My Top 5 Cues For Treating Running Injuries
Now that the New Year is underway, goals are in the forefront of our brains. Many of those may be fitness related. One of mine is to be more consistent with running each week.
I treat A LOT of runners, and since I see a big chunk of perinatal women, many postpartum runners. I see a lot of similar patterns that recur in the injured runner, whether they come in for pelvic floor issues, back, hip, knee, ankle pain, etc.
With that being said, here are my top 5 tips for avoiding or improving running injuries:
1. Practice the "LEAN FORWARD" from the ankles.
This is probably my #1 cue. Think about running into a gust of wind, or like you are running uphill (even if you are on flat ground).
Leaning from the ankles:
Automatically stacks your posture ribs over hips which allows your diaphragm and pelvic floor to coordinate with each other
Gives your body access to your glutes and hamstrings for improved hip extension - you need this to push forward!
Is more efficient for your body to produce momentum
Means you are LESS likely to overstride and improves landing with your feet under you (= BETTER shock absorption and often less pain)
2. Rotate your trunk.
Too often, people come in with very stiff trunks. Our body needs and loves rotation. Think about walking - your ribcage and your pelvis rotate with your arm swing and your stride. You don't walk like a stiff block. Why do we run like that?
I cue rotating the trunk between 11 and 1 on the clock. Think about rotating from the belly button instead of through your chest.
Here are some exercises that help promote trunk rotation while running:
3. Increase your step cadence.
This means taking MORE steps per minute. Research shows to aim for about ~170 steps per min when looking at improving knee pain. Ultimately, taking more steps per minute automatically shortens your stride. When you shorten your stride a bit, you are less likely to land with your foot WAY out in front and land more on top of your foot.
As mentioned above, this improves shock absorption and allows your glutes, quads, hamstrings and calves to help absorb that force in a more efficient position.
You can try using a metronome for a few minutes or Spotify has some playlists that have beats around 170 bpm that you can run to.
4. Release extra tension and breathe.
These two go hand in hand. Give a good body scan and check any areas that are holding extra tension. Relax your jaw. Allow your shoulders to come away from the ears and just rest at their normal position. Are you bracing through your pecs? Are your abs clenched or gripped? Are you trying to lift the pelvic floor and kegel?
Let those go. As you run, aim to take breaths into the ribcage vs up into the neck. Try to make it easy, passive. Shake it out!
Getting rid of this extra tension and combining it with the tips above will improve the natural contracting and relaxing the muscles SHOULD be doing. If they are tense and restricted, they can't do their job.
5. Get on a good single leg strength routine.
You have to train to run, not run to train. All runners MUST supplement with some strength training if they look for any longevity in the sport. Some of my favorite movements include:
Step ups
Walking lunges
Lateral lunges
Single leg RDLs
Step downs
Side planks
Here is an IG post that highlights a few of these movements:
I know it’s tough to change your running habits. Try some of these out little by little. Even if it’s for a few intervals at a time. You should notice an improvement in symptoms. If not, it may be a great next step to get a running assessment from a physical therapist. I can do these in person or virtually.
