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Running analysis San Diego

Running Analysis San Diego

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Running Analysis San Diego

Case Study 1- Runner’s Knee

In this running analysis case study, we look at what is exacerbating our patient’s “runner’s knee”. He is a triathlete, who is new to the sport. The knee pain is worse following runs and hard efforts on the bike. Stretching, foam rolling, Active Release treatments seem to help but the pain always returns. He has never had a running analysis, so we put him on the treadmill to see what his running technique looks like.  Watch the complete in depth running analysis below.

Additional Information

Before the running analysis, we performed a physical exam. Our patient is 6’3″ and weighs around 190 lbs. As mentioned in the video, he was found to have a slow cadence, over stride, and demonstrated a cross over gait. Those findings with a runner of his size can create a lot of impact force with each step. To reduce the strain in the knee, it is crucial to get his feet to land closer to his body. In his case, increasing cadence helped accomplish this. It is important to note however that not everybody will need to perform the same corrections to get the foot closer to the body.  This  is what makes a running analysis so valuable; each runner may need to work on different cues to accomplish the same goal.

Future Considerations

Watching the running analysis above, you may think “But he can work on this, and this, and this to help with his form too!”. I believe he can work on more cues and drills to help with his running form. BUT if you give a runner too many cues to work on immediately, they will likely get overwhelmed with the information and not properly execute the cues/drills. Further more, they will likely end up running very stiff, and out of sync making the runs feel terrible!

For these reasons, we will only give 1 to 2 cues/drills to work on at a time. We want our runners to ENJOY running while making beneficial changes to their running technique! So for our patients case, we recommend 4-8 weeks to start working on changing his technique. Then we perform a second running analysis to get a new baseline and then make further recommendations from there.

Schedule your running analysis today at www.peakformhealthcenter.com! Our running experts at Peak Form Health Center in Mission Valley, San Diego have worked with hundreds of runners. We are located near Hillcrest, Normal Heights, La Mesa, Ocean Beach, Point Loma, and Clairemont Mesa. Our exertise will get you back to running injury free and increase your performance!

Gait Analysis San Diego

Gait Analysis San Diego- Cross Over Gait

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Gait Analysis San Diego- Cross Over Gait

A running gait analysis is very helpful when a runner is dealing with an injury. One of the more problematic gaits that we identify during our running gait analysis is a cross over gait. The cross over gait or tight rope gait is present when a runner steps across the position of the previous foot of the opposite leg. They run very narrow in a cross over gait and often appear very wobbly in their legs when running. Take a look at the picture of one of our triathletes below. He has been dealing with knee pain following runs and it was found he runs with a cross over gait.

Running Gait Analysis Cross Over Gait

Signs and Symptoms of a Cross Over Gait

Often times, runners are unaware that they run with this style of gait. The most common signs and symptoms of a cross over gait include:

How to Identify a Cross Over Gait

To properly identify a cross over gait, a run gait analysis is a necessity. A run gait analysis will take a look at the runners run gait from several different views to see what form inefficiencies they are running with. Once the gait pattern is identified, gait cues/corrections are given. With dedication to drills and training, running gait changes will occur.

Can Shoes or Exercises Correct a Cross Over Gait?

Short answer is no.  It does not matter what shoes are worn if you run with a cross over gait. You may notice some improvement with certain types of shoes but it will simply mask the underlying problem and prevent the real cure. Strengthening and stretching may also help manage symptoms of the cross over gait but will not fix the cause of the injury. Strengthening may allow the runner to run further each week but eventually, the tissues will max out and fall back into injury if the cross over gait is present. The only thing that helps get rid of a cross over gait is working on changing running form.

Treatment

Schedule a running gait analysis to get proper identification of what running form inefficiencies are causing your injury. Once they are identified, running cues and drills will be give to stat making permanent changes to your running form. Our running gait analysis is performed at our Mission Valley San Diego office. We are located near the neighborhoods of Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach, Normal Heights, Hillcrest, Serra Mesa, La Mesa, and Tierrasanta. Schedule online at www.peakformhealthcenter.com to get your running form evaluated today!

