Running is the perfect form of free fitness, but it's often fraught with injuries. This doesn't have to be the case...
Elle X
Running is the perfect form of free fitness, just bag a pair of trainers and head on out to the tracks. I absolutely endorse the point of getting out into nature. Not only are you giving your feet and body a varied terrain to run along, you are also increasing your daily hit of happy hormones for your mental wellbeing. A double whammy for your efforts.
But why is it so often the case when someone takes up running that their body can often injure very quickly? This could be in the form of aching Achilles, killer calves, shocking shins or any other number of ailments you hear runners complaining about.
Lots of bones, moving quickly
It takes 0.6 of a second for every bone in your body to move through its full range of movement for you to take a single step. Barring in mind you have 207 bones in your body that’s a lot of bones to move in a very short space of time. Imagine how quickly this all has to happen when you begin to up the pace and run! After all running is just faster walking.
If you have pain in your body anyway it shouldn’t come as a big shock why it might increase when you run. If you didn’t have pain before you started running but begin to suffer as the miles increase it is possible your body was compensating it just hadn’t reached the point of pain for you to have felt on a daily basis.
So what happens to cause these injuries?
We have to look at the timings and movement of the bones. If one bone whips into action fast it can knock off the timings of the bones further up the chain. Pain can come about through too much movement or not enough movement.
A prime example of this is a lovely running client I have at the moment. Her heel bone is very fast to move into supination (opening of the outside of the ankle), this puts undue stress on the inside of the Achilles.
This in turn reduces and limits the timings in the hip and pelvis. The Achilles receives pain as the joints are moving too fast but the hip and lower back also receive pain because the joints are not moving enough. Pain can therefore be felt through joints moving too much or not enough.
Why do timings of the body become imbalanced?
The timings of the body become imbalanced for a number of reasons.
Two common reasons:
- Old injuries – the body sets up compensations whilst the injury heals. If you never show the body how to move well again the compensations remain.
- Training muscles in isolation – (see also my blog on are you stretching the old fashioned way?). By isolating areas of the body to work you are altering the timing of how they should move. Rather than allowing for a fluid flow of joints, bones and muscles you begin to create stilted and jolting moves leading to imbalance in the body and possible pain.
For instance, this lovely lady was always told to strengthen her feet with opening and closing exercises for the ankle joint as these moves are required when running. This is not incorrect, you do need to be able to open and close the ankle but you also need to link this into the movement of the lower leg, knee, hip, pelvis, lower back … you get the picture – the whole body.
To sum up, it’s really worth learning how to balance the timings of your body’s joints, bones and muscles through 3D flowing movements. This can be done through working with me or another Anatomy In Motion trained health practitioner.
Watch this space as I will soon be offering this through online and group classes. If you would like to find out more feel free to get in contact at ellie@movewellwithelliewilliams.co.uk.
Until next time …
Knowledge is absolutely power but only when ACTION is taken
Ellie x