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Identify Asymmetries Before They Cause A Running Injury!

November 8, 2024November 13, 2019 by RunLab.US

Why is now the time identify asymmetries before they cause a running injury? Does one side of your body consistently hurt more than the other? You may be suffering from asymmetries that have gone undetected.

Identify asymmetries before they cause an injury in this runner from behind. — Are you able to spot the asymmetries in this runner from behind?

Although asymmetries naturally develop over time due to varying strengths, limiters, injuries, and flexibility variances, it is important to address any underlying biomechanical problems to avoid endlessly chasing injuries. The site of pain may not be the root cause of the problem. It is important to dig a little deeper, and sometimes even look to the opposite limb to identify the issue.

Let’s take a look at Stan. When Stan was in high school, he sprained his ankle playing soccer. It was a mild sprain, so his athletic trainer recommended he take a few weeks off of working out or running. His trainer did not consider rehab, since this was a rather garden variety injury that just needed rest. Stan spent a few weeks watching movies and staying off his injured ankle as much as possible.

As Stan began running again a few weeks later, his gait mechanics had changed slightly to compensate for the injured ankle. His lack of ankle stability caused an inhibited gluteal muscle and decrease in core activation on the weaker side side. Slowly, one leg began moving differently to offload to the stronger muscle groups that were not coming off of an injury. He began flaring out one arm to stabilize his body against the unstable ankle. Over time, this new gait became his new normal. A year later, when he injured his left knee, his body went through a very similar process and built an entirely new gait adaptation layered on top of the old one.

But the time he made it into our clinic it took 3 months of diligent rehab to unravel these patterns and clean up the inefficient movement patterns. These new patterns were now leading him down the road to an additional hip injury, simply due to all of the off-loading behaviors his body had been developing from old injuries.

It is extremely common for runners to have non-functional (anatomical) asymmetries. Slight differences between left and right in bony anatomy are normal, though they can still cause problems. Maybe one tibia is internally rotated more than the left, or one leg is slightly longer than the other. It is important to avoid one leg working harder than the other to the point of break down, and thus causing injury, even due to anatomic variances.

While anatomic variance is normal, it is important to understand where your specific limiters are so that they can be accounted for in training. Usain Bolt, one of the fastest men alive, suffers from scoliosis and an asymmetrical running gait.

What can you do to better understand your body’s unique makeup and identify asymmetries before they cause a running injury?

Test for asymmetry by performing your regular routine, alongside the various exercises discussed in our previous blogs. While performing any movement, be aware of the differences between left and right. Start with balancing on one leg. Are you rock solid on your right leg yet you fall over on your left? How about a lunge? Does one hip feel tighter than the other? Now try going for a long run, does one leg seem to fatigue faster than the other? Continue to challenge your body in various ways and pay attention to your strengths and limiters so you can work through the weak areas in the gym before they become sidelining injuries on the run!

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COM

Outside of the Austin area? You can still have your running stride analyzed by one of the best teams in the country. Just visit WWW.RUNLAB.US to see where our partner filming locations are based or choose the self-film option.

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel

How to Safely Build Endurance as a Runner

November 8, 2024November 6, 2019 by RunLab.US

Ever wonder how to safely build endurance as a runner? If you have been following our blog series, you have been establishing adequate range of motion and mobility. Your balance and stability are now ninja-like…or at least ninja-in-training-like. Now, it’s time to focus on endurance so you can crush your next running goal and continue to improve your running performance. This post is an introduction to endurance and how to safely build endurance as a runner by incorporating non-running exercise into your weekly routine.

As mentioned in previous posts, running is a high-impact exercise. Trading a few running sessions out for low-impact exercises can increase your endurance fitness without adding additional load to your muscles and joints.

What exactly are we talking about when we say “endurance”?

There are two main types of endurance we will focus on to safely build endurance as a runner, cardiovascular and muscular. Cardiovascular endurance means how well our hearts, lungs, arteries, and veins take in, transport, and utilize oxygen. Muscular endurance is related to how many contractions our muscles can perform before they begin to fatigue.

How can you impact your cardiovascular endurance?

By varying intensity levels in each of these cardio exercises, you can start to increase the ability of your heart to have more cardiac output (heart rate x stroke volume). Improving the ability to get oxygenated blood through your body allows your muscles to continue to work at a higher rate. When you first start exercising, your ability to clear out carbon dioxide, shuttle hydrogen ions, and utilize oxygen is not great so your legs start to get “heavy” and fatigue quickly. As you gain cardiovascular fitness, you are better able to clear out that pesky carbon dioxide, shuttle hydrogen ions so they don’t build up in your muscles, and utilize oxygen so you can continue the activity for sustained periods over your previous capacity. If you are interested in learning more about how to create a running program based off of intensity levels, check out Jack Daniels’ “Running Formula”.

Remember, improving cardiovascular endurance means you need to perform exercises that stress the heart. Cardio exercises include things such as running, hiking, cycling, and swimming. Performing these exercises at varying and increasing intensity levels will improve your hearts cardiac output and your heart will become more efficient at pumping oxygenated blood throughout your body. The faster you transport oxygen to your muscles, the better they will feel and perform. Try adding a long bike ride or a swim, or even dancing (try Lindyhop!) into your weekly training plan. You will improve your endurance while challenging your body in a new way, which ultimately helps improve your run.

build muscular endurance as a runner — **Click here for swimming workouts to help build endurance and improve your running.**

Now let’s focus on muscular endurance. Running is essentially a series of single leg hops that you perform over, and over, and over again. In order to get through any distance run, it is vital that your leg muscles have the endurance to continue to contract and relax with each step. In addition to propelling you forward, muscle contractions help the venous system return blood to your heart. The more efficient your muscles are at contracting against the veins to return blood to the heart, the better cardiac output you will have and thus, better endurance. Exercises to improve muscular endurance for running include body weight squats, lunges and pistol squats. Try these pistol squat progressions.

