01 Apr Get Run Ready
Get the most from your running & news from the clinic…
Getting ready for your first five km race or about to push out another marathon?
No matter what your running goals are, your physio can play an important role in getting you across the finish line.
From individuals exercising for general wellbeing, through social groups, to elite athletes, running is one of the leading participation sports in Australia.
Get run ready
Running has a broad range of associated health benefits including:
- Increasing fitness, endurance, agility and co-ordination
- Building bone strength
- Increasing muscle strength
- Decreasing Stress
- Increasing Wellbeing
However, whilst running is undoubtedly one of the best and most convenient ways to keep fit, its ‘high impact’ nature has the potential to make it the cause of a wide range of injuries.
Being experts in movement analysis, physios are highly skilled to review an individual’s running technique and pinpoint unnecessary and asymmetrical forces acting on the body that might increase the risk of injury or reinjury.
PHYSIO & RUNNERS – The Perfect Team – Nathan Sculthorpe from our Northern Sports Clinic shares his thoughts on Running & Physio
Unfortunately, amidst all the hype, it’s easy to lose focus on the basics. The latest shoes might help you look and feel the part; but working on an effective running style will help you feel great and stay injury free.
It does not matter whether you are a middle distance runner, a sprinter, in it to just make it, or looking to win, learning to run properly will help you stay injury free and make you a more efficient runner.
Working with your physio to iron out any troublesome mechanics in your running style may help improve your time and keep you primed for the running season.
training with increasing loads + strengthening + recovery = improved running
To improve running fitness and adapt to the stress and load of running, you need a training program which incorporates progressively higher running volumes.
Improvements to your style and times are achieved through planned and graduated increases in load along with strategically placed recovery and strengthening programs.
Your physio is ideally placed to work with you and/or your coach to help identify and manipulate your program to ensure that your training does not contribute to injury, fatigue and burnout.
While many people turn to their physio only when injury strikes, the reality is a couple of sessions with your physio early on in your training program can help you stay injury free and maximise the effects of your training.
How to get the most from your physio
According to Nathan Sculthorpe there is more to physio than just help for a running injury…
A large number of running injuries are preventable – so how do you maximise the health benefits of running but minimise the chance of injury?
You can use your physio for pre-hab to identify and address any weakness in your running biomechanics.
Any subtle muscle imbalances or poor recruitment patterns can be identified early and mitigated against; before the long kilometres and fatigue take their toll.
Our Physiotherapists at NOOSA SPORTS & SPINAL PHYSIO can help – get run ready & go running!
Fit for running
So, if you are thinking of doing fun run, have a plan that it is not quite working or are an experienced athlete looking for something more to improve your running economy, then it is worth talking with your physio today.
As a specialised musculoskeletal physio practice; our Physios at NOOSA SPORTS & SPINE PHYSIO will work with you in order to provide targeted, expert advice in relation to running performance enhancement, injury prevention and injury rehabilitation issues.
Call 5409 0024 for an appointment to help you achieve & maintain your best performance.
What happens at physio
Prior to commencing a running programme consult with your physio in order to identify any musculoskeletal or health problems that may contribute to injury.
Our skilled physio’s use 2 main approaches when assessing runners:
- Anatomical
- Pathomechanical
Anatomical
Using an anatomical approach, your physio will focus on the function of your joints, muscles, tendons and so forth to expose weakness or potential injuries.
They examine:
- joint ranges
- muscle imbalances
- muscle quality
- balance
Pathomechanical
Another approach, Pathoemechanical analysis – involves examining your running mechanics to identify faults.
Your physio is trained in running gait analysis -often incorporating treadmill and video analysis- to identify any underlying biomechanics issues.
Looking at:
- cadence
- stride length
- side to side imbalances
- head movement
- arm drive
- trunk movement
- pelvic position
- hip & knee angles
- landing patterns etc
Once any abnormal patterns are identified movement patterns are then altered and improved with specific exercises and drills.
Physio can help teach you the “Skill of Running”
They can work with you on correction strategies, and incorporate them into running drills and your training. Basically learning to run again!
Mind Matters
In the last 10 years there has been a lot of excitement about neuroplasticity; the way the brain changes how it works through the application of external stimulus.
Repeated drills & movement patterns result in cortical reorganisation; in the case of runners, this is the development and reinforcement of a correct and efficient motor pattern in your running gait.