 

Hip pain running doctor San Diego

Types of Hip Pain and Running

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The hips play an important role during running. Running is essentially a single legged sport once you break down the movement.  The hip not only helps propel the body forward but also is a stabilizer of the lower back and the leg during the gait cycle. Due to the demands placed on the hip, it is susceptible to overuse, and acute running injuries. A running doctor can help by diagnosing the problem correctly and developing a treatment plan to get you back to running pain free.

Common types of hip injuries found in runners

There are many types of running injuries that can occur at the hip. Pain may be felt in the front, outside,inside, or back of the hip. Certain cases runner’s will describe the pain as deep in the hip joint. We will categorize the most common types of injuries we see based on location of the injury:

Front hip pain in runners

  • Hip flexor strain
  • Rectus Femoris/quadricep strain
  • Iliopsoas bursitis
  • Iliopsoas tendinitis/tendinosis
  • Rectus femoris tendinitis/tendinosis
  • Hip impingement
  • Hip labral tear
  • Stress reaction/stress fracture
  • Hernia

Outside hip pain in runners

  • Gluteus Medius tendinopathy
  • Iliotibial band syndrome
  • TFL strain
  • Trochanteric bursitis

Inside hip pain in runners

  • Adductor strain
  • Adductor tendinopathy
  • Iliopsoas tendinopathy
  • Hip impingement
  • Hernia

Back hip pain in runners

  • Hip osteoarthritis
  • Hip labral tear
  • Gluteal muscle strain
  • High Hamstring injury
  • Piriformis syndrome
  • Low back pain referral
  • Sciatica

To complicate the injury spectrum, there are cases where runners feel pain in the hip but is a referral from joint/nerve impingement from the lower back. Also if the hip is weak and injured, other injuries to the lower back, knee, shin, and foot may become prominent. Receiving a diagnosis from a running doctor trained in diagnosing and treating runners is very important.

Hip pain treatment

Our sports chiropractors at our Mission Valley office are trained to treat a wide variety of running injuries. We specialize in Active Release Technique, Graston technique, running form analysis, and rehabilitative/performance exercise. Schedule today to get evaluated by a running doctor who knows how to get your training back on track!

IT band syndrome exercises san diego

Cross-Over Gait Correction

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Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. We may earn an affiliate commission if you click on a link and purchase an item we recommend. This doesn’t add any additional cost to you, but helps support our business.

How to Fix a Cross-Over Gait

The best way to work on cross–over gait is to perform running drills! Many runners are simply unaware that they run with a cross-over gait. Specific running drills to address a this type of gait will significantly improve running efficiency and decrease risk for injury. At our Mission Valley sports injury clinic, we stress the importance of running drills to all of our running patients.

There are three main drills that significantly reduce cross-over gait: increasing cadence, running wider, and activating the hip stabilizers while moving through gait.

  1. Cadence– I talk extensively about cadence in our blog post here. In a nutshell, by increasing running cadence, there is less time for your feet to travel across midline.  Slow cadence allows more time for your feet to creep over midline.
  2. Run wide using a track line– Run around a track with lane lines (or white bicycle lane line). Run so the line is in the middle of your body. The goal is to land with the inner right foot touching the right outer border of the line and vice versa for the left foot. It may feel like you are running VERY wide but with practice it will feel more normal. Practice this drill on the straight away on the track about 4-6 times. Over time you will start to run wider naturally.
  3. Walking hip hikers– The goal is to activate the gluteal muscles, and hold while taking a step. This builds the mind body connection to the hip/core muscles while moving during gait. Watch the video below for a detailed look at the walking hip hiker.

What About Increasing Core Strength?