Remember, you will only stick with any exercise program long-term if it’s enjoyable for you! Choose activities that you WANT to spend time doing. Almost any sport can be turned into an endurance workout if done for sustained periods. Rock-climbing, Rollerblading, playing the drums…the list is endless. Be creative and both your run AND your brain will thank you for it.

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COM

Outside of the Austin area? You can still have your running stride analyzed by one of the best teams in the country. Just visit WWW.RUNLAB.US to see where our partner filming locations are based or choose the self-film option.

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel

The Key to a Good Race Photo? Coordination.

November 8, 2024October 30, 2019 by Lorin Wilson

The Key to a Good Race Photo? Coordination. Have you ever looked at your race photos and thought to yourself, “WOW. How did I even finish my race? My body seems to be moving in every direction except forward!” Make your next set of race photos look more graceful by improving your coordination.

When most people hear the word coordination they think of “hand-eye coordination.” These individuals are not wrong. However, when we speak of coordination in the context of running we mean being able to orchestrate the muscles, joints, tendons, and skeleton to execute the desired movement. We develop coordination through challenging our proprioception, kinesthetic awareness, and nervous system.

Proprioception is the mechanism that allows us to know where our body is in space. For example, if you were in a pitch-black room, you would still know where your hands were without having to look at them. Kinesthetic awareness is similar to proprioception but allows us to sense body movements. These mechanisms work by transferring information from our muscles and joints to our brain.

Most individuals have underdeveloped proprioception and kinesthetic awareness and are over-reliant on their visual system to activate their muscles. To test this, balance barefoot on one leg with your eyes open for 30 seconds. Now try the same thing with your eyes closed. If you fell over as soon as you closed your eyes, you are over-reliant on your visual system and lack proprioceptive awareness from your muscles and joints. If your muscles and joints aren’t sending appropriate data to your brain, it makes it extremely challenging for your brain to coordinate efficient movements. Lack of efficiency implies that the wrong muscles will be recruited during a movement which will lead to a lack of stability and power. All of these things combined can lead to a higher probability of being injured while running.

In addition to building proprioception and kinesthetic awareness, you can improve coordination by developing neural pathways. The brain and spinal cord make up the central nervous system. Nerves that enter and exit the spinal cord run to every muscle in your body making up the peripheral nervous system. You can improve these pathways from your brain to your muscles by movement repetition or muscle memory. The more you perform a movement, the stronger and faster the communication from your brain to your muscles will be. Running is a high impact exercise. In order to improve the neural pathways without the increased loading rate of running, perform parts of the running motion in less impactful ways. For example, perform three rounds of butt kicks, skips, and high knees for 15 to 30 seconds each, three to five days a week. These exercises look very similar to running without the same loading rate. Meaning, you can improve your pathways for running and enhance your coordination with less strain on the body.

The Key to a Good Race Photo? Coordination. Butt Kicks. — View example of butt kicks

The Key to a Good Race Photo? Coordination. Power Skips. — View example of power skips

The Key to a Good Race Photo? Coordination. High Knees. — View example of high knees

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COM

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

ABOUT LORIN WILSON

Lucky enough to be a part of a great running program in high school, Lorin not only went on to win the 2007 Texas 4a State Championship in the mile but also went on to earn a track scholarship to the University of Texas at Austin. Lorin graduated from the The University of Texas at Austin with a major in Exercise Science and a minor in business. While still attending UT, he began coaching distance running at St. Stephen’s Episcopal school where he would coach student-athletes to break school records in the 400 meter, 800 meter, 1600 meter, 3200 meter, 5000 meter, 4×400 meters, and 4×800 meters. After graduating from UT and during his aforementioned tenure at St. Stephen’s, Lorin also worked for the local Austin non-profit Power For Parkinson’s as a fitness instructor, which provides free fitness programs for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. No longer a trainer at Power For Parkinson’s, Lorin does fundraising campaigns for Power For Parkinson’s. During this period he also started BlueSky Running LLC, which provided on-site Yoga programs for employees of the Austin Independent School District (teachers, administration, bus drivers etc).

Lorin has the following physical training certifications: National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) Certified Personal Trainer, Performance Enhancement Specialist (NASM), Corrective Exercise Specialist (NASM), Senior (elderly individuals) Fitness Specialist (NASM), Fitness Nutrition Specialist (NASM), RunLab Clinical Gait Specialist, USA Track & Field Level 1 Coach, and a USA Yoga Alliance 200 Hour Certified Yoga Instructor certification earned while studying in Rishikesh, India. Lorin is a MBA Graduate with an emphasis in Accounting from Texas State University. He was also the President of the Texas State MBA Student Association and a Future Texas Business Hall of Fame Scholarship Recipient.

Lorin has a marathon best of 2:37:05 (5:59 per mile pace) run at the 2011 Los Angeles Marathon. He ran his first 100 miler in 17 hours 30 minutes (10:15 per mile pace) in Flagstaff, Arizona in September 2018. He ran the 2019 Boston Marathon in 2:37:59. He also has three top 10 finishes (5th, 7th, and 10th) in the Capital 10,000, the largest 10k in Texas, with the latest two being 2016 and 2017. Lorin looks forward to working towards his goal of making high-quality fitness accessible to everyone while he continues to train for 100 mile races.

