CAN YOU CHANGE YOUR RUNNING STYLE?
Tid Bits of Info
- When running the foot can hit the ground with 3 to 7x the body weight.
- A faster rate of impact loading can lead to lower extremity injuries.
- It has been reported that 40-50% of all runners experience an injury at least 1x/year.
- More than 60 million people jog or run for exercise every year.
- If you experience an injury from running, seek treatment from a Physical Therapist.
Running relieves stress, eliminates depression, and helps improve your health, but running can also lead to injuries. Many runners develop lower extremity injuries and have pause from running to recover. Some healthcare professional believe injuries can be caused by your running style and adjusting techniques could help. There has been a long debate regarding the way a runner strikes the ground and the frequency of lower extremity injuries. Does heel strike running cause more injuries? If it does, can someone change running style?
Barefoot running, using minimalist shoes and/or running with a forefoot striking gait has been promoted in the past few years by many healthcare professionals as a way to avoid lower extremity running injuries. The theory used to support this indicates that the maximum impact force is relatively the same for both heel striking and forefoot striking, but the rate of the maximum impact force occurs is more quickly in a heel striking running. That force occurs nearly instantaneously with heel impact. When someone lands on the forefoot, the ankle is plantar flexed and the calf musculature is more active. These muscles can begin a “softening” process to the landing force. The maximum force is slightly less and occurs later in the striking time frame. The delay in the rise in impact force enables the muscles of the lower extremities to “absorb” the shock and protect the bones and joints.
All of this is great to know, but can a “heel striker” become a runner that lands on the forefoot? Studies done over the past several years indicate that a “heel striker” can change running form to become a “forefoot striker” but it takes a lot of effort and time. There are a number of studies that indicate that bio feedback techniques such as verbal cuing, using a metronome and the use of visual feedback can shorten the time period that is needed to change a runners landing technique.
The runner must be careful to avoid causing an injury by changing technique too quickly. The ability to change from a “heel striker” to a “forefoot striker” is dependent upon the strength of the lower extremity muscles. If the person is going to change the landing technique, it is important to increase distance and/or time running very slowly. It is not unreasonable for the transition to take up to 6 months or longer before someone can comfortably change landing technique safely and resume running distances equal to the amount that was routine prior to the change.
Attempting to change the landing technique too quickly, can result in soft tissue, bone or joint injuries to the lower extremities. Most of these injuries can be successfully treated in Physical Therapy, but they require a period of rest that includes no running. The Physical Therapy treatments will include numerous modalities to address the inflammation and pain and several exercises to stimulate blood flow to help the healing process and strengthen the muscles.
Running can be a great way to get a cardiovascular workout but it can create major problems for the lower extremities for some people. The landing technique that a person uses during the running gait can lead to an impact force that is not dampened by the lower extremities muscles. Changing the landing technique is possible, but it will take a long time to do it and most likely require the use of biofeedback techniques of some kind.
I had the same experience as you, Carlin. I have recently noticed that I’m a heel striker and I thought I should start correcting my running pattern and try to see what happens or how my body reacts to the new changes in my running style. I started landing on my forefoot and found it extremely difficult to be continued. As a physical therapy student, one of the questions I almost always ask from my ankle, calf or knee injured patients is whether they are heel strikers or forefoot strikers and also, whether they wear shoes with proper support or not. Considering the large number of injuries related to running and joint biomechanics and rate and magnitude of the impact, it is important to find out the leading cause or causes of injuries and try to correct them as much as we can. However, we are often negligent of the fact that learned habits, such as gait, are literally “engraved in stone” behaviors that are normally a great challenge for patients to reverse or alter.
Brain learns easily and forgets gradually. That’s why we need techniques such as biofeedback and neuromuscular re-education to help us substitute a learned habit with a new one.
This time of year many factors can come into play with running. Weather, allergies, but most importantly its a time of year when you can decide if the new running shoes you’ve purchased are really helpful or harmful. Like the above article states shoe support and running mechanics almost go hand in hand. Shoes will help absorb shock and allow the runner to have a natural gait mechanics depending on the time of shoe. If the shoe is too soft it does not absorb shock as well if the shoe is stiff it will cause trouble for the runner whereas they will try to adapt anatomically to compensate for pressures and forces going up the lower extremity. Other injuries such as back pain, hip pain, knee and ankle pain can come just simply from the furthest point of the body as the ankle. It is important for the runner if they are feeling any pain to get checked out by a local running store and a physical therapist where they can evaluate their running gait mechanics and recommend certain inserts, shoes, and ways to improve their running mechanics.
This article came at a perfect time for me. I am a runner and for the past few weeks I have been having some knee pain. Yesterday I went for a run and tried to be conscious of how I was landing. I am a habitual rearfoot striker but I attempted to strike with my forefoot for part of the run. It took a significant load off of my knee, however by the end of the run I was having foot pain. With most things regarding running, it is important to make slow transitions. Increasing distance slowly, increasing pace slowly and changing running mechanics slowly.
As stated in the article, proper footwear is just as important as proper running mechanics. Many running stores will perform an analysis on running style and recommend footwear to help correct any abnormalities. Correction of these abnormalities can reduce load on the Achilles tendon and risk of injury.
This article is quite thought provoking. In mechanics, a force applied over a period of time determines the magnitude of impact. This article implies that heel striking and forefoot striking incur the same force, but when heel striking the body cannot protect itself from forces “up the chain” as well due to a shorter time spent managing the load in that area by the muscles. The evidence is varied on running efficiency and longer vs. shorter contact times with the ground both showing high metabolic activity. In general it seems that spending less time on the ground costs more energy and more time on the ground results in loss of speed. Eccentric contraction of dorsiflexors in loading phase to prohibit a foot slap after a initial contact using a heel strike requires control, so perhaps if the dorsiflexors aren’t properly conditioned then foot slapping also becomes an added stress on the leg. This article only scrapes the surface of running efficiency since the components of eversion, inversion, abduction and adduction at the subtalar joint and transverse tarsal joint(s) haven’t been addressed, which would be specific to an individual. The three hop test is often used in the clinic to decide if someone is ready to return to running which mirrors this article’s discussion of forefoot loading. Any changes to a gait cycle require significant time.