Whole body dynamic postural control during bend running

Bend running on an indoor track is influenced by differing structural constraints including banking and radii of the curve. Regardless of these constraints, an athlete must preserve whole-body postural control to maintain their running speed. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which banking (banked v flat) and radii (lane 2 v lane 4) of a 200m indoor track influences whole centre of mass (CoM) during sprint running. When running in both lane 2 and lane 4, athletes’ CoM was closer to their inside foot when the track was banked compared to flat (p < 0.05, 0-100% of stance). In conjunction with increased CoM anterior velocity identified for the banked condition (p < 0.05, 0-100% of stance), the findings highlighted banking of the curve to be the preferable structural constraints for whole-body postural control, compared to a flat track.