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel

Balance and Stability Training Can Improve Your Running Times

November 8, 2024October 17, 2019 by Lorin Wilson

Balance and stability training can improve your running times. We’ve all done it. Happily trekking along, enjoying our run, and then BOOM. On our faces in the dirt. Usually just as some super cute runner passes by with a pitying “awww well THAT must be embarrassing” kinda look. We get up, dust off our pride, and start swearing that that root just came right out of nowhere!

We see runners who have had unfortunate spills all the time at RunLab. They wander in hoping we can help prevent these little trips and falls in the future. What we find more often than not, is that when we assess the individual’s ability to balance on one leg for 30 seconds, they are unable to perform this simple exercise. Now, imagine hopping forward from one leg to the other repeatedly in rapid succession if you can’t even STAND on one leg for as little as 30 seconds. If you are unable to balance statically, it gives insight into how much your body must work to keep you upright while running. Each unstable step is causing micro-damage to your body. Over time this damage will lead to injury.

A lack of balance and stability is not reserved for beginner runners. We often see similar stability limitations in our elite runners. Many of our elite marathon runners are Olympic trial qualifiers who have run the marathon at a sub 5:18 a mile pace. The reason we see stability problems in these elite athletes is because the majority of their strength programs consist of working gross motor patterns. Meaning, they repeatedly perform movement patterns using their large primary muscles. In addition to running, they perform exercises such as squats, lunges, step-ups, and push-ups. While these exercises are great for building strength and should be performed, they tend to neglect the smaller stability muscles. This is evident when we have the athletes perform the same exercises in a slow, controlled manner. They are unable to successfully complete the movement, proving a lack of stability and proper core activation. Both elite and beginner runners will benefit by adding traditional balance exercises, as well as compound exercises that challenge their pelvic floor and spinal muscles simultaneously.

Runners tend to lack stability because we fail to work our muscles in multiple planes of motion. Muscles work in three different planes to accelerate, decelerate, and stabilize motion. These three planes are sagittal (forward/back), frontal (side/side), and transverse (rotational). If we only perform exercises in the sagittal plane (sit, run, cycle, etc), the muscle fibers will start to lose their ability to operate in the other planes, thus causing instability.

Balance and stability are a complex interplay between having proper muscle strength and coordinating the muscles to do their job at the right time (timing of contractions). While there are many underlying physiological attributes to make this interplay successful, it is relatively simple to improve your balance.

Let’s talk about what types of balance and stability exercises can help improve your running times. In order to see performance improvements, incorporate balance drills into your workout routine three days a week. Begin with traditional static balance exercises such as standing on one leg for 30 seconds or performing 10 Romanian deadlifts on each leg. Then progress to performing the exercises on an unstable surface such as a foam pad or Bosu ball. . Balance and Stability Training Can Improve Your Running Times, static balance exercises on unstable surface

After you master these exercises, start performing dynamic single-leg exercises in a slow, controlled manner. Try 10 step-ups with rotations and 10 lunges to knee with medicine ball chop.

Once you feel comfortable and stable performing these exercises, progress to dynamic balance exercises such as speed skaters with a static five-second hold on each leg. Perform three, 30 second rounds.

These balance exercises are just the beginning. There are many variations and ways to keep challenging your body in the frontal plane. Start doing them regularly and you’ll be surprised at the benefits!!

Also, give that guy a hand next time you see him lying face-down in the dirt. Just sayin… 😉

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COM

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

ABOUT LORIN WILSON

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel

Strength Training To Enhance Running Performance and Prevent Running Injuries

November 8, 2024October 9, 2019 by RunLab.US

Integrating strength training to enhance running performance and prevent running injuries is important for all levels of runners. At RunLab, it is not uncommon to hear from clients, “I can barely do a push-up.” “I never do strength training. I don’t want the bulk to slow me down.”

Runners need more strength as a population. This is a universal truth, and yet runners almost seem to take pride in the lack of strength training they do. Somehow the idea that strength training is detrimental to one’s running performance has taken a space in the collective running consciousness. Often neglected by distance runners, strength is very important for injury prevention and performance optimization and is often neglected. Having adequate strength will lower the probability of injury by preparing muscles to accept increased demand during training cycles.

In order to understand the importance of strength in the context of gait, let’s take a quick look at each phase of the running gait cycle:

If you look at the pictures, you can see that you are performing a series of single-leg squats and hops in rapid succession when you run. Due to the explosive nature of running, you are producing four to ten times your body weight in force PER STEP. It is vital to have sufficient strength to accept these loads if you hope to run injury-free. If you do not have ample strength in the primary working muscles, you will start to recruit smaller secondary muscles to perform the role of the primary muscles. Secondary muscles are not adequately equipped to do the job of a prime mover, either due to size or position in the body. Too much reliance on secondary muscles will result in a premature break down and aberrant movement patterns programmed into your body over time.

It is important to understand that strength comes in various forms. Functional strength is even more important than brute strength when it comes to a repetitive motion exercise like running. Being able to squat 2,000 pounds is an example of brute strength. However, this type of strength does not translate well to running. Functional strength is the ability to use your strength to perform your desired movement pattern under repetitive load. In order to be able to transfer strength to the desired movement pattern, one must be able to coordinate muscle firing patterns efficiently. Having functional strength will not only allow you to have more control over where the load is being produced while you are running, but also how efficiently the absorption load from the ground is transformed into propulsion energy. You gain functional running strength through performing exercises that look very similar to the running motion. Think of single leg squats, step-ups, or single leg plyometric exercises.

