Hydraulic turbine runners, which operate under a wide range of heads and outputs, are subjected to considerable dynamic forces at off design conditions. Therefore a detailed knowledge of mean and fluctuating pressures is required for a safe design of the runner. A special technique has been developed at EPFL-IMHEF Laboratory for Hydraulic Machines in Lausanne, Switzerland, to measure the pressures on the blade of a model runner with miniature piezo-resistive pressure transducers. It has been successfully used in the Voith Hydro Laboratory during the model test of a large Francis turbine. Typical results are presented and discussed, together with their transposition to prototype conditions and application in the dynamic stress and fatigue analysis of the runner.