<h1><b>Helping your clients run faster and reduce their risk of injury</b></h1>
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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Do you work with clients who run? </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Whether you’re a running coach, triathlon coach, personal trainer helping people go from couch to 5k then this is a post for you.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">There is so much conflicting advice in the running world and today we wanted to get to the bottom of some of the myths and advice out there.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">These could be things your clients say or perhaps even things you say that could be slowing them down (in both actual times and their performance) or worse, increasing their risk of injury.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">This week we are very honoured to have a world leader in intrinsic biomechanics Martin Haines, offer us insights into key questions and the evidence around running form.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">So many of us have clients who run, or want to run, remain injury free and maybe even gain a few PB’s along the way!</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">How can we help?</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Well with guidance and evidence based information from a world leader we can pass on great advice to our clients by staying up to date with superior quality information. </span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">This guest blog from Martin also gives you an insight into the Running Biomechanics workshop we deliver in our programmes if you would like more practical skills to improve your service to clients who run…..</span>

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<h2><b>Is Running Form Important? </b></h2>
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<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The way you run can be the difference between fulfilling your potential and never quite being as good as you’d hoped. However, running form/technique/style is very personal and depends upon a number of factors which should be assessed by an experienced coach familiar with biomechanical principles or by a Biomechanics Coach.  There is little evidence that the alignment of various body segments statically or dynamically alters your injury risk or indeed improves performance, in fact you will see some runner’s in your group who demonstrate personalised styles and techniques that include for example buckling knees, flailing arms and flat feet and some seem to get injured no more than those who run with a more orthodox style (and sometimes injured less frequently!). </span></i>

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<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">There are also a number of running coaches who encourage you to run using ‘their method’.  Their method may coincidentally suit you and work well, but unless you are analysed carefully and the results find that particular style is suited to your mechanics and anatomy, it may cause you more problems.  Don’t be seduced by pseudo-science suggesting one style suits everyone – you are an individual and deserve to be trained as one. One size does not fit all. Find your own style that works for you; and that may be simply going out and running, doing what you feel is comfortable.</span></i>

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<h2><b>It's Suggested That Everyone Should Have A Cadence Of 180 Strides Per Minute To Prevent Knee Injuries, Is This True?  </b></h2>
<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Actually, 180 cadence (number of strides per minute or stride frequency) is supposed to be the ideal cadence for optimal running at elite level, but this is meant as a “barometer not a governor” (Hailey Middlebrook, Runner’s need 2019).  Whether there is an injury risk reduction is not clear. This cadence is based upon some anecdotal observations by legendary coach Jack Daniels as far back as 1984. Then a paper by Burns et al in 2019</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">1  </span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">suggested that while this is an average cadence for many elite level distance runners (in fact Burns found it was 182 in his test cohort), cadence seems to be dependent upon the speed you run and your height.  The quicker you run, the higher your cadence (the greater number of steps you take per minute) and the taller you are, the lower your cadence (less number of steps required per minute as</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> you can take fewer steps per minute to cover the same distance)</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">.  </span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Weight, age, speed and running experience did not seem to be relevant.  You may also consider that </span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">cadence would likely depend upon your type of foot strike, any leg length discrepancies, hip mobility, calf mobility, nerve mobility in the back of your leg or even spinal mobility.  So, your cadence can be used to benchmark improvement, but there is no evidence to suggest that a higher cadence means you are more likely to prevent injury.</span></i>

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<h2><b>What Is Gait Analysis &amp; How Accurate Is It? </b></h2>
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<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">This is an assessment of how you run; it can be as sophisticated as using high speed cameras and analysis software, but it can be as simple as someone watching you run. Both can be of value.  The sophisticated methods are accurate enough to be able to help you, but equally an experienced and skilled coach can be very helpful by visually analysing how you run too. You may also be aware that there are some “APPs for that” too.  Do be careful though, don’t change your style based upon an analysis that encourages you to run closer to a theoretically ‘correct’ style. Your anatomy and mechanical make-up may suit your current style better than something that is more orthodox or a coach’s preferred teaching method. Make any changes under close supervision and don’t change for changes sake.</span></i>

