injuries. Consequently, more studies are being published about running biomechanics; these studies identify factors that can help prevent injuries. Scientific evidence suggests that recreational runners should use personalized biomechanical training plans, not only to improve their performance, but also to prevent injuries caused by the inability of amateur athletes to tolerate increased loads, and/or because of poor form. This study provides an overview of the different normative patterns of lower limb muscle activation and articular ranges of the pelvis during running, at self-selected speeds, in men and women. Methods: 38 healthy runners aged 18 to 49 years were included in this work. We examined eight muscles by applying two wearable superficial electromyography sensors and an inertial sensor for three-dimensional (3D) pelvis kinematics. Results: the largest differences were obtained for gluteus maximus activation in the first double float phase (p = 0.013) and second stance phase (p = 0.003), as well as in the gluteus medius in the second stance phase (p = 0.028). In both cases, the activation distribution was more homogeneous in men and presented significantly lower values than those obtained for women. In addition, there was a significantly higher percentage of total vastus medialis activation in women throughout the running cycle with the median (25th–75th percentile) for women being 12.50% (9.25–14) and 10% (9–12) for men. Women also had a greater range of pelvis rotation during running at self-selected speeds (p = 0.011). Conclusions: understanding the differences between men and women, in terms of muscle activation and pelvic kinematic values, could be especially useful to allow health professionals detect athletes who may be at risk of injury.

Introduction: Monopodal jumping is a common gesture in daily life and sports. In the Landing Phase (LF), potential energy is absorbed from the tridimensional stability of the Lower Limb (LH). This stability depends on neuromuscular strategies that include factors such as Muscle Preactivation Times (MAT) and the Sequence of Participation (SP) of the muscle groups. The alteration of TPA has been pointed out as a factor of possible injury. The aim of this study was to determine the preactivation times and participation sequence of the gluteus medius, adductor magnus, rectus femoris, vastus medialis quadriceps, biceps femoris longus, semimembranosus and soleus muscles during the monopodal jump landing in university students. At the same time, we sought to determine the existence or not of significant differences between men and women. Materials and methods: Twenty-six young adults, 16 women and 10 men, participated. An inertial sensor and 7 surface electrodes were used to collect electromyographic data in the gluteus medius, rectus femoris and vastus medialis quadriceps, semimembranosus, biceps femoris long head, soleus and adductor magnus muscles. Results: The general activation sequence was Vastus medialis -Biceps femoris longus - Adductor magnus - Gluteus medius - Rectus femoris -Semimembranosus and soleus. The data obtained reflects the activation prior to ground contact of all the muscles studied. There were differences between genders. Women presented a previous activation in all muscles with the exception of the gluteus medius. The muscles with the greatest variability were the adductor magnus in men and the rectus femoris in women. Conclusion: The significant differences found between men and women show that there are trends that can be the beginning to better understand the risk factors for injury generation. The TPA data presented a great variability which could reflect the existence of different activation patterns and not a unique behavior of the MMII musculature.