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

 

Running Injuries: A Brief Discussion Of Common Injuries

There are really too many injuries that can be incurred in running to discuss them all but we can mention a few.

First it is important to return to our foundation with the reiteration of a couple of key points. 1. There is no running injury that is caused by only one part of ourselves. The entire person, the organization of the movement through the entire personality and the entire kinetic chain is involved. 2. The value of learning cannot be overemphasized, and small changes can have big results.

A few specific examples:

Frequent sprained ankles: cause = a habitual unstable foot placement.

Many people say that ankle sprains are caused by weak ankles. But that is focusing on the part as the problem. The PT approach to the problem is to strengthen the ankle and that can be very helpful. But that does nothing to directly teach how to move better. I used to suffer frequent sprained ankles when I was walking a mail route every day, years ago. Then I worked with someone to improve my running and as a side result I never suffered sprained ankles while carrying mail again. In fact I did not have any problem while hiking 100 miles through rocky country and high elevations.  The change required me to alter my entire movement pattern differently around my walking and running. This raises another key point. If we improve our movement, we may to be able to avoid down time and heal as we run. Running then becomes a healing activity instead of an inuring activity. You have to apply awareness to this process. 

Other foot problems:  Neuromas , stress fractures, bunions, plantar fasciitis

The really prominent cause of Neuromas is shoes that are too tight or restrict the movement of the bones of the foot. Most running injuries are caused by the organization of a gait that places too much stress in one area. One of the main principles of safe, healthy running is to spread the stress of the movement evenly throughout the body, with the largest more centrally located parts, i.e. the core, doing the most work. Although shoes contribute to the problem in neuromas, because they alter our movement and our ability to move, the real problem is again the way we move. A change in shoes may be helpful here, but we still have to be able to de-emphasize the parts that are being unfairly overworked. 

Too often we run with the feet. The job of the feet is to make initial contact with the ground and allow us to have a base of support as we move off the ground.  We most definitely cannot get away with propelling ourselves with the feet. The foot makes a gentle contact with the ground as we advance the other leg and then it is lifted from the ground as we repeat the cycle.

As for the other foot problems listed, you guessed it, the foot or even one specific point on the foot is being overworked. Too much force  applied in too small and area in the case of stress fractures, contradictory muscle contractions,  holding tension in the foot, and poor whole body coordination around the action of the  foot in the case of plantar fasciitis . 

IT band syndrome, shin splints, and runners knee problems are more examples of weak overall alignment, over use of peripheral instead on proximal muscles, and too much stress in only one area of a joint. 

We can improve any of these problems by a general improvement in running ability, our overall form. Each of these injuries is a chance to learn to improve.  Once you have learned how to improve a specific problem you will not only run better, but you will know how you did it. Running injuries can be discouraging, if you do not know what to do. 
 

If you apply these ideas carefully, you will find your way through running injuries and with less downtime. The body wants to heal, and as we learn, we can use simple changes to improve and feel better as we run. If you use careful awareness, study to improve form and self usage, and consistent, very incremental training, you will find the enjoyment and performance you are looking for.

We want to keep learning. We are supposed to pay attention. But pay attention to what?

Here is a brief example.

Stand with all your weight on both heels. Notice what you feel standing this way. Now walk around this way. Notice what this does in the knees, the hips, the sacrum and the back.

Now stand with your weight all in the ball of your feet. What do you notice in standing and then in walking this way. Please slow down a lot and take your time. If you do this quickly you miss most of the information that you have gotten from this experiment.

Take plenty of time. Allow yourself to feel carefully and repeat this idea with all your weight on the outsides of your feet and then on the insides of your feet. The more time you allow the more you might observe. Notice also your general sense of ease, your breathing, your head carriage. Play with extreme and then less extreme versions of these positions. Also try turning your feet in and then out. Combine some of these things. Can you see how your entire self is involved in any change you make?

 I intend to give you all the information that I can over time.  But If you feel you need more help, you can always get started.  There are things that I cannot see with my own running

and I like to work with a form coach myself at times.  Wishing you more ease , health , power and clarity –till next time , take care – Scott

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