Archive for the ‘Running Tips’ Category

Fact: forty-two percent of all injuries from overuse affect the knee joint, and runner’s knee (a.k.a. patellofemoral pain syndrome or PFPS), is the most common injury among runners.

PFPS can effect both knees, though more commonly it is more painful in one knee. According to the British Journal of Sports Medicine PFPS hinders more young and active people, and twice as many women as men. This is most likely because women tend to have wider hips, resulting in a greater angling of the thighbone to the knee, which puts the knee cap under more stress. The symptoms of PFPS are caused by the irregular tracking of the patella (kneecap) in the femoral groove.

What are the common symptoms of PFPS?

The most common complaint of those suffering with PFPS is tenderness behind and around the knee. Some also experience pain on the posterior side of the knee capsule as well. Instability and cracking could also be signs of PFPS. Although symptoms will be different in each case, running on hills and uneven surfaces often aggravates PFPS symptoms.

What are possible causes of PFPS?

Determining a single cause of your knee pain can be quite difficult. A good approach to eliminating your pain is having your knee assessed by a physical therapist. Anterior knee pain could be a biomechanical problem. Biomechanical issues that may be causing your pain include: excessive internal rotation of your hip, your knee cap may sit too high or too low in its groove, worn cartilage in the knee joint which reduces shock absorption, high arches of the feet providing less cushioning and flat feet, or knees that turn in or out excessively can pull the patella sideways. There could also be muscular issues contributing to your PFPS. Tight hamstrings and calf muscles, in particular, can put excessive pressures on the knee. Weak quadriceps muscles can also cause the patella to track out of alignment, creating painful friction and rubbing.

What can I do to help with PFPS?

A good physical therapist can perform a thorough assessment and determine what factors could be contributing to your knee pain. They would also evaluate your running stride while running on a treadmill to determine if there are any problems with your running technique and gait which may be the culprit of your pain. Treatment will likely consist of exercises to focus on correcting existing muscle imbalances and improving strength in weak muscles. You will also perform a flexibility program for the hamstrings, calves and hip flexors, and education on proper footwear and referral for orthotics to correct your foot positioning, if necessary. The rule is if your feet have good form, your knees will follow.

Some smart ways to prevent PFPS is to try running on softer surfaces like grass or trails. Also, don’t do too much. Increasing your weekly mileage more than ten percent each week is too much. And lastly, running on hills can be good for your heart but hard on your knees; make sure to introduce a hill routine slowly! For the best advice contact a good physical therapist who can analyze your running gait and provide strengthening exercises to prevent future pain in your knees.

Biomechanical assessment

Running with an injury or over-training? Often it is best to go back to basics

Injuries can affect us all regardless of age, sex or ability. But can we manage or limit the number of times we get injured? We can by going back to basics.

But we are not talking about fitness levels and stretching. Instead we mean back to biomechanics.

By assessing, on a regular basis, your biomechanics you can help eliminate and prevent a number of injuries and problems that athletes suffer from. The body compensating for weak links can cause restriction that in turn can cause pain and injury.

Calf and hamstring injuries are commonly caused by a tight sciatic nerve. The muscles provide a protective spasm to the nerve during locomotion and if stretched or loaded sufficiently the muscles can spasm enough to cause themselves to tear – or cramp up – which can feel like a tear. By mobilising the nerve it releases tension in the muscles and reduces the likelihood of this event.

? Tight calves
TIGHT calves can cause over pronation. The dorsi-flexion (moving the ankle upwards) is not available from the ankle joint due to the tight calves, so it has to come from the sub talar joint. It comes as part of the pronation mechanism though and so increases the amount of pronation as well. This causes shin related injuries as well as knee and Achilles problems.

Remember that tight calves are often from a tight sciatic nerve, so by mobilising the nerve, we can help with preventing and normalise these injuries.

The effects our biomechanics have on our body and the vicious circle of injury and pain it can cause is shown again when discussing your hips and pelvis which are so important to our running but generally overlooked until the athlete is in severe pain or in fact injured.

? Rotated pelvis
A ROTATED pelvis can go unnoticed for many years until the compensations start to cause problems. Typically a leg length discrepancy (LLD) can result from a rotated pelvis and the leg must compensate for this. It?ll either flatten the foot (pronate it), bend the knee more, or drop the hip more. Pronation will increase the load on the leg (see ?Tight calves? section), and dropping the hip will increase the the spasm to the glutes / piriformis ?prophylactically?, in other words preventatively, (and also if necessary), then we are helping to reduce all of the above.

? Assess yourself
AS a result of one of the largest studies in biomechanics by Galileo Health and distributed by HumanLab Sports we can all benefit from assessing our biomechanics, in the comfort of our own home. You do not need to be a clinician as they have developed a CD ROM software program that helps you assess yourself with the software prescribing the exercises needed to remove the problems and in turn prevent or normalise the body from developing them in the future.

As part of the program is injury prevention the CD takes you through a series of core stability work educating you on how to engage your core and to engage it while doing peripheral movements, so it becomes second nature to you when running.

It finishes off with the final section on the trunk and torso exercises.

