Running form is commonly being discussed and debated in the running world today. But how will you know what is the appropriate running form? Here are some useful tips on better running form to be more efficient and therefore reduce your likelihood of injury.

5 Tips for better running form

1. Running Posture:

• Stand tall with torso upright with toes pointing outwards.
• Shoulders should be low and relaxed.
• Run with head up and gaze ahead, don’t look down at feet.
• Elbows 90o and imagine you’re carrying a potato chip in each hand without crushing it.

2. Optimal Cadence:

• Ideally your foot should be striking the floor 180 per min.
• This reduces your ground contact time and reduces injury risk.
• Less time on the ground, mean less energy needed to propel forward thus making you more efficient.
• To calculate, count your right foot strike for 20s and multiply by 6.
• Run light and avoid pounding.

3. Avoid heel striking:

• Heel striking is simply explained as your hips behind your feet.
• Slow cadence is often linked with heel-striking.
• Heel striking makes it very difficult to push off because your foot is in front of your hips. Your hips should be over your feet in order to propel forward.
• Heel striking and over striding lead to breaking and increases risk of injury.
• Mid foot landing is optimal for running, so attempt to land more midfoot rather than heel or forefoot. Forefoot running can lead to strained calves or Achilles injuries.

4. Increase joint mobility:

• Decreased range of motion at a joint can limit your speed, reducing your cadence thus increasing risk of injury.
• If there is a restriction in mobility in the lower limb when running, then there is a higher risk of injury.
• Full mobility is needed to run fast and efficiently.
• Joints that need full range motion for running are: the thoracic spine, the hips and the ankles.

5. Lean:

• Momentum is important in running in order to propel you forward. This can be achieved through forward lean.
• If you lean from your ankles without bending at the waist you generate increased momentum when running.
• This allows you to use gravity to your advantage and propel you forward and minimises bouncing up and down during running.
• Flexing at the ankle reduces the unnecessary strain caused during toe off.

Exercises to do to improve your running form:

1. Posture: Clasp hands and reach overhead to try to reset posture prior to running. Stand up against a wall with heels against the wall and try keep head, spine and heels against the wall.
2. Cadence: Calculate your cadence and try to increase it to between 170-180 strides per min whilst taking shorter and lighter strides.
3. Midfoot: March on the spot with emphasis on midfoot landing underneath your hips rather than in front.
4. Mobility: work on some running specific mobility exercises to mobilise the thoracic spine, hips and ankles before your run, but focus on static muscle stretches after your run.
5. Lean: work on ankle mobility exercises to increase the range of motion. Then practice leaning your body weight forward in a straight line whilst standing.

 

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Returning to running or higher intensity activity can be a daunting challenge for women who have had children three months ago, or even three years ago. At The Moving Body, our physiotherapists are trained in the specialty of Women’s Health and can help you achieve your goals of returning to walking, running or high impact activity. In this blog post, we give you more information about how and when to start your return to running program.

Are there any guidelines for returning to running postnatal?

In 2019, three renowned women’s health and running physiotherapists developed the first ever Return to Running Postnatal guidelines 1 . The guidelines were the first of its kind, and were developed to give healthcare professionals and postnatal women advice with regard to returning to higher impact exercise, like running, after pregnancy. The ‘take home’

message from the guidelines was that it is not a ‘one size fits all’ recovery, and that each return to running program varies depending on the individual. Furthermore, it highlighted the lack of research that has been carried out in this area. No studies to date, specific to the postnatal population have been carried out to evaluate return to running after pregnancy.

The recommendations:

• It is recommended that every woman undergo a postnatal assessment* with a qualified Women’s Health physiotherapist, regardless of method of delivery or whether or not they have had a perineal tear.
• Women can benefit from an individualized assessment and guided pelvic floor rehabilitation for the prevention and management of pelvic organ prolapse, the management of urinary incontinence, and for improved sexual function.
• Return to running is not advisable prior to three months postnatal or beyond if any symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction are identified prior to, during or after attempting return to running.
• Healthcare professionals should assess pelvic health, load impact management and strength testing in order to evaluate readiness to running postnatal.
• Additional factors such as body weight, breastfeeding, sleep, fitness and psychological status should be considered prior to return to running postnatal.

Initial postpartum stage – What can you do?

Below is a list of activities that you can do in the first six weeks postpartum. It is important to remember to listen to the body, starting slowly before gradually building up your tolerance and advancing exercises. If you are unsure of an exercise or how to progress, it is important to consult with a physiotherapist or a fitness professional trained in postnatal rehabilitation.

• Gentle walking, building up to cross trainer, stationary bike or swimming.
• Pelvic floor exercises.
• Gentle abdominal exercises such as pelvic tilting or knee rolls (ensure tissue healing prior to starting abdominal exercises if after caesarean section)
• Gentle resistance exercises such as squats without additional weights.

When is it too soon to start running?

It is recommended that you go and get a pelvic health checkup prior to returning to running. As a rule of thumb, it is advisable not to run prior to three months postnatal or beyond this if experiencing any symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction, however, if your pelvic health physiotherapist can help assess.

