Running Injury Tips: Learning to Improve

I recently read some advice on-line related to specific running injuries. In almost every case the commentary started out with the suggestion to begin taking ibuprofen, icing, and resting, and then following that up with a program of stretching and strengthening exercises. While all of that can certainly help, it is not a substitute for learning to improve what we are doing. 

The common assumption is that the problem is in the tissues, or in the joints, but I want to show that the real problem is not that at all. Why will a running injury often come right back after rest? The answer is that learning occurs in the brain, not the muscles, or joints. The way we do things is the real problem.  The human nervous system, is capable of a great deal of learning. When we are injured the brain goes into protection mode. We often maintain movement patterns designed to protect us long after the need to protect is gone. But the brain always wants to organize our actions in the most pleasant, strong, efficient, and pain free way possible.  That is why we can improve by paying attention to the little things. 

Running injury tip # 1

Try running by feel, instead of just thinking in terms of technique. Pay attention to what you are doing and how the overall body pattern feels. Shift your attention back and forth between the parts and the whole. This will have at least two benefits. If you are training or running in a race remember, you can always change something, you are not just a creature of habit. There is not just one way to do things. Some little change or change in emphasis can make all the difference.  A problem that is beginning to develop can end up not being a problem with a slight shift.   

The second reason to run with awareness of the overall balance and feel of what you are doing is that if you do have a problem, and if it appears that you are courting an injury after you are done running or on the next day, then you have filed away a memory of the exact body pattern that you used the day before. That is a huge clue about how to shift your emphasis. If you are stressed in a particular area you can remember exactly how you produced this discomfort. So tip # 1 is about developing a new kind of awareness of the feeling of the details of what you are doing.

Running injury tip #2

Continue to improve your overall awareness of, alignment and form. Simply put, the better your overall skill level becomes the stronger and more injury proof you will be. Notice I have used the words skill and awareness rather than technique and form. You might be able to recite elements of good form but we really want to go beyond that and experience good form, so that we “know” what we are doing and can feel it too. 

Applying this to real and specific injuries:

Let’s talk about IT band problems.  IT band problems are caused by overuse of the lateral  hip muscles.  Let’s look at some pictures of how this might happen. The three pictures below are a powerful illustration of patterns that might contribute to IT band syndrome. These patterns could be fairly obvious or more subtle. Now we can see that our overall alignment contributes to the problems that we can develop in running. It is not the running that causes the problems, but HOW we run. The first illustration on the left below illustrates the difference between level hips and hip drop of the free leg. We call the picture of the level hips on the left being on the high point of the hip, in other words not dropping the hip. We are talking here about a specific injury, IT band problems. However, you can see that this same pattern might cause other problems, hip problems or back problems are two that come to mind. Can you see that icing and stretching can never teach these runners to improve? Can you see that strengthening if needed at all could be employed much more efficiently AFTER the learning process has been started? Strengthening alone without learning could be a very inefficient way to deal with these problems. This is why we say the problem is in the brain, not the tissues.

 

Now look at the pictures above. The man on the left has level hips in contrast to the first three pictures.  The elite woman in the picture to the right has a very good alignment. Now notice the man in the blue track suite rounding the corner. He has very good alignment through the standing leg. Not only does the free hip not drop but if anything it might be raised a little. And finally there is the picture of Hicham El Guerrouj and the magnificent power of his hips. Notice how level they look.

All of these pictures combine running injury tips # 1 and #2.  They show concepts combined with real world skill through increased sensitivity and awareness. 

I hope this article has been fun and useful. Enjoy!  But remember, it you need help with specific injuries, I would be glad to help. If you want to learn at a deeper level and are committed to doing the work to improve, then Transcendent Running lessons are for you.  To learn more click here.

To get the free e-book, The Runners Body/Mind click here.

Thanks and take care - Scott