Strength Training To Enhance Running Performance and Prevent Running, single leg squatInjuries — Single Leg Squat

Strength Training To Enhance Running Performance and Prevent Running Injuries, Step-ups — Step-ups

One important point in regards to strength training is the concept of “bulking up”. With regards to bulking up, it is important to understand that strength has two major components. One component involves the nervous system’s ability to recruit motor units. Your brain is a major piece of hardware. From your brain, you have nerves that act as wires that conduct electrical signals to motor units that control muscle contractions. The more you perform an exercise, the thicker the myelin sheath, or the insulation surrounding the nerves, becomes. This makes the signal from your brain to your muscles more efficient. The more efficient your brain is at activating motor units, the more force production you are going to be able to generate and thus the stronger you are going to be. Nervous system adaptations happen rather quickly and the strength gains you experience within the first eight weeks of a strength and conditioning program will be neurological.

The second major component of strength is the cross-sectional area of your muscle. You gain cross-sectional area, or hypertrophy when you cause micro-trauma to muscle tissue through exercise. The stressed muscle repairs itself by having the myofibrils increase in thickness and number. Cross-sectional muscular gains take at least eight weeks of training. This is part of the reason to get your running gait re-analyzed every eight to twelve weeks. This gives an adequate amount of time for neurological and muscular strength adaptations to take place.

A final word with regards to the idea that strength will “bulk you up and slow you down”. The main components contributing to muscle bulk are nutrition and the amount of testosterone in your body. You would have to work a muscle very hard, have the right amount of testosterone, and eat a specific diet to bulk up significantly. The amount of high intensity cardio most distance runners undergo keeps muscles lean, but we are often missing the strength to take full advantage of our high intensity workouts, which leads to injury and suboptimal performance.

Consider adding regular strength sessions into your weekly routine to help enhance running performance and prevent running injuries. Your body will thank you for it, and so will your mind when you hit that next PR because you didn’t break down half way through the race!

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COM

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

ABOUT LORIN WILSON

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel

How Flexible Do You Need To Be To Run Efficiently?

November 8, 2024September 23, 2019 by Lorin Wilson

How flexible do you need to be to run efficiently? Is being more flexible better for injury prevention, or worse? Should I be able to touch my toes? Should I be bending myself up at Yoga classes like a pretzel? Should I even stretch at all?!?

We are not likely to put an end to the stretching debate any time soon, but after evaluating and treating thousands of runners, from Olympic gold medalists to athletes with Down syndrome over the last 15 years, we can tell you that the answer to whether or not YOU should stretch is a definitive……maybe.

While there is no hard and fast absolute when it comes to flexibility, there are some big-picture concepts that are important to understand. At RunLab, we have seen hypermobile (excessively flexible) runners that are able to run injury-free, and we have also seen runners who are so stiff they can barely perform basic motor skills with true proficiency run injury free (ever met someone who can’t touch their mid shins? Yeah, that stiff). So, how flexible do you need to be to run efficiently? It’s a broad spectrum. Every physiological attribute exists on a spectrum, and university-based researchers have established what are considered “normal limits”. Because of this spectrum, this definition of “normal” is the middle 80%.

First and foremost, it is important to define our terms. Flexibility and mobility are different but related. Flexibility is a component of mobility but the two terms are not interchangeable. Flexibility is the ability of a muscle to change its length passively. Mobility is the ability to move freely without restriction.

Running is a dynamic motion. In dynamic motion, a muscle shortens and lengthens as it contracts. This happens over and over again during a repetitive motion activity like running. When considering the stability aspect involved with running, it becomes apparent that flexibility is not the most important factor.

Rather, mobility is the attribute runners should be more concerned with. It is important that a joint can move, unrestricted, through normal range-of-motion, but and increase in flexibility beyond what is needed to achieve that range-of-motion at the joint level is not improving the stability of the joint and could actually be creating a less stable environment for loading and can create a power leakage in the movement pattern.

In runners we typically look at four major areas to assess mobility. The ankles, knees, hips, and spine. Having proper mobility in each of these areas is important in order to properly accept load from the ground as the body comes out of flight phase and begins to absorb shock from the foot, and then ultimately up the kinetic chain. Inefficiency in shock absorption means a higher probability of injury as non-primary movers may then be recruited to absorb load, stabilize joints, and produce propulsion because the primary movers are not able to adequately perform their role.

Three important functional movements that help build both mobility and stability for running are the deep-squat, the pistol squat, and the inline lunge. It is important to perform all of these movements with proper form and to really pay attention to your body as you go slowly through the entire motion.

Moving slowly and deliberately will help you avoid compensatory movements that tend to easily sneak in to these movement pattern. The body tends to want to offload stress from weak or immobile areas during loading and it is easy to continue to strengthen muscles that are already strong, further increasing the disparity between strong and weak muscle groups.

The ability to master these movements at a slow speed without added load is the first step to improving both mobility and stability around joints. Adding complexity (speed, reps, weight) to the fundamental movement patterns will lower the probability of injury while running at greater speeds or distance, but should only be done once the basic building blocks are in place.

Test the fundamental movements slowly on yourself. If you feel restrictions or imbalances before reaching end-range in a controlled way, perform a few foam rolling drills and then retest. Perform these types of patterns regularly as both a warm up and cool down during running workouts. After a few weeks you will see improved mobility and stability around your hips, knees, and ankles, which over time will translate to more efficient motor patterns and increased running efficiency.

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to optimize your running performance and decrease propensity for injury so you can run happy and healthy into your golden years.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COMThank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

ABOUT LORIN WILSON

After graduating from UT and during his aforementioned tenure at St. Stephen’s, Lorin also worked for the local Austin non-profit Power For Parkinson’s as a fitness instructor, which provides free fitness programs for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. No longer a trainer at Power For Parkinson’s, Lorin does fundraising campaigns for Power For Parkinson’s. During this period he also started BlueSky Running LLC, which provided on-site Yoga programs for employees of the Austin Independent School District (teachers, administration, bus drivers etc).