Contraindications to returning to running too early postnatal?

Running is considered a high impact activity and places a high demand on the body. During moderate running, the force going through the legs and pelvic floor is more than doubled, therefore, it is important to ensure the body is strong enough to tolerate this load. Returning to running too soon, before the body is ready, may lead to pelvic floor dysfunction and musculoskeletal injury. High impact exercise has been found to have an

almost three times increased risk of pelvic floor dysfunction 2 . Signs and symptoms to seek further medical advice include:

• Urinary or faecal incontinence prior to or on commencement of running.
• Heaviness or dragging in the vagina on commencement of running.
• Musculoskeletal pain prior to or on commencement of running.
• Decreased abdominal strength or function/ pendular abdomen – this may indicate diastasis recti abdominis (DRA).
• Ongoing vaginal bleeding not related to menstrual cycle.
• Anyone experiencing these symptoms should be evaluated by their women’s health
• physiotherapist or GP prior to returning to running.

Anyone experiencing these symptoms should be evaluated by their women’s health physiotherapist or GP prior to returning to running.

Other factors for consideration prior to returning to running:

• Body Weight: Being overweight increases the load through the pelvic floor, and women with a BMI > 30 are at higher risk of pelvic floor symptoms and musculoskeletal injury. Low impact exercise is advisable until BMI is within targeted range.
• Fitness: Levels of fitness pre pregnancy, during pregnancy and birth experience and issues should be considered.
• Psychological Status: Women should use other coping mechanisms as well as running for management of psychological issues like postnatal depression.
• Diastasis Recti Abdominis (DRA): DRA may indicate reduce abdominal strength and control, which leads to a higher risk of musculoskeletal injury.
• Breastfeeding: Breast feeding prolongs the presence of hormonally altered environment postnatal which can impact joint and ligament laxity. This, in turn may increase the risk of developing injury or dysfunction. It is also important to consider timing of runs around feeds, to ensure that breasts are not too full or likely to become uncomfortable.
• Uterine Scar Healing: Ensure healing of scar and scar tissue mobilization prior to running to reduce pain and restriction.
• Supportive Clothing: A good supportive (rather than compressive) sports bra can help reduce stress on the body during running. As shoe size can often change during pregnancy, ensure that your shoes are correctly fitted.
• Sleep: Sleep is key for recovery both mentally and physically, and can often be impaired postnatally. Sleep deprivation has shown to have an increased risk of injury in athletes. It is important to optimize sleep routines as much as possible.
• Running with a buggy: Involves increased energy expenditure and altered biomechanics. It is advisable to start running alone first before introducing the buggy

How can your women’s health physiotherapist help?

Your women’s health physiotherapist will carry out a detailed examination to determine your fitness for return to running, from doing a pelvic floor examination to checking for diastasis rectus abdominis. From there, we can formulate a treatment plan and advise you on how to prevent and manage any issues you might be experiencing and how best to begin your return to running.

 

Image credit: Canva Pro

 

Menopause marks an important milestone in a woman’s life and the changes brought upon are not overnight but gradual. They start with perimenopause during the 40s. There are changes not only to the body but also psychological. Every woman’s experience varies – for some the changes are manageable and for others it can be disruptive.

Exercise can play a very important role in combatting menopause. Continuing with a proper fitness regime can help with weight management, alleviate bone density loss, increase strength, balance and emotional well-being.

Pilates can help with menopause symptoms. It helps with:

• Breathing – women during this period tend to experience anxiety and deep breathing in Pilates can calm the mind and improve focus.
• Strength – with the decline in estrogen, women during this period need to add resistance training to help maintain bone density, and prevent osteoporosis.
• Pelvic floor strengthening – very important during this stage to combat any urinary incontinence issues.
• Core Stability – To maintain posture and balance.
• Flexibility – Important to keep the body supple for injury prevention.
• Relaxation – Along with breathing, aids with sleeping better and have fun while doing the exercises.

Pilates sessions can be tweaked to service this population better. This can be in terms of:

• Inclusion of more resistance and weight bearing exercises to improve bone density.
• Inclusion of jump-board or interval training to increase cardio-vascular workout.
• Customisation of the sessions to improve posture and balance which tend to deteriorate with age.

Working in this area is of special interest to me as I have noticed the difference in this age group between women who work out regularly and those who say they are tired and start to take things easy. The weight gain, self-doubt, fatigue and lethargy are some of the symptoms of those who don’t exercise regularly. With loss of estrogen, women at this stage have more testosterone and are stronger when comes to strength training and should take advantage of this to push themselves.

Image credit: Unsplash, Bruce Mars

Picture the scene, you are at the start line, patiently waiting to run head first into the water along with 50 or more other people in your wave start or treading water desperately trying not to tire yourself out before you start the swim ahead.

Picture the scene, you are at the start line, patiently waiting to run head first into the water along with 50 or more other people in your wave start or treading water desperately trying not to tire yourself out before you start the swim ahead.

If you are lucky it is a wetsuit swim, the wetsuit giving you some welcomed buoyancy – unless of course you are a swimmer, one of those triathletes who swam before they could walk and just look so effortless as you flail your arms through the water to make it through the distance!