Core and gluteal strengthening drills alone will not magically get rid of a cross-over gait; again working on correcting the gait will do that. That being said, working on the core and gluteal muscles in conjunction with gait retraining, will support proper running gait. The stronger the supporting muscles are, the more capable they are to resist fatigue during workouts and races. Some runners have no issues with their gait for runs between 3 and 10 miles. Once long runs increase to the 12, 14, 16 mile range, gait issues begin to occur. In this scenario, strengthening workouts to the core and gluteal muscles are paramount to avoid running form breakdown during longer runs. Here are a few of our favorite core and gluteal strengthening exercises:

Gluteal bridge

Lay flat on your back, knees bent, and feet flat on the floor just wider than hip width apart. Brace your abdomen to engage the core. Press through your heels to lift the pelvis upward until it is in line with the knees and shoulders. Avoid arching through the back. Add a band around the knees for more gluteal activation. Sets: 3 Reps: 10-20

Bridges improve core and gluteal muscle strength, important for running               Bridges improve core and gluteal muscle strength, important for running

Monster walking 

Place a medium resistance mini-loop band around the ankles. Spread feet shoulder width apart and sit into a shallow squat, keeping your core engaged. Step forward and slightly outward with one foot and then repeat with the other. Take 5-10 steps forward and 5-10 steps backward. Continue until you feel a good exercises burn in the muscles of the outer hip. Sets: 3 Reps: Go until it burns

Walking with a band strengthens the gluteus medius muscle to improve hip and low back stability               Walking with a band strengthens the gluteus medius muscle to improve hip and low back stability

Crab walking     

Place a medium resistance mini-loop band around the ankles. Spread feet shoulder width apart and sit into a shallow squat, keeping your core engaged. Take a step to the side, then take the same distance step with the other foot in the same direction; important to not over step inward with the follow up step as this looses tension in the band. Take 5-10 steps one direction and 5-10 steps back in the other direction. Continue until you feel a good exercises burn in the muscles of the outer hip. Sets: 3 Reps: Go until it burns

Walking with a band strengthens the gluteus medius muscle to improve hip and low back stability               Walking with a band strengthens the gluteus medius muscle to improve hip and low back stability

Dead bug

Lay on your back, with your knees and hips bent to 90 degrees and arms held straight in front of shoulder. Brace your core by squeezing back and abdominal muscles. Slowly lower one leg towards the ground, resisting the back from arching up off the ground. Alternate legs keeping a slow pace the entire time. If this version of the dead bug is too difficult, keep the knee bent when moving the leg and perform heel taps. Sets: 3 Reps: 10 per leg

Dead bug improves lumbo-pelvic muscle control important for running               Dead bug improves lumbo-pelvic muscle control important for running

Side plank

Begin by laying on your side with the elbow tucked underneath the shoulder and feel sacked. Keep the body as straight as possible and lift the pelvis off the ground. Focus on contracting the muscles on the side closest to the floor. Perform the side plank on both sides. Sets: 3 Reps: 1 Hold: 30-60 seconds

Side plank improves lateral core stability which is important for running

Self Myofascial Release to the Gluteal muscles

Take a look at the video below. By using a lacrosse/massage ball into the muscles, muscle tension will decrease which can help with soreness, pain, tightness in the area.

These strategies help with correcting a cross-over gait. If you are experiencing shin, knee, hip, back, or foot pain from running, I highly recommend getting the injury evaluated. A targeted approach to your specific injury can prevent time lost to injury. At our Mission Valley office, we perform Active Release Technique, Graston technique, and rehabilitative exercise to keep our endurance athletes competing pain free!

Do you Run with a Cross-Over Gait?

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Do you Run with a Cross-Over Gait?

A cross-over gait, also known as a “tightrope” gait, involves running with your feet crossing the midline of your body. As each foot crosses midline, it appears as if you a running along a tightrope. This running style decreases running efficiency and may set you up for future injury (or prolong your current injury!). The areas commonly injured are the inner shin/tendons, knee, outer hip/IT band, and lower back. Beginner runners, and runners with weak core/gluteal muscles tend to run with this type of gait. 

