Marathon running may be associated with foot muscle damage, arch height changes
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Key takeaways:
- Marathon running was associated with extrinsic foot muscle damage.
- Marathon running was also associated with changes in longitudinal foot arch height.
Published results showed that marathon running may be associated with extrinsic foot muscle damage and changes to longitudinal foot arch height.
“These results suggest that the damage induced by prolonged running was less prominent in the intrinsic foot muscles than in the extrinsic muscles,” Mako Fukano, MD, of the College of Engineering at Shibaura Institute of Technology in Japan, and colleagues wrote in a study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.
Fukano and colleagues utilized MRI to evaluate intrinsic and extrinsic foot muscle damage, as well as longitudinal foot arch height changes in 22 collegiate runners following the completion of a marathon. Researchers measured the transverse relaxation time (T2) of the abductor hallucis (ABH), flexor digitorum brevis (FDB), quadratus plantae (QP), flexor digitorum longus (FDL), tibialis posterior (TP) and flexor hallucis longus (FHL) both before the marathon and at 1, 3 and 8 days after the marathon.
Fukano and colleagues found that T2 measurements for QP, FDL, TP and FHL significantly increased on day 1 after the marathon. The T2 measurements of TP continued to increase up to day 3 after the marathon, according to results. In addition, researchers found a direct correlation between T2 changes in FDL and FHL with corresponding longitudinal foot arch height ratio.
“This study demonstrated that marathon-induced damages appear as T2 increase in the FDL, TP, FHL and QP, and can provide the basis for developing better recovery schemes focusing on these muscles before resuming daily training for runner’s conditioning and/or injury prevention,” the authors wrote in the study.
References:
- Fukano M, et al. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2023;doi:10.1111/sms.14377.
- Ready, set, go: New study shows how marathon running affects different foot muscles. https://www.newswise.com/articles/marathons-impact-foot-muscles-new-study?sc=dwhr&xy=10007438. Published May 23, 2023. Accessed May 30, 2023.
Perspective
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The study by Mako Fukano and colleagues investigating leg and foot muscle damage in marathoners is fascinating. Studies indicating that strengthening of the runner’s intrinsic foot muscles can reduce running-related injuries have helped to improve awareness in both runners and clinicians of the often overlooked muscles’ critical functions. Their somewhat surprising discovery of higher post-marathon extrinsic muscular damage than intrinsic seems to contradict the popular perception that intrinsic muscular failure is the precursor to arch collapse and foot injury in runners. This finding reminds all of us that, although intrinsic muscular function is critical to the endurance runner’s foot health, our understanding of the exact mechanisms by which these perform that function is not yet fully understood. By establishing a benchmark for comparison, Fukano and his research team have provided an exceptional opportunity for future investigators to evaluate the respective roles of, and the potential for injury to, the foot’s intrinsic and extrinsic muscles during running.
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Fukano M, et al. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2023;doi:10.1111/sms.14377.
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