Over the last year and a half, I have sucessfully altered my running form from a lumbering heal striker to a nimble mid-foot striker and my running times have improved. However, I am considering a switch back because I seem to be prone to achilles tendonitis. It hit me last season - and even after plenty of time off, I get little warning signs after just about every run. Right now, I'm not running enough miles to worry about it - but I do worry that it will be a problem during the racing season.. and I dont want it to become chronic.
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Re: Running form and Injury [Charlie]
[ In reply to ]
Charlie,
Congratulations on the running form change. I've managed the same change over the past few years. Ironically, I feel that doing so has lessened my tendency toward problems with the Achilles. I used to suffer terribly from tendonitis...even had to essentially give up running for about 6 months. Before you give up on the mid-foot striking, you might try a couple of things first. Have someone knowledgeable review your form to make sure you're not overstriding and actually landing more on the toes, rather than on the mid-foot. Second, and this one has been a life saver for me, I'd try following the protocol below. Runners World did an article on this protocol, and touted it's success sometime ago as well. Either route (or both) are bound to be better than going back to heel striking, which can lead to so many other sorts of injuries and shorten your running career. Good luck.
Lloyd
Achilles Tendinois Treatment
Am J Sports Med 1998 May-Jun ;26(3): 360-6
Heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training for the treatment of chronic Achilles tendinosis.
Alfredson H, Pietila T, Jonsson P, Lorentzon R
We prospectively studied the effect of heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training in 15 recreational athletes (12 men and 3 women; mean age, 44.3 +/- 7.0 years) who had the diagnosis of chronic Achilles tendinosis(degenerative changes) with a long duration of symptoms despite conventional nonsurgical treatment. Calf muscle strength and the amount of pain during activity (recorded on a visual analog scale) were measured before onset of training and after 12 weeks of eccentric training. At week 0, all patients had Achilles tendon pain not allowing running activity, and there was significantly lower eccentric and concentric calf muscle strength on the injured compared with the noninjured side. After the 12-week training period, all 15 patients were back at their preinjury levels with full running activity. There was a significant decrease in pain during activity, and the calf muscle strength on the injured side had increased significantly and did not differ significantly from that of the noninjured side. A comparison group of 15 recreational athletes with the same diagnosis and a long duration of symptoms had been treated conventionally, i.e., rest, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, changes of shoes or orthoses, physical therapy, and in all cases also with ordinary training programs. In no case was the conventional treatment successful, and all patients were ultimately treated surgically. Our treatment model with heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training has a very good short-term effect on athletes in their early forties.
Congratulations on the running form change. I've managed the same change over the past few years. Ironically, I feel that doing so has lessened my tendency toward problems with the Achilles. I used to suffer terribly from tendonitis...even had to essentially give up running for about 6 months. Before you give up on the mid-foot striking, you might try a couple of things first. Have someone knowledgeable review your form to make sure you're not overstriding and actually landing more on the toes, rather than on the mid-foot. Second, and this one has been a life saver for me, I'd try following the protocol below. Runners World did an article on this protocol, and touted it's success sometime ago as well. Either route (or both) are bound to be better than going back to heel striking, which can lead to so many other sorts of injuries and shorten your running career. Good luck.
Lloyd
Achilles Tendinois Treatment
Am J Sports Med 1998 May-Jun ;26(3): 360-6
Heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training for the treatment of chronic Achilles tendinosis.
Alfredson H, Pietila T, Jonsson P, Lorentzon R
We prospectively studied the effect of heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training in 15 recreational athletes (12 men and 3 women; mean age, 44.3 +/- 7.0 years) who had the diagnosis of chronic Achilles tendinosis(degenerative changes) with a long duration of symptoms despite conventional nonsurgical treatment. Calf muscle strength and the amount of pain during activity (recorded on a visual analog scale) were measured before onset of training and after 12 weeks of eccentric training. At week 0, all patients had Achilles tendon pain not allowing running activity, and there was significantly lower eccentric and concentric calf muscle strength on the injured compared with the noninjured side. After the 12-week training period, all 15 patients were back at their preinjury levels with full running activity. There was a significant decrease in pain during activity, and the calf muscle strength on the injured side had increased significantly and did not differ significantly from that of the noninjured side. A comparison group of 15 recreational athletes with the same diagnosis and a long duration of symptoms had been treated conventionally, i.e., rest, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, changes of shoes or orthoses, physical therapy, and in all cases also with ordinary training programs. In no case was the conventional treatment successful, and all patients were ultimately treated surgically. Our treatment model with heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training has a very good short-term effect on athletes in their early forties.