Do you run with a cross-over gait?

The absolute easiest way to diagnose a cross-over gait is by having a gait analysis performed. A professional gait analysis is recommended but a quick video recorded by a friend can be show if the feet cross midline. Setting up a camera behind a treadmill while running solo is another easy way check for cross-over gait (see runner below).  As you watch the stride, look for where the foot lands in relation to the body’s midline.

Other signs of a cross-over gait include: excessive wear on the outside bottom of shoes, scuff marks on the inner legs ( you actually hit yourself with your foot from running too narrow!), side to side head bob noticed visually when looking straight ahead, and inline foot prints when running on sand or dirt. The main symptom of a cross-over gait is recurring injury to the same area with running. Symptoms tend to lessen with treatment and rest but return with increased running volume, intensity, or both. 

 Why is a cross-over gait less efficient?

Simply put, you are wasting energy moving side to side; the more energy spent moving side to side, less energy spent moving forward. Cross-over gait puts a lot more demand on tissues which will cause the muscles of the core, hip, lower leg to work extra hard. The demand will create more fatigue which in turn will decrease efficiency further. 

How does a cross-over gait cause injury?

With a cross-over gait, the foot strikes at or across midline , forcing our joints to work in a non-stacked position. The lower extremity performs best with a stacked orientation to absorb shock/strain with muscles. With the joints working at a slight angle, several tissues now have to work harder to absorb shock and slow down joint movement. The following injuries are commonly associated with a cross over gait:

  1. Posterior shin splints/Posterior Tibialis tendinopathy– While running with a cross-over gait, the foot lands excessively on the outside part of the foot and as the body weight shifts forward, the foot quickly flattens. The slapping down of the foot is often viewed as “over pronation” when in reality, the foot and ankle are pronating too quickly. The posterior tibialis muscle (and other lower leg muscles) must contract powerfully to slow this motion down. This causes excessive strain of the muscle causing shin and tendon pain. Over pronation is not the issue and is a reason why changing footwear in these cases is not helpful. 
  2. Knee pain– As the leg moves toward middle, the inner knee structures get over stretched. The kneecap likes to move in a straight line over the knee. If the muscles are contracting around an angled joint, abnormal tracking of the knee cap occurs.  Patients often have pain at the front part of their knee. If chronic irritation occurs, it can cause swelling around the knee/knee cap.
  3. Outer hip/IT band pain– Again as the leg moves inward, the outer hip elongates, allowing the pelvis to “drop”. This over stretches the outer gluteal muscles. As the hip muscles become more strained, the less stability they are able to provide. Trochanteric bursitis, iliotibial band syndrome are two common conditions that arise from overused/weakened hip muscles. 
  4. Lower back pain– Keeping in mind with what occurs at the hip, the low back joints and muscles get stretched abnormally as the pelvis “drops” due to weak gluteal muscle stabilization. Local low back pain is common from this constant side to side joint irritation. Symptoms may be significantly worse if a runner  has disc degeneration and/or low back joint degeneration.
Cross-over gait injuries

Potential sites for injury with cross over gait

A runner with a cross over gait and a cadence of 180 steps per minute, will cross over 5,400 times during a 30 minute run! Running with a cross-over gait will only worsen as fatigue sets in, setting runners up for injury. It is important to identify this running pattern and address the deficiencies to avoid injury. If you have chronic injuries or recurrent injuries to the same body part, you may be running with a cross-over gait. In our upcoming blog posts, we will be discussing ways to fix a cross over gait and run more efficiently.  

If you are interested in being evaluated for running injuries, our office is conveniently located in Mission Valley, San Diego!

