Proprioception is our awareness of our body and how it moves. There are a few cases of people who have lost this awareness and only one individual who has taught himself to be able to walk again by retraining his brain. (http://videos.howstuffworks.com/discovery/30683-one-step-beyond-loss-of-proprioception-video.htm and http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/episodes/2006/05/05). Our bodies use V3 neurons to ensure coordination between the left and right sides (http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/how-the-body-maintains-balance-while-walking_100105195.html).
There are many coaches and teachers who teach various ways to run. Here is a sampling of a few:
Chi Running promises injury free running and increased efficiency. The inventor, Danny Dreyer, based the form on elements of tai chi balance along with the use of gravity in the tilt of the body in running. You can read more at http://www.chirunning.com/shop/home.php.
The Alexander Technique is used not only for walking and running, but dancing and other ways of moving. The emphasis is on as awareness of your body and how it moves and to learn to move more comfortably and without pain. (http://alexandertechnique.com/)
The McCall Technique emphasizes form and balance and, as do the prior two, mid-foot strike. http://www.mccallbodybalance.com/ and http://mccallmethod.com/
The last technique we will look at is Nicholas Romanov's Pose Method. (http://www.posetech.com/) There is an emphasis on relaxation and mid foot strike and there are drills to improve performance.
One thing to keep in mind, when you change form, you stress your body. Ross Tucker of the Science of Sport wrote in 2008:
"...what the Pose running study at UCT showed me a few years ago is that if you change the landing of the foot, you predispose the athlete to injury - that study took a group of runners and within two weeks had them all running on the midfoot (please don't write in to say that Pose doesn't mean midfoot, because Romanov was the coach and he was happy with their technique!). Two weeks later, they all broke down with Achilles tendon injuries!Why? Because sitting where you are right now, if I was to walk into your office or your home and take you outside and ask you to please run landing on your forefoot or midfoot, I can pretty much guarantee that the way you would achieve this is to point your toe down...you're probably doing this as you read this - contract the calf, and point your toe away from your body, like in ballet. Now imagine your body weight landing on that contracted calf muscle 85 times a minute for 4 hours. That, simply put, is a recipe for disaster.However, if you can gradually change your landing, then I do believe that you can shift your footstrike. But it's a gradual process. And more important, what is the point? There is no evidence that heel-strikers are injured more, no evidence that mid-foot runners are faster and perform better than heel-strikers, and so the ultimate question is:Why would you want to change your foot landing to begin with? Science has little to offer you in support of this. And so my advice, having read this far (well done!), is to forget about the possibility that you're landing "wrongly", and just let your feet land where, and how they land, and worry about all the other things you can when you run!If there is one thing you change in your running, don't focus on your footstrike, but rather on WHERE your feet land relative to your body. Because if you are over-reaching and throwing your foot out in front of you, that's a problem, but what happens when the rubber meets the road is less relevant!" http://www.sportsscientists.com/2008/04/running-technique-footstrike.html
Investigate techniques, find what works for you, and one thing consistant through these techniques is balance and relaxation.
No comments:
Post a Comment