With the wild ride that 2020 has been, we have noticed a movement trend in the clinic. What is it? Running! With everyone striving for social distancing, gym closures, wanting more time outdoors, and also wanting to stay active, we have seen a huge surge in the amount of runners entering our clinic!

With this uptick of running, we have had more patient requests for running gait analyses to correct form and prevent injuries. Your provider will have you run at your normal pace on a treadmill and record in slow-mo so that you can both take a look at your form and observe any dysfunction in your gait that may be contributing to symptoms.

Some of these dysfunctional gait patterns include:

  • Scissoring Gait: Criss-crossing your legs while running, minimal width between where your left and right foot land on the ground
  • Heel or Toe Contact: Unless sprinting, most runners should be landing on their midfoot to decrease excess load through ankles, knees, and hips
  • Shortened Stride: Expending energy to propel upwards instead of primarily forward, often due to glute weakness
  • Midfoot Position: Excess pronation or supination upon landing
  • Forward Trunk Lean: Often due to lumbar spine weakness contributing to lack of upright position

***Want to watch individual videos of these common dysfunctions? Check out our latest instagram post @IntegrativePT that displays these slow-mo running gait analyses!***

We unfortunately have also seen more running-related injuries enter the clinic. Oftentimes (there is no black and white in PT!), overuse lower extremity injuries may occur as a result of glute weakness and lack of ankle mobility. A systematic review in American Family Physician shows the most common running injuries as:

  • Knee
      • Patellar Tendinopathy: 12%
      • Iliotibial Band Syndrome: 10%
      • Patellofemoral Syndrome: 6%
  • Ankle and Foot
      • Ankle Sprain: 10%
      • Achilles Tendinopathy: 6-9%
      • Plantar Fasciitis: 5-18%
  • Hamstring 
      • Hamstring Tendinopathy: 12%
      • Hamstring Muscle Tear: 7%
  • Bone 
      • Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome: 10%
      • Tibial Stress Fracture: 4%

Have no fear, most of these are overuse injuries that can be managed with our conservative treatment and our unique IP approach utilizing kinetic chain movement patterns and tailored manual therapy treatments! Whether you are experiencing a running-related injury or would like to work on improving performance, give us a call and we can have you putting your best foot forward in no time!