Physics...Physiology...Physical Therapy

Video: Hip capsule stretches and preparing to run!

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Flexibility is an important factor for running efficiently and living life efficiently. When we think of flexibility, it’s easy to assume that muscles are the only parts of our body that need it. But is there anything else that needs to be stretched? Our joints are held together by tight ligamentous structures called capsules that are underneath the muscles. These capsules are unfortunately overlooked much of the time when we address our flexibility and movement, to our own detriment.Loosening up your hip joints will allow the muscles to work more easily.

This is the topic of this week’s video, specifically hip capsule stretches. Take a look and give the exercises a try, especially as part of your preparation and warming up to run. Again, it would make my week if you shared it with a friend who may find it useful!

Video: Exercises for Shin Pain

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Shin pain is a common issue with runners. In talking with several high school athletes and coaches, they report this to be one of their biggest areas of pain. It can certainly be a complicated thing to unravel after the pain starts in with each individual having specific needs. When you look at the common underlying factors, what you often see is lack of flexibility in the calves, as well as weakness in the feet and hips. All these contribute to increased ground contact time with each stride causing increased stress on the medial shin. This is the subject I tackle today in this video! Have a look and please tell me if these are helpful to you and what other topics you would like to see covered.

Also, it would make my week if you shared this video or the site with someone else. No pressure or anything!

Video: Exercises for hip pain with running

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Hi all! Sorry for the slight hiatus with posting. After receiving feedback, my hope is to have more video with better explanation and demonstration of the topics presented. So…if you’ve ever struggled with hip pain, or wish you had better strength in your core or glutes, here’s a video for you. Please let me know how you like it and what topics you would like to see covered in the near future. Happy trails!

Should you run differently in a team sport?

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Often the question is asked, should I run differently if I’m on the soccer field or basketball court, as opposed to distance running? The answer is a nice straightforward yes, and no. The physics of how the body works remain the same, but with a team sport the context changes very rapidly. In order to successfully play a team sport, a lot of stability is needed with side-to-side movements, so a quick cut can be made or so you don’t get tackled as easily. But it’s also helpful to be able to turn the jets on when a straight run is warranted, think a wide receiver getting loose in the open field, or a soccer player with a breakaway.

This brings us to this week’s star performer. Cooper is a former high school state champion mid-distance runner who has turned to ultimate frisbee in recent years. Let’s see what he looks like initially.

As you can see, his elbows are sticking out to the side and his arm swing is a little high in general. This is very common with team sport athletes, which again comes from the context of making lateral movements while running. Again, this can be a positive thing in the midst of a sport, but is a very inefficient way to run in a straight line. What this indicates is that his hips are not as stable as they should be while he is running, so carrying his arms high and elbows out helps to make up for that. Picture someone walking a tightrope carrying a long pole, the extra width makes balancing easier, and Cooper has figured out a way to make his upper body act as a pole.

He is also taking rather long strides and overstriding, and these are different things. Overstriding refers to where the foot hits the ground relative to where the body is at that moment, so anytime the foot strikes way out in front of the body is an overstride. One of the things to look for to discern if this is going on, is to look for the bottoms of his shoes when he is running directly toward the camera.

As another assessment, we had him run with his hands directly overhead. What this does is take away his cheating upper body and raises his center of gravity, essentially making it more difficult to balance. It’s interesting to see how his hips and lower core respond to this.

It certainly looks more awkward, but his overstride goes away, so this is helpful to give us some direction for making him more efficient. As a form drill and core training move, we simply had him hold light dumbbells overhead, further raising the center of gravity and forcing his hips to work harder.

He also did A-drills to develop proper foot strike closer to his body to avoid the overstride and keep his stride lengths more moderate. The key with this drill is to snap the foot straight up and strike it straight back down.

So after all this, here’s the new and improved Cooper.

His foot strike looks significantly better as his overstride is diminished. His upper body also looks more efficient as his arms are lower and elbows closer in. This indicates that he is engaging his hips more effectively. He certainly needs to perform these drills regularly and will see significant gains with his efficiency. Great job Cooper!

Knee pain in a jumper

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This is Jeremiah, he is a stud high jumper and runner who has had right anterior knee pain, which is his jumping leg. Our discussion today is in the context of jumping, but the biomechanical principals certainly carry over to running as well. We didn’t take any footage of him running, but this video of a single leg squat tells us plenty!

There’s a lot that can we can draw from watching him do a single leg squat. As you can imagine, every time he jumps off his right leg, he has to load that leg in a squatting movement. The biggest muscle groups that are responsible for propelling upward to jump are the gluts, quads, and calf. So the question that helps us is, how do these muscles know when they have been loaded enough to propel him skyward? There are a few factors that go into the answer. In order to engage the foot and calf, the big toe and medial forefoot have to be driven into the ground to their end-range. In the video, you can see his forefoot pronate heavily, which causes his knee to fall inward rather dramatically. In order to push off, he needs to have a rigid forefoot to propel with, which happens at the end-range of forefoot pronation. Only when his forefoot reaches the end-range of pronation, do the bigger muscles further up the chain (calves, quads, gluts) get the signal that it’s time to push off.

I realize that became a little geeky with the biomechanics, but stick with me. What it boils down to for his knee, which is where the pain has been, is that when it comes time to push off, his knee is at an awkward angle, which means that the quads are pulling on the tendon (front of knee cap) from a direction that is dysfunctional and weaker. This causes increased stress on the tendon and certainly affects his ability to perform.

So, what to do about it. What is tough to discern from the video, is that structurally he has forefoot varus, which means that when his ankle and heel are in a neutral position, his big toe is off the ground. This is a common thing, and most people with this type of foot appear to be flat-footed. One of the first things we did is put a little pad under the base of the big toe. This will hopefully be a temporary measure to cause the forefoot to load more quickly and keep the knee in a happier position. We also did this exercise to encourage the whole leg to stay in more proper alignment. The pull of the thera-band forces his gluts to fire more quickly, as well as strengthens the medial quad (VMO), and helps teach the foot and knee to stay in better alignment.

As you can see, his foot has to struggle to keep proper alignment. It certainly will take some work to build a better habit with this. Here is another simple exercise to strengthen a foot that demonstrates these types of patterns.

Again, with constant practice to build strength and consistency, this will help keep his knee in better alignment and get rid of the knee pain. Keep up the good work Jeremiah!

These principles also carry over to running. If you think this may be an issue for you, watch yourself do a single leg squat in a mirror, if your knee is dipping inward excessively, you might respond well to these exercises as well. Let me know how it goes.