We investigated the relationship between mechanical and energy cost of transport and body mass in running humans. Ten severely obese (body mass ranging from 108.5 to 172.0 kg) and 15 normal-weighted (52.0-89.0 kg) boys and men, aged 16.0-45.8 years, participated in this study. The rate of O(2) consumption was measured and the subjects were filmed with four cameras for kinematic analysis, while running on a treadmill at 8 km h(-1). Mass specific energy cost (C (r)) and external mechanical work (W (ext)) per unit distance were calculated and expressed in joules per kilogram per meter, efficiency (η) was then calculated as W (ext) × C (r) (-1) × 100. Both mass-specific C (r) and W (ext) were found to be independent of body mass (M) (C (r) = 0.002 M + 3.729, n = 25, R (2) = 0.05; W (ext) = -0.001 M + 1.963, n = 25, R (2) = 0.01). It necessarily follows that the efficiency is also independent of M (η = -0.062 M + 53.3298, n = 25, R (2) = 0.05). The results strongly suggest that the elastic tissues of obese subjects can adapt (e.g., thickening) to the increased mass of the body thus maintaining their ability to store elastic energy, at least at 8 km h(-1) speed, at the same level as the normal-weighted subjects.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 September 2026.
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#10,096,573
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#2,146
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#63,835
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Outputs of similar age from European Journal of Applied Physiology
#8
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Altmetric has tracked 34,311,960 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 70th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,498 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.3. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 34 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its contemporaries.
