Why Get a Running Evaluation?

You look at people when they run and sometimes you think to yourself, wow, they have a really good stride. Or, on the other end of the spectrum you thing, oof, what is going on there? Do you ever wonder what people think of how you run? Now it really isn't a matter of pretty vs. ugly stride, but running performance does correlate to what is going on during our gait cycle and getting that assessed can benefit you in many ways. From injury prevention, to improved control and faster times, fine tuning our stride and motor control will make long term improvements.

In this article we will discuss what we are looking for, the questions we ask and some of the problems those might cause.

Trunk rotation: How much arm swing is happening? Are both arms symmetrical? Is that motion coming primarily from the shoulders or from the thoracic spine? Stiffness in the thoracic spine or limited shoulder extension can impair the counterbalance of motion the legs are performing which can lead to pain in the upper back, lower back and sometimes further down chain.

Vertical displacement: How much up and down motion is happening, or how bouncy is the movement? Vertical motion is wasted energy, especially over longer races. Limiting this with increased cadence and forward lean can improve running economy.

Trunk position (both verticality and in relation to foot landing): Is the spine and trunk upright or leaning forward? Is the chest behind the foot or over it? The foot need to be under the body when it takes a load, if it isn't we are essentially breaking each step and this leads to breakdown.

Foot position upon heel contact and loading response: Heel vs midfoot vs forefoot striking? How does this look in relation to upper body and knee position? I don't usually worry about heel strike unless there is a problem it is causing. What I do care about is where does loading happen in relation to the rest of the body as just mentioned.

Hip extension: Is the hip going into extension or is the lumbar spine? How much?If we are tight in hip flexors we don't access hip extension during our stride and the motion ends up coming from somewhere else, usually the spine and this can lead to lower back pain.

Hip drop and knee collapse: Does the pelvis stay stable or drop upon loading? Is the knee and lower leg staying neutral or dropping into a valgus position? This is a big one. Hip drop means weakness in lateral hip and this is a big player in both hip and knee pain in many runners.

Ankle pronation/supination: Is the ankle pronating as it should or too much, or are you staying in supination the whole time? Pronation is an important motion in the foot as it is the first phase of shock absorption in the lower extremity. If we don't pronate, stress can go other places like the achilles or knee. If we don't control pronation this can cause plantar and heel pain.

Running should be natural and easy, but unfortunately it doesn't always happen that way. Injuries and compensations can lead us to make changes to our stride and we don't always find our way back to "normal"

When we do our running evaluations we also look at muscle length, strength and many other functional movements like squats and lunges to see how your body moves outside running to connect the two and educate you on what you need to move better. So give us a call or book a running evaluation today!

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Also, If you are dealing with an injury and need help or would like to optimize your performance and recovery with some professional help, book a phone consultation below!

We also provide:

• Precision Hydration Sweat Testing

• Video Running Gait Analysis

• VO2Max Testing

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Dr. Dylan Glass, PT, DPT, SMTC and Dr. Josh Cornett PT, DPT, COMT, CDNT

Return 2 Sport PT

www.Return2SportPT.com

256-513-9525

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