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<h2><b>I'm Injury Free, But I've Been Told My Form Is Off - Should I Change Anything?</b></h2>
<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite our advances in technology and our understanding of the body, as well as training and conditioning techniques, many experts suggest that the old adage; “If it aint broke, don’t fix it”, still applies today.  Your body moves how it needs to move to accommodate your anatomy and personal mechanics. If you do have a personalised style, make sure anyone who wants to change that style (to make it theoretically better) first understands precisely why you are running as you do.  If you are running as you do to accommodate a genetically stiff hip for example and your technique is changed to something theoretically better, you may no longer be able to accommodate that stiffness and end up loading the hip, potentially causing problems. If the hip problem is something that is correctable then make the changes to your hip by exercise or treatment, and make sure that the rest of your body has the capacity to adapt to those changes, then make slow alterations to your style – if indeed any change is still necessary.  It takes a skilled coach and a detailed assessment to make these changes to minimise the risk of causing problems as your body adapts to the style changes.</span></i>

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<h2><b>I’ve Been Told I Pronate &amp; Have Been Advised To Wear Shoes To Help Support The Arch Of My Foot</b></h2>
<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">The term pronation and its relevance to running performance and injury prevention is still not fully understood.  Pronation is a rolling of the foot inwards and its part of the shock-absorbing mechanism when your foot lands on the floor; along with movement from your ankles, knees, hips and spine.  That’s the easy bit, the difficulty is establishing how much pronation is right for each individual. There some runners who seem to have a lot of pronation but who rarely get injured and others who seem to have much less pronation are injured frequently – clearly there is more to it than simply the amount of pronation.  The consensus from the recognised experts seems to be that if you are not getting injured frequently then there is no need to interfere with your pronation – and even if you are getting injured more than you would like, there may be other areas that you would look to address first anyway. This may include areas such as your pelvis, a dysfunction in which can create an apparent leg length discrepancy. This may not be an issue in itself, but your foot may alter its amount of pronation to accommodate the leg length discrepancy – so any apparent pronation issues may simply be a compensation from higher up the leg.  Perhaps you can see how correcting the problem at the foot in this example could be counterproductive. There are many more examples which can get quite complicated, so get checked out by someone who is an expert in the field before you change your shoes to support your arch or reduce your pronation. </span></i>

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<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Anti pronator shoes or ‘corrective’ insoles do have their place and can help runners, but make sure they’re necessary and are prescribed at the right time.  Also note that insoles are often temporary measures to offload an injured structure until it has healed and your rehab is completed, they can then often be removed or at least the support reduced. </span></i>

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<h2><b>How Can The Upper Body Influence Running Form? </b></h2>
<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Typically the upper and lower body are synchronised to optimise your running style.  So, if your legs have a personalised style your arms will likely move differently too to accommodate and visa versa. So, if you had a stiff upper back or a long-term shoulder injury for example, it is likely that your upper body movements will accommodate the resulting mechanical issues.  This will likely cause some form of compensation in your hips and/or legs too. This shows how important it is to make sure you deal with the causes of the movement style issues before you correct the style issue itself. Also, any change in arm movement style should be accompanied by suitable measures to understand the likely hip/leg compensations and then exercises to help them adapt should be provided. </span></i>

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<h2><b>Is There A Hierarchy Of Things That I Could Work On? And Where Does Running Form Adaptions Sit Into That? </b></h2>
<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is difficult to say with any certainty that injuries or running styles are linked to a particular body part, we perform any movement based upon learned patterns, movement experiences, our anatomy and past injuries.  There are however occasions when a ‘system re-boot’ is helpful. We are born with unconditioned reflexes</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">2</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> which enable us to perform movements seemingly without thinking about them; such as when we are babies - lifting our head, rolling, lifting our hands to our mouths to feed for example. Then as get older we perform tasks that are less natural; such as sitting in chairs rather than sitting down on our haunches. We also get injured for various reasons and perform unusual movement patterns to protect the injured area – these movements can become permanent if you’re not careful.  All of these problems cause something called conditioned reflexes</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">2</span></i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">; ones that our bodies have created to enable us to move to compensate for pain or unaccustomed stiffness or weakness. Our bodies were not originally designed to move in this way and so further problems can result due to the causes of these unnatural movements.  One way of identifying these causes is to be screened or tested – the resultant exercises to help with any issues can be thought of as a ‘system reboot’. Biomechanics Coaches or a Physiotherapist skilled in the science of Biomechanics could help you with this.</span></i>

