Asymmetries during repeated treadmill sprints in elite female Rugby Sevens players

Abstract

This study describes asymmetry in the main running mechanical variables during repeated treadmill sprints in elite female athletes and examines whether inter-limb differences in sprinting mechanics increase with fatigue. Eighteen elite female players (French national Rugby Sevens team) performed 8 × 5-s sprints (25-s rest) on an instrumented motorised sprint treadmill. The group mean ‘symmetry angle’ (SA) scores were ~1–2% for contact time (1.6 ± 0.6%), aerial time (2.1 ± 0.8%), step frequency (1.3 ± 0.5%) and step length (1.6 ± 0.6%). Mean vertical and horizontal forces, vertical and leg stiffness presented SA values of 1.7 ± 1.5%, 2.4 ± 1.2%, 2.6 ± 0.2% and 2.5 ± 0.2%, respectively. The SA scores were ~2–8% for duration of braking (6.9 ± 5.0%) and propulsive (6.5 ± 4.4%) phases, peak braking (6.5 ± 2.5%) and propulsive (1.6 ± 0.9%) forces as well as net (5.8 ± 5.6%), braking (7.7 ± 5.3%) and propulsive (2.7 ± 1.6%) impulses. However, there was no influence of sprint repetition number on SA scores for tested variables (P > 0.05). In elite female Rugby Sevens players, there was no noticeable difference in asymmetries for the great majority of stride mechanical variables during repeated treadmill sprints.