Personally, I was always grateful the swim was first, out of the way and then it was happy days on the bike!

It didn’t seem to matter what coaches told me about my freestyle technique, and I had a few coaches try to help (4 to be exact) – they all said similar things but none of them made enough sense to me and once i was face down, horizontal in the water I definitely had no idea!

What is it about being that way in water that totally threw my proprioception out of whack? As a Pilates trainer with pretty good body awareness and co-ordination, it was so frustrating to find myself unable to ‘keep my elbow high’, ‘press through the water’, ‘keep your fingers facing the bottom of the pool’ – I thought I was! The coaches saw otherwise.

And what about legs – what were they meant to do again? My triathlon coach (not swim coach) used the pull buoy in most of my training sessions – heaven on earth as far as I was concerned, now I can swim! As soon as my toy was taken away from me it was as if I had 2 separate body halves. Someone asked me to count once how many leg kicks I did per stroke – I tried to count for them, I tried – I failed. My body and mind became totally disconnected and I decided to ignore the request!

I was strong enough though to get myself through the swim of most races I did in the top three and I have Pilates to thank for that.

I mainly used the Reformer to focus on my swim arms – as much as I could understand from what the coaches had said. I developed strong rotator cuff muscles, and kept myself open in the chest with GYROTONIC® method. My core strength helped to give me some lift in the water and not totally sink my legs. Planks on the Reformer definitely developed my streamlined torso so if I ever did manage to suss out the technique needed for swimming I had the internal stability and external strength for it! The Chair helped my spine stay subtle and rotate in a face down position, being able to move with control from one side to the other as if in the water. My leg kick wasn’t too bad on land – but again as soon as I hit the water and I had to coordinate I became dissociated from what my upper and lower body were doing! My legs were an issue as they are with most bikers and runners – they tended to drop in the water too much and create drag. With a strong core and glutes it helped to minimise the drag, but not as much as I needed to keep up with the lead girls.

Why did this not all come together in the water itself? Might be due to a near drowning when I was 9 leaving me a deep subconscious fear of relaxing as I swam – instead I tended to fight the water. So as calm and smooth and graceful as I might be on the Pilates equipment, it never held well enough together in the swim.

However, I never developed any swim injuries due to my total body stability and I used to swim 12km a week using hand paddles too – I developed strength to swim as opposed to form, not ideal but it worked better for me. Pilates and my knowledge of movement and the body and positioning kept me injury free.

I still swim – normally with a pull buoy and now I enjoy it more, very little focus on my 100m time, but I still have the coaches’ voices going round in my head in an attempt to help me become a swimmer.

Article written by Lisa Jones, Pilates Master Trainer and Triathlete

 

Image Credit: Unsplash, Todd Quackenbush

Many myths exist around exercise during pregnancy. Everywhere we look we are faced with different opinions, varying beliefs and questionable advice. It is important to not be misinformed and get the facts straight.

In the early to mid 1900s, pregnancy was considered a state of confinement. Exercise was strongly discouraged for numerous different reasons such as preterm labour and overheating. Most of the research that led to these beliefs stemmed from animal studies, not humans. Over the coming decades, more and more research into exercise during pregnancy was conducted and as such, there was a gradual acceptance of exercise as a safe and beneficial activity during the gestational period.

Exercise and Pregnancy

In 2015, the ACOG (American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) came up with a set of guidelines for physical activity during pregnancy and in the postpartum period. In summary, they encourage women with uncomplicated pregnancies to participate in moderate intensity aerobic and strength conditioning exercises on a regular basis (at least 150mins per week). They state that exercise in pregnancy has minimal risks, and benefits the individual by assisting with weight management, enhances psychological well-being and reduced the risk of gestational diabetes.

It is important to consult a health professional to ensure that you are safe to exercise and do not have any pre-existing medical conditions that may put you at risk of harming yourself or your developing foetus.

The ACOG listed numerous activities that are safe to continue or initiate at a moderate intensity during your pregnancy: walking, Pilates (modified), swimming, stationary bike, yoga (modified), running, strength training. Activities that they deemed unsafe include: contact sports (eg boxing or soccer), skiing, horseback riding, scuba diving or ‘hot’ yoga.

Know Your Limits

How do you know if you are exercising at the correct level? Exercise safely with certified professionals and use the ‘talk test’. You should be able to maintain a conversation while you are working out.

Pilates is an excellent way to keep fit during your pregnancy.

It is a slow paced, low impact activity with emphasis on strength and conditioning. With modification to exercises, it allows the pregnant woman to be challenged in a safe environment, enhancing strength and fitness levels.

It is key for women to view their pregnancy as a time to prepare your body for the physical changes and labour. Here at The Moving Body, we have an interest in the care and treatment of pregnant and post-natal women. We have physiotherapists specialised in pregnancy physiotherapy that can advise you on techniques and exercise to prevent or reduce symptoms that rise from pregnancy. We have pre-natal classes (physio-led and pilates based) at The Moving Body that helps to strengthen and tone both upper and lower limbs, stretches muscles that typically tighten during pregnancy, and cues the pelvic floor muscles.