San Diego Marathon Running

Improve Running Posture

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Improve Running Posture

Running posture is essentially how you hold your body while running…simple! When looking at the running posture of elite runners, there are quite a few similarities: they run tall, have a subtle forward lean while they are running, limit their up/down movement, and limit their side to side movement. Let’s take a look at each of these individually. *This post will focus on endurance running as the mechanics/posture change with other running events.*

Running Posture Marathon Running

Run Tall

Let’s do a quick test…Stand up and relax your body, looking straight forward. Now, while looking straight forward, think about stretching through your body to each your head towards the ceiling. Another way to think of it is a rope is attached to your head and is pulling your body towards the ceiling. You should feel “taller” and more engaged with your muscles around your spine. This helps activate the spine stabilizing muscles to maintain proper posture: head over shoulders, shoulders over hips, hips over feet.

This spinal stiffness will help us run more efficient and help manage forces traveling through our muscles and joints much easier. In which picture does the runner appear ready to run?

                        

Subtle Lean

Quick test number 2! Stand tall as described above. Now practice moving slightly forward and slightly backward through your ankles; the rest of your body is nice and straight. Good! Now slowly lean forward until you must move one of your legs to “catch” yourself from falling. Practice that a few times. The point where you need to move your leg is roughly where you want to hold yourself while running. This forward lean from the ankles, shifts your center of gravity ever so slightly forward to maintain momentum once you begin running. The faster you run, the more forward lean there is. ********Caution******** Avoid leaning from the waist! When reading about forward lean, runners think “Yea! Lean forward and get my momentum going!”. Leaning from the waist can potentially cause injury particularly at the back, and knees. Don’t do it!

Limit Up and Down Movement

When you think about it, running is a one legged sport; one foot touches the ground, then after a quick transition period of being fully in the air, the other foot touches the ground. This happens very quickly, step after step to keep the body moving forward. What is commonly seen as a runner runs by is a noticeable up and down bounce with their body; this IS a normal movement to an extent but causes issues when it is too great. Two main things frequently occur with beginner and intermediate runners when there is too much up and down movement: 1. There is too long of contact with the foot and the ground allowing the body to “sink” towards the ground due to increased bending at the hip, knee, and ankle, 2. A forceful push off from the toes pushes the body upward and forward.

Ever have extremely sore quads or calves (or both!) following a race? Soreness that lasts days? I have! Why are the legs so sore? When the leg is in contact with the ground for a longer time, the ankle, knee, and hip bend more while the muscles are contracting. This produces eccentric loading to the muscles (muscles lengthen while contracting) which causes the greatest amount of muscle damage. When does this occur? Late in races when our posture deteriorates, and our cadence slows down. Then we try to keep the pace up and muscle through the rest of the run with a slow cadence, resulting in a more forceful push off with our toes… now our calves hurt! Proper posture and a high cadence will help avoid this sequence from occurring or significantly limit the effects.

                   

Limit Side to Side Movement

When running forward, we want our foot to land closer to our body, and under our hips. Similar to above, if there is too much contact time due to a slow cadence, the hip of the swing leg will drop. Now with the hip dropped down, the leg swings forward more towards mid line and then the foot lands, it is now mid line or has crossed over mid line, referred to as a “cross-over running gait” or “tight rope running”. This is the runner you see bounding side to side down the boardwalk. Do you do it? Ever hit your lower leg with your shoe, or see scuff marks on your calf after you run? Those are signs of hip drop; it changes the angle for your leg to move through and literally hits your stance leg. Read more about cross-over gait at our blog here.

Too much side to side movement will decrease your efficiency and set you up for potential injury. If your leg is crossing mid line, the inner muscles/tendons/foot are strained more; recurring posterior shin splints is a common ailment with this gait. There should be a small space between where your feet contact the ground. A strong runner may hide this for shorter runs but as fatigue sets in for longer runs, this will become more and more noticeable. Strength training, running more frequently, and specific drills will help avoid this.

                                

Still with me? That wraps up running posture. Performing the following drills can help improve your running posture and prevent it from breaking down during long runs and races. Schedule with us at Peak Form Health Center to tailor specific exercises to your needs! We are conveniently located in Mission Valley, San Diego!