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel

How Anatomical Structure Can Affect Running Mechanics

November 8, 2024September 23, 2019 by Lorin Wilson

You might be wondering how anatomical structure can affect running mechanics. Have you ever heard “You look funny when you run, you should be facing your feet forward!”

This single statement, usually coming from a well-intentioned friend, trainer, coach, or therapist who knows just enough to be dangerous in the world of running biomechanics, accounts for weekly, if not daily, client encounters at RunLab™.

We’ve all heard at one time or another that we need to squat or walk or run with our feet facing forward, but this antiquated look at movement is leading many people down the road to injury on a more frequent basis than you may think.

Curious?

You should be. Understanding your unique structure and the way that you move in relation to it, is vital to both injury prevention and performance development.

If you take a second to really look around your local running group, you will see body shapes that come in every variety imaginable. Short, tall, thick, thin, bow-legged, knock kneed, flat-footed, high-arched, and on and on and on. It is important to make note of your own unique shape and structure because this affects the way you move in relation to the person next to you.

In the rehab and training world, you will frequently hear cues about facing feet forward when walking, squatting, or running. This is merely one example of the way we are too often looking at running with a telescope instead of a microscope. It is true that, across a population, it is more common for people to have neutral positioning of their hip and knee, which allows the foot to face forward without undue stress on the joints above. However, there is a significant portion of the population which has variability in positioning of the hip or knee joint. The tibia (lower leg bone) often faces inward or outward in relation to the femur (thigh bone). In addition, many people may have a slightly outward or inward facing hip joint, positioning their foot slightly in or out naturally.

You can probably already see the issue here. If someone with a structural variable tries to “correct” that variable, over time it will put excess load on an area unaccustomed and poorly positioned to accept that load. This leads not only to injury, but also to inefficient movement patterns and a limitation in performance.

As mentioned above, these trainers and therapists are often well-intentioned. The thought process being that an underlying functional limiter is the cause of this “movement flaw”, as opposed to a structural variable. It is assumed that the runner has a range-of-motion or strength imbalance somewhere in the body that can be “fixed.” However, this is frequently an incorrect assumption and requires assessment by someone who knows how to tell the difference between a structural variable and a functional limiter.A great illustration of structural variability is Marathon Olympic Silver medalist Priscah Jeptoo. Arguably once of the worst looking gaits many of us have seen. However, she is winning marathons…so what gives?

How Anatomical Structure Can Affect Running Mechanics: Example of knock knees — https://www.running-physio.com/priscah-jeptoos-knee/https://www.running-physio.com/priscah-jeptoos-knee/

Priscah has what is referred to as valgus knees. Valgus knees are essentially “knock knees”, meaning her knee dives in towards her midline. This structural variable often leads to increased internal femoral rotation, increased tibial rotation and finally rapid and often prolonged pronation. When comparing Priscah to many other runners, the important distinction is that many people have a gait that looks like this because of muscle weakness, which is a functional issue that can be addressed through strength and gait work. However, if you have a structural variable like Priscah, you will never strength train your way out of a valgus knee, no matter how many glute exercises you do. You unique anatomical makeup can make you more adept at performing a certain movement skill, or less adept, depending on the extent of the structural variable and the skill being undertaken. Just as in swimming, gymnastics, dancing, basketball, baseball, football or any other sport, there are dominant body types that tend to be built to succeed in any specific sport. However, there are always outliers and body shapes that don’t fit the “norm” for the sport that still achieve great success. The key is knowing where YOUR unique strengths, weaknesses, and structural limiters are so that you can work with your body’s natural design, not against it.

In the case of Priscah, or any athlete with valgus knees, she is at a higher probability of sustaining injury in the medial (inside) portion of her knees, low back, and shins, along with a few other key areas than someone with neutral knees. To combat the higher probability of injury in these specific areas, her strength work is likely focused on doing more work on strengthening muscles that will counteract these additional forces. This is why understanding your unique weaknesses and structural limiters is vital to formulating a customized plan to tackle your weakest areas and injury-proof your body in the best way possible.

ABOUT LORIN WILSON

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COM

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel

What The Heck Is A Gait Cycle?

November 8, 2024September 16, 2019 by Lorin Wilson

Ever wondered “what the heck is a gait cycle?”

“Lengthen out your stride”, “Shorten your stride”, “Pick up your knees”, “Heel striking is bad”, “Run on your toes and fall forward”, “Your glutes aren’t firing”, “Barefoot running is the most natural type”, “Max cushion will prevent injury”….and on and on and on….

Most of us have heard throughout our lives there is a correct way to run. This “correct way” tends to change every few years along with the shoe industry, and advocates will swear by each new truth. It is not surprising that runners are so confused on what they should focus on when they are out running.

The fact is, there is no one correct way to run. Everyone is unique in both their underlying physiological attributes, including structure, strength, and range-of-motion as well as in their goals.

The key to running with your best form is to gain as much understanding about your unique body, and about running, as possible. This basis of awareness starts with an understanding of the phases of the gait cycle. Understanding the gait cycle and basic running mechanics is the framework to beginning any running-specific training program. A foundation built of sound biomechanical patterns is imperative before adding volume and intensity to the mix. If you do not move efficiently, you greatly raise your probability of getting injured.

So, what the heck is a gait cycle? The term gait cycle is used to describe one revolution of the body when walking, running, or sprinting. The pieces of the gait cycle can be broken down into an infinite number of parts, with the most basic version involving four stages.

FIRST STAGE
Initial Contact: The initial moment your foot hits the ground.

SECOND STAGE
Initial Loading Response/Midstance: Load acceptance phase of the gait cycle. All of your body weight is on one leg. Your body is trying to control three to ten times your body weight in force.

