Our new trainer Daniel Humphries has put together an article to assist you in your training for the Highgate 5K run, hopefully it helps.
Running to some people is not the most enjoyable form of exercise, me included, but it is important to consider a number of different factors when running. One of which has become more prevalent to elite sport-persons and the recreational runner is technique and the biomechanics of running.
The efficiency of your movement, will aid your ability to run and more importantly your ability to avoid injury. Elite athletes like sprinter Usain Bolt through to long distance runner Haile Gabrselassie have spent of lot time correcting their running techniques to make sure their body moves in the most efficient way to make them the best. Running technique or style can be described as the overall action of the body including body angle, arm swing, foot placement, rear leg lift and length of stride.
How Are We Causing Ourselves Injuries By Running Badly?
As we get older it becomes more and more important to consider our technique as we become more susceptible to repetitive strain injuries in our lower limbs. Our body’s ability to work as a shock absorber decreases with age, therefore the body is under greater stress particularly at our joints in our latter years.
Injuries to elite athletes are inevitable also to the recreational runner. Mike Antoniades a speed, conditioning and rehabilitation coach highlights some of the most common reasons for getting running injuries:
• Bouncing up and down too much
• Over striding
• Not using the hamstrings enough
• Landing on feet too heavily
• Breaking action on landing
• Not using arms
• Twist torso side to side while running
• The head and upper body are bent forward
• Jogging slower than they can walk
Other factors that may cause injury outside of technique can be:
• Structural weakness that individual athletes are born with, e.g. Leg length discrepancies and pronation.
• Postural weakness developed through training.
• Poor running surfaces.
• Muscle imbalance developed through training.
• Worn out running shoes and/or spikes, or, a change of shoe brand.
• Overtraining and/or lack of sufficient recovery.
• Chronic repetitions on hard, artificial running surfaces.
Most of these factors as trainers and participants we have control over and can make reasonable adjustments to our training to avoid the potential for injury. If we become biomechanically inefficient we are doing damage to ourselves and also not running effectively.
How You Probably Run Now!
There are a number of different techniques widely used by sport and fitness professionals. The most common being the heel-toe action. The heel-toe action is when the foot lands on the heel, rolls through the foot and pushes off the toes. This action is applied on the grounds of it being safe and efficient yet the neither is true. On closer examination, lower limb injuries have remained constant in runners for the past 30 years, this despite innovations in shoe technology.
If you are running with your heel hitting the floor first with the sole of your foot pointing upwards you are creating a massive amount of force through your body. The greater the speed you are running at, the greater the angle the foot is at, the greater the force generated. Running trainers are usually designed to take this into account and have highly cushioned heels. This design has been found to very inefficient and also work against the normal muscle and tendon functions particularly in the ankle.
On the opposite end is runners with a toe strike action. This is where first contact with the floor is made by the ball of your foot. This has a much longer stride with the leg generating a lot more speed and power through the calves in particular. This has a lot lower impact on the legs particularly at the ankle and knee joints. It is more common to see this technique to be used by sprinters or short distance runners. It is good for beginners to use this technique due to this lower impact and this allows for the muscle to fire in the appropriate order.
So How Should We Be Running?
One proposal for the correct running style is that of the Pose running style. This the medium between the two previous styles talked about. This is where the runner lands with a mid-foot strike pattern and a flexed knee stance with the torso leaning forwards slightly. There should be a vertical alignment from the hips through the knee to the heel in the supporting leg. Pose running has a much shorter stride length with more emphasis going into using gravity to generate power in the stride. This then generates less force through the heel, ankle, knee and hip joints. This technique is less likely to cause common running injuries like Achilles tendinitis, shin splints and calf injuries. This is due to the better shock absorption in the technique but also because the muscles are being used in a similar fashion to that of when you are walking.
If you need some help with your running style, just want to start exercising, or would like more information on what we do at All About You, then feel free to contact us at the studio - 020 8348 9706 or via email david@aayou.co.uk
(1) ARDENSE, R (2004) Reduced Eccentric Loading of the Knee with the Pose Running Method Reduced Eccentric Loading of the Knee with the Pose Running Method, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise: Volume 36(2) February 2004 pp 272-277 [Accessed] http://www.posetech.com/library/dr-02-04-004.html
(2) SICCO A. BUS (2008) Ground Reaction Forces and Kinematics in
Distance Running in Older-Aged Men. Applied Science: Biodynamics. [Accessed] http://faculty.fullerton.edu/gnoffal/Courses/561%20Course/GRF%20running%20-%20Bus.pdf
(3) ANTONIADES, M (2009) Are You Running Properly? [Accessed] http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/health_and_fitness/4286146.stm
(4) BALK, M et al. (2009) Master the Art of Running: Raise Your Performance. Anova Books
(5) ENGLEBRACHT, R (1994) Injuries, Biomechanics and the Implications for the Coach. [Accessed] http://www.athleticscoaching.ca/UserFiles/File/Sport%20Science/Therapy,%20Recovery,%20&%20Restoration/Engelbrecht%20Injuries,%20Biomechanics%20&%20the%20Implications%20for%20The%20Coach.pdf
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