Specific Treatments for Runners

At Flex Muscle Therapy I get a variety of fitness people that need specific treatments for their sport or activity. It is important to keep up with your flexibility and mobility to stave off potential injuries that plague your specific sport. But sometimes your body needs to go in for a tune-up. As it turns out, with compensation patterns you may have some wonkiness and not even know it.

Our subject today is the weekend road runners. I see them out on my street all the time. I love to observe their flow and movement. You can map every runner's flow and you will never find an exact duplicate. Not to get too nerdy but we all have different variables that make us move the way we do. This is because we have a unique kinetic chain that is uniquely ours.

I started making an observation over the years and it is one that some fellow colleagues started making as well. I started noticing some sensitivity in the muscles associated with dorsiflexion (when your foot moves up towards your face). Clearly this is not really an area you want to be foam rolling. (Or IF you do that, don’t do that. Ouch!) However, this is definitely an area you want to be addressing in order to get the full range of motion of your feet. What is probably occurring in a lot of people are the layers of fascia and muscle are kind of stuck together and causing some restriction to movement. When the layers are more independent there is more flow.

I was watching a video where Tom Myers (Anatomy Trains) was talking about the benefits of forefoot running. Essentially you run on your toes and not let your heel strike the floor. Essentially making you silent. This is what made successful hunters in ancestral days. But we certainly are not hunting these days. But the coolest thing I learned was that when we run in this form we are actually using the elasticity of fascia to move forward and not relying on the standard energy system and muscles contracting and relaxing. This in turn actually improves the elasticity of the fascia and conserves energy. I’ve tried forefoot running and it is easier said than done. It takes quite a bit of practice to get used to this style of running.

So what steps should runners take in order to move more efficiently? Especially if they start experiencing pains. I personally like to watch your gait. I usually use the Slo-Mo camera to see what is going on first. That always gives great feedback as to where things are going well and where things need to improve. Next, I usually perform myofascial release and energy stretches. Then we go through a series of nerve glides and we will run the Slo-Mo test again to see if there are any improvements. If all goes well we can usually improve your time per mile almost right away.

On your own, you should be stretching your entire body. Foam rolling is a good way to bring blood flow to tight areas, but it has its limitation when it comes to improving range of motion. Running is a full-body movement so don’t ignore any tension you may have.

If you want to do any sort of activity you need to make time for warming up and mobility. This is a great way to reduce your chances of injury. Getting a monthly sports massage is a great investment in your activity because it is going to keep you from problems down the line.