? Benefits of biomechanics
SOME athletes out there might not feel the need to help prevent a problem they don?t feel they have. So let?s look briefly at some of the other benefits biomechanics has on your performance. A tight sciatic nerve or tight piriformis (hip) can affect your stride length, your knee drive and your power output.

A tight sciatic nerve can affect your quadriceps output by as much as 15 per cent. The effect of biomechanics for the professional athlete and the novice for injury prevention or performance is a must have tool. It will help you prevent injuries, enjoy your running and help with your performance.

The program used in helping address any issues you may have now or in the future is worth having. But it doesn?t stop there.

It can be used as a training guide to indicate that you may be over-training or that a new technique or training plan is causing you problems.

GO AND take a look at the website www.humanlabsports.com and see what you think. The CD-ROM is priced at only $39.10

Before reading this article, please understand that there is no such thing as "perfect" running form. Since everyone has different limb lengths, varying muscle fiber sizes and angles, diverse masses, and separate running distance requirements, no single athlete will run the same. But there are *characteristics* of a good runner that remain fairly constant from person to person. Allow me to introduce you to four, and include a drill to improve each.

1. Increase knee range of motion during the swing phase. This means that your right knee should be more flexed (towards your butt) when your right thigh is flexed forward during the run, as opposed to your right knee being more extended (away from butt). Same goes for the left, of course. Think of it this way – if you were swinging a weight attached to the end of a stick, you could move the weight faster with less effort if the stick were shorter. In this case, the stick is your leg, and the weight is your foot. By having your knee (the stick) more bent (or shorter), you are able to move the weight (your foot) much faster with less effort. The result will not only be a faster swing time (meaning a faster foot turnover), but also reduced fatigue in achieving the desired stride length.

Drill: Heel-to-butt kicks. During your normal run, begin to exaggerate knee flexion, touching the butt with the heel during each stride. Do 20 touches for both the right and left legs, then continue in your normal gait pattern.

2. Maintain flexible quadriceps and hip flexors. These are the muscles along the front of your thigh that act to straighten the leg. If they are tight, insufficient flexibility can inhibit your ability to fully extend the leg in the push-off phase of the running gait.

Drill: Platform stretch. Ideally, your pelvic bone should be tilted backwards when stretching the quadriceps and hip flexors. To achieve this, find a platform or elevated surface that is approximately at knee height or slightly higher. Facing away from the platform, and standing on your right leg, bend your left knee and lock your left foot, shoelaces down, onto the surface. Hold 15-30 seconds, then switch.

3. Deliberately focus on pushing backwards with each step. This will not only incorporate your gluteal and hamstring muscles in the push-off phase of the running gait, but also keep your center of gravity consistently rolling forward. Rather than focusing on using the muscles around the knee to provide the driving force, focus on running from the hips.

Drill: Lean-fall-run. Stand completely still and as tall as possible. Without bending the knees, let the entire body lean forward until you "fall" toward the ground and are forced to take your first step forward. Transition directly into a short 10-20 yard run, continuing to lean forward and push backwards with the hips.

4. Avoid excessive ankle and hip flexion. Do not bend your knees or flex your ankles excessively during the landing phase. While it may seem that this decreases joint impact forces, there is no empirical evidence that runners who bend the knees more have less injuries than runners who do not. However, there is evidence of increased time spent in contact with the ground, which decreases your elastic rebound from the ground and the overall power of each stride. You will naturally avoid excessive knee and ankle flexion if your focus on minimizing footstrike time.

Drill: Cadence counts. During your run, count the number of right footstrikes achieved in a span of 20 seconds. There should be 30 or more, indicating a cadence of 90 or higher. Increased cadence indicates decreased ground contact time.

Focus on making these changes to your gait pattern, and you will notice a marked increase in efficiency and economy. As you prepare for race season and design your weekly and monthly training plans, look into the triathlete training specials offered by Pacific Elite Fitness, at www.pacificfit.net.

Strong legs, strong lungs, strong will. Such is the portrait of a typical distance runner. The good news is that you can be a runner, too.

Why run?

Running carries with it the same benefits of all cardiovascular exercise: it helps reduce stress, strengthens the heart and lungs, reduces risk of certain diseases, increases confidence, brightens your mood, helps you sleep better, gives you more energy, and, in general, provides a better sense of well being. It is also a great way to burn calories.

How many calories do you burn running a mile?

Conventional wisdom says that, for every mile you run, you will burn 100 calories. But other factors play into the equation as well, including your running speed and your body weight. Generally speaking, a 135 pound person will burn about 100 calories per mile. A 200 pound person, running at the same speed, may burn 150. Obviously, the faster you run, the more calories you will burn.

Starting to run

Running can be stressful on your body, particularly on your leg muscles and knees. But you can minimize your risk of injury with a few simple tips.

Make sure to stretch before and after every run. Walk briskly for at least 5 minutes at the beginning of each run. Once you feel your body starting to warm up, do some gentle stretching exercises. Focus on steady, continuous stretches and avoid bouncing through the stretch.

If you are new to running, here is how you can work up to a 30 minute running routine while reducing the risk of injury.