Re: Running form and Injury [Lloyd]
[ In reply to ]
Lloyd, what's the "treatment model with heavy-load eccentric calf muscle training"?
Can you share the specific exercises?
Matt
Can you share the specific exercises?
Matt
Re: Running form and Injury [Charlie]
[ In reply to ]
Can you give a little background on your running history?
Did you switch your running form after many years of running? What were your times before you changed, and what are they now for a given distance?
From your post, it seems that you are concerned that you will get slower by changing back to heel striking, and that if you stay the way you are, you will not be able to run because you are going to injure yourself.
I hear a lot about people and a certain running form. I don't know much about where it came from, but I assume that people have observed that fast runners have more of a mid-foot strike. Being from a running background where I competed at anything from 400m - 5 Km, it occurs to me that my foot strike changed with my speed. Especially now that I am out of shape and running longer distances, I never go faster than 7:00 min/mile pace, I have more heel strike than I used to have when I ran the 400 m, or even 5 K's. I wonder which causes which, does the body naturally adapt when you go faster by moving to a midfoot strike, or does moving to a mid-foot strike make you faster? I tend to believe in the first one myself, but I could be wrong, or more likely this can't be generalized to the masses. I'm curious if your decreased times came from fitness rather than form.
If you do believe in changing your form, then I'd say that patience in training and physical therapy could keep you injury free. Check out www.julstro.com and go to the discussion forum. You can post your symptoms and see if someone has a remedy for you. You may just be over doing it in training, and all you need is a little massage therapy, and a slower build-up.
That's my uneducated opinion.
---------------------------------------------------------
"What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind and body can achieve; and those who stay will be champions."
Did you switch your running form after many years of running? What were your times before you changed, and what are they now for a given distance?
From your post, it seems that you are concerned that you will get slower by changing back to heel striking, and that if you stay the way you are, you will not be able to run because you are going to injure yourself.
I hear a lot about people and a certain running form. I don't know much about where it came from, but I assume that people have observed that fast runners have more of a mid-foot strike. Being from a running background where I competed at anything from 400m - 5 Km, it occurs to me that my foot strike changed with my speed. Especially now that I am out of shape and running longer distances, I never go faster than 7:00 min/mile pace, I have more heel strike than I used to have when I ran the 400 m, or even 5 K's. I wonder which causes which, does the body naturally adapt when you go faster by moving to a midfoot strike, or does moving to a mid-foot strike make you faster? I tend to believe in the first one myself, but I could be wrong, or more likely this can't be generalized to the masses. I'm curious if your decreased times came from fitness rather than form.
If you do believe in changing your form, then I'd say that patience in training and physical therapy could keep you injury free. Check out www.julstro.com and go to the discussion forum. You can post your symptoms and see if someone has a remedy for you. You may just be over doing it in training, and all you need is a little massage therapy, and a slower build-up.
That's my uneducated opinion.
---------------------------------------------------------
"What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind and body can achieve; and those who stay will be champions."
Re: Running form and Injury [mts]
[ In reply to ]
Eccentrics repeats = emphasis on the lowering portion of the rep.
What I do is use two legs to raise myself to my toes, and then lower slowly all the way down one leg at a time. That way the weight (and I started with just body weight) is lifted upward by both legs. The benefit comes with the slow, eccentric (downward) loading. I've come to the conclusion that there is a strenghtening as well as a stretching component to this protocol, and benefits probably derive from both.
What I do is use two legs to raise myself to my toes, and then lower slowly all the way down one leg at a time. That way the weight (and I started with just body weight) is lifted upward by both legs. The benefit comes with the slow, eccentric (downward) loading. I've come to the conclusion that there is a strenghtening as well as a stretching component to this protocol, and benefits probably derive from both.