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<h2><b>If You Could Offer The General Public One Piece Of Advice What Would It Be?</b></h2>
<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Run how nature intended you to run, without any thought to it.  Progress your mileage slowly and let your body run freely. If you have regular or recurrent problems then look to understand why, by having an assessment of your body’s mechanics. Not necessarily a running analysis, an analysis of your body – to see if your body has the capacity to run the sort of distances and frequencies that you are doing. If it highlights correctable issues, then perform exercises to correct them and then carry on running using your previous style. Interestingly, you may find that your style changes naturally (without trying) when your body has the capacity to move differently, perhaps better. If the assessment shows that you have a structural or anatomical anomaly then you should see a coach to help you change your style to work around that anomaly, which may not be orthodox, but will work for you.  </span></i>

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<h3><b>Summary from Rachel</b></h3>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">So as you see Martin challenges some pretty common misconceptions about running form. If you would like to discuss any of these issues while having an opportunity to also learn practical skills to support you when coaching your running clients, why not join us for Running Biomechanics in 2020?</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">If you want to help your clients run faster, achieve personal bests, or perhaps just reduce their risk of injury while training for that marathon they signed up for having never run before then this one day workshop is for you.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">By the end of the day you’ll know how to…..</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Feel comfortable and confident in assessing your runners to help them gain their next PB!</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Imagine you being known as the ‘go to PT’ for runners, even high level runners!</span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">You will learn;</span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">6 Foot Tests from the ‘Foot Posture Index’  </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">2 Calf Tests - Range &amp; Strength </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400;">5 Hip Tests </span>

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<span style="font-weight: 400;">Each of the above come with relevant biomechanical exercise interventions.</span>

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<h2>When &amp; Where Are The Upcoming Running Biomechanics Workshops?</h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400;">Running Biomechanics Workshops 2020</span>

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<b>Nottingham - </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">Feb 29th or Oct 25th 10:00-4:00</span>

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<b>London - </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">July 2nd 10:00-4:00</span>

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<b>Belfast  - </b><span style="font-weight: 400;">Nov 15th 10:00-4:00</span>
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<h2>What's the investment?</h2>
Just <span style="font-weight: 400;">£188 per person!</span>

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<h2>How Do I Book?</h2>
Want to get booked on immediately? <a href="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/product/running-biomechanics-workshops/#tab-description">Then click here and book your place! </a>

if you have more questions and would like to find out more, just pop me an email at <a href="mailto:rachel@biomechanicseducation.com">rachel@biomechanicseducation.com</a> with the best number to reach you on and we can get on a call and have a chat about the workshop.

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<a href="https://www.biomechanicseducation.com/product/running-biomechanics-workshops/#tab-description"><img class="aligncenter wp-image-18460 size-full" src="https://biomechanicseducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Running-Biomechanics-Myths-Martin-Haines-1.png" alt="" width="1225" height="612" /></a>

<b><i>References</i></b>

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 	<li style="font-weight: 400;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Burns GT, Zendler JM, Zernicke RF. Step frequency patterns of elite ultramarathon runners during a 100km road race. J Appl. Physiol (1985). 2019 Feb 1;126(2):462-468. </span></i></li>
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 	<li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Karel Lewit. Manipulative therapy. Published by Churchill Livingstone, 2010</span></li>
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<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Martin Haines DipRGRT MCSP SRP IBAM</span></i>

<i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Founder and Director Brytspark Limited</span></i>

<a href="http://www.brytespark.com"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">www.brytespark.com</span></i></a>