THIRD STAGE
Push-off: Hip extending behind you which drives your body forward.

FOURTH STAGE
Swing: Should include a “flight phase.” Your leg swings through the air preparing to make contact with the ground again to complete the gait cycle.

Understanding the gait cycle at a basic level is important for any runner. Improving efficiency will both lower the probability of injury and enhance running performance due to decreasing aberrant load on the body and decreasing the recruitment of muscles not meant to accept load or push your body off the ground. We find that many of our injured runners have ended up injured because they have tried to change something about the way they run without really knowing why they are making the change. Your gait cycle is as unique to you as your fingerprint and you should never make any type of change without fully understanding both why you are making the change and how it will affect other parts of your body. It is very easy to fall into the trap of reading something about the “right” way to run and trying to modify your movements without truly understanding how your structure, range-of-motion, strength, injury history, neuromuscular control, and goals play into ideal mechanics specific to you.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE:

Your unique gait cycle is determined by a myriad of factors, including morphologic and physiologic factors. Anatomic structure, range of motion, strength, endurance, coordination, elastic energy return, symmetries between right and left, injury history, and workout history all affect the way you move.
Changing running form without context and a deep understanding of the biomechanical factors unique to you can result in decreased efficiency and even injury. There is no “one-size-fits-all” model when analyzing movement mechanics or determining running form ideal for an individual.
Do not change your running form if you do not know why you are trying to change something or how it will affect the rest of your body. Every change, no matter how minute, will affect the entire body. This can be good or bad, depending on many factors and what your specific goals and limiters are.
Analyzing the gait cycle is a lot like statistics. A data set is gathered, but that data set must be analyzed and interpreted relative to the specific case to determine its relevance.
Your gait cycle is unique to you. If you enjoy running and would like to lower your probability of being injured, consider getting your gait cycle analyzed by professionals. You have coaches or teachers for almost every other aspect of your life. Why not running? Be wary and do your homework. If someone tells you there is a “right” way to run, doesn’t do a structural, strength, and range-of-motion assessment on your full body, or tell you a shoe can “fix” your issues then that person does not truly understand biomechanics enough to help you.

ABOUT LORIN WILSON

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COM

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel

Is There A Right Way To Run?

November 8, 2024September 13, 2019 by Dr. Kimberly Davis

THE MYTH: There is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to run.
THE REALITY: There are a LOT of right and wrong ways to run, it depends on your structure, range-of-motion, strengths, limiters, injury history, and goals.

Seem like a lot to consider?!?!

It is! Read on…

There are more runners hitting the trails than ever and that, unfortunately, means more injuries. Some studies estimate that upwards of 90% of runners will end up injured in any given year. Given the fact that millions upon millions of dollars have been spent on shoe design over the last 50 years, why are injury rates still the same, or even higher, than they ever were?

The answer?

It’s not about the shoe. Consider the following recent case study from our clinic: A new mom, we’ll call her Kristie, takes up running as a way to add exercise into her life. She is excited about running because it’s convenient, she can run with her baby in a jogger, and it’ll help her lose that added baby weight. She even thinks she might like to train for a half marathon or a triathlon at some point so she joins a social run group geared towards moms. She goes to her local running store, gets fit for shoes, is told she’s a “pronator” and is put in shoes meant to control that extra movement in the foot. She starts running 3xs per week on a run/walk program and reaches 15 mile/week before she begins to have pain in her knees. She doesn’t think she is “injured” per se, but figures she should get it checked out anyway and makes a visit to her general practitioner. Her doctor recommends she take a break from running until the pain is gone. She is frustrated but takes two weeks off anyway.

She begins running again and within two weeks has that same pain start up. She revisits her local store, where they recommend inserts and perhaps a different shoe. She tries the inserts first and sees very little changes so she returns to the shoe wall two weeks later. They help her pick something a bit more neutral, with the advice that she also use the inserts due to that pesky overpronation problem. She is excited to get back on track and starts running again with her social group, but the following week, guess what? Same knee issues. One of her running friends tells her that she read people need to run with a 180 cadence and that she should be landing on her midfoot. Kristie has no idea what that means so she does some research and starts trying to run this way. She feels like she is running in a fairly unnatural way and also quite out of breath, but the knee feels a little better!

Progress?! But…wait for it, the knee pain returns two weeks in and NOW she also has calf pain. She returns to her running store, gets put in another pair of shoes and decides in frustration to just run through it if the pain returns, which it does immediately. She keeps running until things hurt enough that she decides that maybe running isn’t for her. She is now hundreds of dollars and several months into running and is worse off than when she started.

Is there a right way to run? — Filming & Data Capturing Session

She does a bunch more research online and finds RunLab™. In a last ditch effort to see if we can help, she calls us. She lives in Dallas so we send her over to one of Gait Imaging Center™ locations inside of Playtri. She sets up her account online, pays, fills out her forms so our team understands her history and goals, and then sets up a time to get filmed on-site at the Gait Imaging Center™. The Playtri staff takes care of her entire filming process and guides her through from start to finish. The patent-pending process includes both running and full-body movement pattern analysis through advanced video-capture technology, along with a full-body structural, range-of-motion, and strength assessment.

Once all of Kristie’s videos have been uploaded, our team analyzes her data and provides her a full color 14-page report which breaks down everything she needs to know about the way she moves, where her strengths and limiters are, and a Footwear Prescription™.