Re: Running form and Injury [Lloyd]
[ In reply to ]
The stretching part of the exercise is the component that helps the Achilles Tendonitis (AT). Not the strengthening.
It is interesting to me that they found that AT was coming from the calf muscles, but stopped there. While the "normal accepted" forms of treatment were ineffective, nobody asked "WHY?"
After having AT for 16 months, and told again to take yet another two weeks off or face bone spurs and perhaps even surgery, I went looking.
This is what I learned. AT occurs when stress is places on the Achilles tendon. The muscles of the calf, the Gastroc or the Soleus, or both are pulling it on. What causes them to do that? Spasms in the muscle tissue itself. Obviously, how you run will have some affect on this.
As an example, biking and swimming caused my AT. But it hurt when I ran. Keeping my ankle straight, in biking and toes pointed down in swimming caused the AT, because they weren't being used in their full range of motion. This causes the muscle to become shortened. And since the muscle expands and contracts, but not the tendon, the pain is felt in the tendon. It doesn't stretch. That's not its function. It attaches the muscle to the bone. The pain is "referred," and is similar to pulling on your hair in that respect. Your hair doesn't hurt. Your scalp hurts where your hair is attached. It won't stop hurting until you stop pulling on your hear. At the Julstro muscular therapy website, this is explained much better that I am doing.
The point is, that by stretching out the calf muscles, the Achilles tendonitis will go away. However, just stretching alone won't do the trick. Once you have AT, you need to aggressively work on your claves.
The spasms need to be worked out, and you can easily do that yourself. The treatment I found does work very well. If you go to the julstro website discussion forum, you will find posts on the problem. Many people are finding out how well this form of self-treatment is working. www.julstro.com/18.html
Good luck.
It is interesting to me that they found that AT was coming from the calf muscles, but stopped there. While the "normal accepted" forms of treatment were ineffective, nobody asked "WHY?"
After having AT for 16 months, and told again to take yet another two weeks off or face bone spurs and perhaps even surgery, I went looking.
This is what I learned. AT occurs when stress is places on the Achilles tendon. The muscles of the calf, the Gastroc or the Soleus, or both are pulling it on. What causes them to do that? Spasms in the muscle tissue itself. Obviously, how you run will have some affect on this.
As an example, biking and swimming caused my AT. But it hurt when I ran. Keeping my ankle straight, in biking and toes pointed down in swimming caused the AT, because they weren't being used in their full range of motion. This causes the muscle to become shortened. And since the muscle expands and contracts, but not the tendon, the pain is felt in the tendon. It doesn't stretch. That's not its function. It attaches the muscle to the bone. The pain is "referred," and is similar to pulling on your hair in that respect. Your hair doesn't hurt. Your scalp hurts where your hair is attached. It won't stop hurting until you stop pulling on your hear. At the Julstro muscular therapy website, this is explained much better that I am doing.
The point is, that by stretching out the calf muscles, the Achilles tendonitis will go away. However, just stretching alone won't do the trick. Once you have AT, you need to aggressively work on your claves.
The spasms need to be worked out, and you can easily do that yourself. The treatment I found does work very well. If you go to the julstro website discussion forum, you will find posts on the problem. Many people are finding out how well this form of self-treatment is working. www.julstro.com/18.html
Good luck.
Good point, TW. I have Julie's hardcopy book, and her ebook as well, and use her advice and protocols often...including at the moment as I'm working through some IT problems. I met her at IM Utah last summer, and was impressed at how much she helped my wife deal with an issue that had nearly caused her to withdraw from the race (which, in hindsight, perhaps she should have done, but not because of the chronic injury). That said, having used the protocol I cited above, I think that the strengthening portion is part and parcel of the recovery as well. I know that in my case my calf muscles have become considerably stronger, and my Achilles tendon thicker (as is typical for connective tissue when the adjacent muscles are strengthened) by reason of the exercises. But, I'd agree that getting rid of the spasms is key.