Dr. Eckenrode Studies Arcadia Cross Country Teams, Shares Findings at Inaugural American Physical Therapy Association Orthopedic Conference

Dr. Brian Eckenrode, associate professor of Physical Therapy, presented his research, "Spatiotemporal Characteristic Changes in Collegiate Cross-Country Runners Over a Competitive Season," at the inaugural American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Orthopedic Virtual Conference. The project was completed in conjunction with faculty at Rutgers University's School of Health Professions and Grace Curnow '26, '28DPT.

"This was a brand new scientific meeting that offered multiple sessions across the day," Eckenrode explained. "Educational sessions and research abstracts were presented, with attendees connecting over a dedicated web-based platform to engage with each other and access the different talks. This was a brand new initiative from APTA Orthopedics, and it seemed to go really well from my perspective."

Eckenrode and colleagues collected running biomechanical data on volunteers from Arcadia's men' and women's cross country team during the preseason and postseason to see if there were changes to their running mechanics after a season of training and competition. The researchers collected injury data and mental health surveys over the season to see if there was any correlation between the two. Their findings include:

• Six runners (37.5%) reported a running injury in the fall season..
• Uninjured runners demonstrated a reduction in cadence (steps per minute) from baseline to postseason, while injured runners did not.
• - The researchers believe one theory behind this finding is that the uninjured group could be feeling fatigue from season-long training
• Variability in running cadence across the cross-country season may be associated with a reduced incidence of running-related injuries.

Eckenrode and Curnow connected on the project as Eckenrode was looking for a pre-PT student on the team who would be interested in assisting with data collection and aggregation. Curnow will continue her education and research commitments at Arcadia while pursuing her doctor of physical therapy degree.

"After this project wrapped up data collection, Grace continued to work with me on another project which we just submitted the data for to another conference," Eckenrode said. "She's staying at Arcadia as a DPT student, So hopefully she can continue to assist with some of my research projects over the next two years."