What does she learn about her running and knee pain? She learns that onset of her pain stemmed from a structural finding (slight knock knees) combined with extreme hip weakness due to recently giving birth. She was highly unstable during the loading phase of gait and it was putting undue stress on her knees. The onset of her pain didn’t have anything to do with the shoe she was in. In fact, the shoes meant to control motion were actually making the issue worse because they were not allowing her foot to move through the normal pronation cycle, which moved stress up into her knees. The second and third pair of shoes were not increasing load, but they also weren’t solving the underlying issue. With some gait re-training exercises and strength work specific to her structural and functional limiters, Kristie got back on track, has been running consistently for a full year and just completed her first half marathon with her daughter in a baby jogger.

The right shoes will aid your body’s ability to move naturally and as efficiently as it can in its current state, but no amount of shoe technology can solve for a weakness in the body. There is a lot of misinformation out there about running form. People are constantly coming into RunLab™ to tell us about their struggles to “fix” their heel strike, to run with higher cadence, to get their “glutes to fire”, to “stop overpronating”, etc., etc. But the problem lies in the fact that these runners have very little understanding of how THEIR body is built. There are thousands of variables that go into a person’s ideal movement pattern. Changing the way you move isn’t necessarily taking away the load, it just means you are moving it around to another area which can be more, or sometimes less, equipped to handle that load. This is where a Movement Analysis & Gait Evaluation comes into play. It is important not only to understand the way you are built, your current range-of-motion, strengths and limiters but also the way your body has adapted to move through them. Our brains are amazing at creating workarounds for even the slightest weakness, and when we layer compensation pattern over compensation pattern (even as non-runners) for years, there is a lot that goes into unraveling the ball of biomechanical yarn strand by strand. Creating increased range-of-motion in one area, for instance, can create stability problems, causing another area to develop compensatory hypertonicity.

So, what is the take-home message?

If you don’t understand your unique structure, range-of-motion, strength and limiters, it is very easy to get pulled down the rabbit hole by the mountain of information from articles, under qualified coaches, wearable technology, and your running friends who “read somewhere that you should run with your feet facing forward”. Understanding your body should be the springboard to any good training plan. And remember, shoes matter, but there isn’t a shoe in the world that can replace working on your biomechanics.

IN SUMMARY:

Full-body multi-plane Movement Analysis & Gait Evaluation is key to understanding your body, how it moves, and where the load is.
Shoes should let your body move the way it needs to, not stop natural movement.
Pronation is not a “bad” thing, your foot needs to pronate for your body to absorb shock actively. Your structure, range-of-motion, strengths, goals, and limiters are not the same as the next person’s.
The “right” or “wrong” way to run is unique to you and you alone.

ABOUT DR. DAVIS

Dr. Kimberly Davis is the Founder & CEO of RunLab™, a motion analysis and gait diagnostic company headquartered in Austin, Texas that provides runners anywhere in the country access to comprehensive gait evaluation services through www.RunLab.us. An Ironman triathlete and ultra-distance adventure racer herself for over 20 years, Dr. Davis has dedicated her career to the study of clinical biomechanics and helping runners get back on the trails, improve their performance and enjoy running again. Working as part of sports medicine teams for over a decade, she grew tired of hearing her patients say they had been told not to run or that “running is bad for your knees” by their doctors without any discussion about biomechanics. She launched RunLab™ Austin in 2014 as a running-centric healthcare facility built entirely by, and for, runners. It has since grown to become one of the nation’s preeminent gait evaluation and training facilities in the U.S. Working with every age and experience level runner, from Olympic gold medalists and world champions to brand new runners, kids, and runners with special needs such as down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and a wide variety of movement disorders. Recognizing a lack of consistency and quality in gait analysis across the country, Dr. Davis launched RunLab.us in 2018 as a means for runners to access her industry-leading gait team from anywhere in the United States.

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COM

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel

Kids In Sports

November 12, 2019March 19, 2019 by Dr. Kimberly Davis

THE MYTH: Athletic kids get injured in the same way athletic adults do.
THE REALITY: Kids don’t sprain/strain nearly as much as they break. At one point, our sports therapy clinic had twelve kids with broken backs coming in for rehab between the ages of 10 and 15. TWELVE!

Which sports? Soccer, football, and gymnastics. Why? Because nobody was paying attention to their mechanics and their complaints of back pain were being chalked up to strained muscles, sprained ligaments and “tightness”. Hot on the heels of XC season, track season is now in full swing. RunLab is always inundated with injured kids this time of year. How can we slow down this trend? Read on…

When it comes to young athletes, I have noticed a disturbing trend in the last decade that shows no sign of slowing. Kids no longer rotate haphazardly through several sports during the school year, with the occasional ridiculous intramural thrown in for fun. Our choices were things like badminton, floor hockey, and pickleball…basically the stuff that incites the quizzical “what is that sport again” look when you say you have to go to practice. Nowadays, it is the norm to find even the most mediocre young soccer player, gymnast, or runner training year-round in a single sport, much the way a college athlete might train.

Often this means they are not only participating on a school team, but on a club team as well. Their parents are spending weekend after weekend driving them to tournaments and meets, not to mention the morning and event practices during the week. The problem with this trend is that kids are getting injured like crazy. We work with a ton of kids at RunLab, from brand new athletes to JR Olympic medalists, many of whom either currently have or have had injuries significant enough to require surgery. Most of our competitive middle and high school runners are running somewhere between 40 and 60 miles per week, which is A LOT for a young kid who still has open growth plates. Much of the time this high weekly mileage is a result of two major problems. One, a major disconnect between two separate coaches (school and club) who aren’t kept abreast of what’s going on with the athlete outside of their team’s training program. And two, extremely motivated young athletes that think more training is better and are adding on their own mileage outside of their supervised training.