Your first goal will be to make sure that you can walk at a brisk pace for 30 minutes. If you can do that, start to run at a slow pace until you become short of breath. Then walk briskly until you feel like you can run again. Continue with these intervals. You can challenge yourself by timing these intervals and working toward longer intervals. For example, maybe the first day you will run for 30 seconds and walk for 2 minutes. As your endurance increases, run longer and walk for shorter distances.

Another interval technique involves counting your footsteps, instead of measuring time. When you are first starting your running routine, you may do 100 or 200 running footsteps with 300 or 400 walking footsteps in between. Then you can work up to 400 or 500 running footsteps with 200 walking footsteps in between. Each day, try to extend the number of running footsteps and reduce the number of walking footsteps (even by just a few footsteps) until you are running for a full 30 minutes. Counting steps can help give your mind a clear focus toward an achievable goal.

It is important to not push yourself too hard. Even if you simply walk for 30 minutes and can manage to get in a couple of one or two minute runs, you are getting your heart rate up, and you will be reaping some of those health benefits. The rule of thumb is this: run at a pace at which you can still talk. If you are very short of breath, slow down or take a walk break.

Once you are running for a full 30 minutes, keep up this interval training to maximize the benefits of your running routine. For example, run at your normal pace and then speed it up for 30 seconds or one minute (or 200 or 300 footsteps).

After every run, walk for a few minutes, and stretch your muscles again.

Making the most of your running routine

Here are a few more tips to help you make the most of your running routine:

Invest in a good pair of running shoes, which will increase comfort and reduce your risk of injury.

Plan to rehydrate about every 10 minutes during your run.

The best places to run are smooth dirt roads or paths, which are not as hard as asphalt and concrete. Ask around (at your local running store, for example) for recommendations of good routes.

Finally, make sure to follow these simple safety precautions: Running with a friend (or even a dog) is safer than running alone. At the very least, tell someone when you are leaving, where you are going, and when they should expect you to return. Leave your valuables at home, vary your routes, and stay in busy, well lit areas. Pay attention to what is going on around you. That means leaving the headphones at home, or turning the volume down low. Lastly, always jog against traffic, so you can assess oncoming cars for potential danger.

A running routine is a rewarding way to build strength and endurance. Enjoy the process of developing your own strong legs, strong lungs, and strong will.

Note: The tips in this article are for general information only. Before starting any exercise routine, you should consult with your doctor.

About the Author

Jamie Jefferson writes for Momscape at http://www.momscape.com . Visit today for the latest online Coupon Codes including discount running shoes.

People often ask me, "Why do you run?" apart from the obvious health benefits, I think this article describing my run today will show just some of the joys of running and how uplifting an experience it can be. After meeting up with my good friend Jim, a fellow keen runner and athlete, we departed at a brisk pace to beat off the late afternoon chill. Given the fact that we have lived in the glorious Yorkshire Dales for nearly our entire lives, it is almost by right that we should only run off roads, it would almost feel sacrilegious not to run over the beautiful hills.

After 15 minutes of pain, graft and hard work, we reached the top of Beau Hill, hidden from cars, drivers and civilisation, from the top of this small peak, you have views over to the glorious Lake District in the distance, behind you views encompassing the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. 15 minutes of effort to be able to witness such beauty is 15 minutes well spent. Off we continued flying down the hill at break-neck speed back down into farmland only to be chased by somewhat rampant bullocks, this gives you one heck of an adrenaline rush as you stride for the next style while dodging and skipping through shin deep mud is something that you have to experience, to believe. The arrival at the style having the same relieving affect as a skydiver when his parachute finally opens, the realisation of safety, the endorphins pump round your body.

Past the style after running through a couple of overgrown fields, dodging nettles, thistles and other ‘evil’ plants such as brambles, you encounter a stream, in true running fashion as all good runners would do, you plough straight through and being the ever optimist, look on the bright side that it’ll have washed some of the mud of your shoes. Before long, we have descended down into a small forest, as the light shines through the trees, putting small spotlights on the forest floor, twisting and turning we run through the forest with the chirps of wildlife all around, and a deer playing cheerfully over to our left hand side, you realise the beauty of this world. Ten minutes later, and we’re back down onto the final stretch home, another run complete. So, you ask why I run? The range of emotions that you can experience during one run, from fatigue and pain as you struggle up the first hill, to the awe and inspiration that you can take from the beautiful world that is around us, hidden from our day to day life, fear as you get chased by some rather boisterous bulls, to the endorphin rush of flying down the hills as your stride lengthens and your confidence increases. All this in a 40 minute period, I struggle to think of any other sport, activity or event where you can experience such a roller-coaster of emotions and experiences in such s short space of time, while costing you absolutely nothing!

Running truly does have its rewards, both physically and mentally. Go out today, go for a run, and experience something new and special without emptying your wallet!

About the Author

Victor, owner of several health and fitness resources, providing you with the best running tips http://runningadvice.blogspot.com For Awesome health and fitness tips, please visit http://health-fitness4life.blogspot.com If you are looking to lose weight, check out