We helped an 11 year old runner with hip pain who was being forced to run in gym or risk receiving a failing grade, despite the fact that she was preparing for Indoor Nationals and was logging 30-40 miles per week outside of school. I have countless similar stories involving young football and volleyball players being required to play despite possible low back fractures (this is a common injury in any sport requiring a lot of extension through the lumbar spine), swimmers being forced to survive “Hell Week” (a brutal several hour per day rite of passage for young swimmers) despite rotator cuff tears, and gymnasts being convinced to continue practicing with sprained ankles and low back pain. The number of ACL tears and broken lumbar spines in young soccer players, volleyball players and gymnasts, along with preventable overuse injuries like stress fractures in cross country and track runners before they even make it out of high school is staggering. At RunLab we make it a point to be in close contact with coaches of young patients that we treat, in an attempt to make sure we are all on the same page in keeping kids injury-free, but it is also vital that parents take an active and informed role in a child’s training schedule. Dreams of playing or running for a D1 school are quite easily shattered with a blown ACL or broken lumbar vertebrae.

So what can you do as a parent to help prevent injury in your young athlete?

• Closely monitor your child’s mood. This is tough with teenagers but you know, better than anyone, what is normal for your child. If they are constantly fatigued, getting sick more frequently than usual, or especially irritable or moody, look at what’s going on with their training, it may be time for a day or two off (and I mean REALLY off…like sit and watch movies and eat popcorn kinda off…not two days spent in the gym instead of on the field or track).

• Nutrition is HUGELY important in young athletes. They are growing like any other kid, but they are asking a lot more of their muscles and joints than a sedentary child. It is difficult to force healthy eating habits at school, but teaching your child the link between increased performance and nutrient dense food might be all it takes to get them to buy in. It is especially important to closely watch young female athletes, who are at major risk for developing body image issues and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Be familiar with the female triad (stopping of menstrual cycle, disordered eating, and decreased bone mineral density) and how to prevent it. This is a BIG deal in young athletic girls and is much more common than you might think. As they go through puberty and begin to put on adult weight, their running often slows down temporarily, leading talented runners to worry about their running, thinking they need to train harder, run more, or eat less.

• Choose your club coach wisely. Make sure that the coach understands not only your child’s true talent level for the sport, but also his/her short and long term motivation. If your child is on the team for camaraderie and fun over commitment to winning and a college scholarship, forcing your (no matter how talented) kid onto the wrong team can have serious mental and physical repercussions.

• Kids are rarely in need of more stretching. Unfortunately, it is a standard practice in the athletic world (and all too often in the medical field) to tell people they need to stretch more no matter what their actual range-of-motion looks like or what type of injury they have. I had a 12 year old runner with a hamstring injury whose doctor was insistent that she stretch her hamstrings daily. Not only could she touch her knee to her forehead, her hamstring was strained and thus, overstretched already.

• Proper shoe choice is important, don’t skimp on this, especially if your child’s sport involves a lot of running. The wrong shoe can lead to injury, unnecessary soreness and muscle fatigue, and decreased performance.

• Make sure that each coach knows what the other is having your child do. Having everyone on the same page will help prevent overtraining, which leads to injury. When forced to choose one workout over another, choose quality over quantity.

• Muscles need hormones like testosterone to grow in size, meaning that to build muscle mass, kids must have gone through puberty. his means doing any type of weight or resistance training with anything other than body weight is putting your child at risk for injury without any added benefit. Keep the “strength sessions” to play-based stability and skills training. The payoff is huge and the potential for injury is much smaller.

To sum it all up, never underestimate the importance of skills training, even in sports like cross country. Hip stability, proper and balanced flexibility and strength and a strong core are vital to injury prevention in any sport. Unfortunately, most kids are not going to go on to play college sports at a high level, and even fewer of them will move on to the pro ranks. Is it really worth risking injury to a body they are going to have to live in for the rest of their lives? They may think so, but that is where we as parents, coaches, and doctors need to step in and help guide them. Remember tetherball four-square, and roller-skating? Despite the very adult way many of these athletes approach their training, they are still kids, and they will be much healthier adults if equal attention is not only given to regimented training, but also to what kids do best (or used to)…play.

Now…find your kid and go build a fort.

IN SUMMARY:

Kids don’t sprain, they break. Take lingering pain seriously.
Most kids don’t usually need more stretching to fix an injury, they are already bendy (sometimes too bendy). Make sure that you are seeing a doctor who is used to working with young athletes.
Certain sports predispose kids to spondylolysis and/or spondylolisthesis (broken and sometimes dislocated vertebrae in the low back). Watch for ongoing low back pain in football players (especially QBs), tennis players, soccer players, gymnasts, dancers and track & field athletes.
Kids who don’t “specialize” in one sport early on will experience less load in the same area over and over and over again, which is a healthy thing for growing bodies.
Watch the running volume in kids participating in club and sport, the cumulative volume sometimes spikes drastically as they enter high school and can break even the most gifted runners.
Girls will often slow down temporarily as they hit puberty and put on weight. This is normal and their speed will come back, but watch their eating and training habits closely as many will worry about their speed and start overtraining or under eating.
Growth plates aren’t closed until the late teens, be careful with volume.
Prepubescent kids can’t build muscle-mass, so added weights risk injury without benefit. Focus on skills based training and body weight exercises.

ABOUT DR. DAVIS

Thank you for taking the time to read our RunLab™ Blog! We hope that you use this information to run more injury free and to optimize your running performance.

For more information about the RunLab™ team and to get your running stride analyzed by one of the preeminent gait specialist teams in the country, please visit WWW.RUNLABAUSTIN.COM

RunLab™. Helping runners help themselves.

LEARN MORE:
RunLab™ Podcast RUN.
RunLab™ YouTube channel