Tech

Lumo Run- At our Mission Valley office, we encourage our patients to purchase Lumo Run by Lumo tech. It is a wearable device that gives instant feedback (and post run feedback) on many running variables including all the posture points discussed above. Go to the lumobodytech website using this link Lumorun for $10 off! Check out our blog late April 2018 for a full Lumo Run review!

Drills

Posture and Lean

Walk with a Purpose– Stand tall as described above. With each step, push your leg back by squeezing your butt muscles. Continue reaching your head towards the ceiling while doing so. Most of the movement should come from the hip, not the lower back or by pushing off from the foot. Start by working on this before runs 1 minute at a time, but eventually incorporate into your normal walking!

Subtle lean– Stand tall. Rock back and forth from your ankles. 10 forward to help build awareness to where you should be leaning from.

Lean and step– Stand tall. Slowly lean forward until you have to take a step to “catch” yourself from falling forward. Helps work on maintaining a forward lean and proper timing of the first step. 10 steps each leg, three times through.

Band around waist- Anchor an elastic band around a fence, pole, tree, etc. and then place the band around the front of your hips. Walk until you feel the band start gently pulling you back. Now stand tall, keep your body inline and lean forward through your ankles against the band resistance. Move forward and backward to get a feel for a proper lean. Also, once you are leaning into the band, hold that position while taking slow steps in place.

Excessive Bounce

Up and down visualization– Run on a treadmill. Think about a water line right below your mouth; you have to stand tall to and avoid bouncing to avoid falling below that line or else you will be breathing in water. Alternatively, There is a low ceiling right above your head. You must keep your head still or else you will bang your head (Personally do not like this one as much because it does not reinforce elongating your spine/standing tall.)

Cadence– See our blog on cadence here. There are drills in detail there. The purpose is to increase cadence to decrease the amount of time your foot is on the ground so it does not “sink” down resulting in excessive up and down motion.

Cross over gait

Track line– Run around a track with lane lines (bicycle lane line on the road or other lines with similar width work). Run so the line is right in the middle of your body. Your INNER right foot should hit the right border of the line; your INNER left foot should hit the left border. This will force you to run with a wider stance to avoid side to side movement. Occasionally look down to see where your feet are or run with a partner running behind you to give you feedback.

Increase your Cadence!

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Increase Your Cadence!

Increasing running cadence will help reduce your risk for injury, and make you a more efficient runner (potentially faster runner as well)! Now that you know the benefit of increasing cadence, let’s go back and look and some of the main points that go into tweaking this aspect of running.

Break the Injury Cycle

Annually, 37%-52% of runners experience a running injury. That is VERY high injury rate! Many of the injured runners I treat are new to running, want to manage the symptoms before their upcoming race, and then stop running afterward because of the nagging symptoms they are experiencing. The following year, the same cycle occurs: signed up for another half marathon, developed an injury, barely made it through the race, and then stopped running due to the nagging symptoms. Stop it! Make changes to why you are injured and then you will no longer have to worry about dealing with nagging injuries. The BIGGEST change you can make is improving your turn over or in other words, increasing running cadence.

What is Cadence?

Running cadence is the number of times your feet come in contact with the ground, measured in steps per minute (every time either foot touches the ground) or strides per minute (every time the same foot touches the ground). The goal cadence is 170-190 steps per minute or 85-95 strides per minute.

This moment was late in a Half Ironman run, my cadence dropped to 170 (normally run comfortably in mid 180s) and began running with more of a heel strike pattern; you can see the lead leg out in front of the body which will increase shock to the body.

How does this help decrease risk for injury?

Increasing running cadence to 170-190 steps per minute, decreases the vertical loading rate during the gait cycle. Basically, you run with less bounce and less impact to your legs reducing the amount of force traveling through the body. Running with a slower cadence (< 170) allows your foot to travel further away from the body before initial contact, and results in more of a “braking” force once contact is initiated (see photo). Your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints absorb that extra shock and remain under load longer due to the foot being further away from the body.  Increased load + increased time under load = increased strain to muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints which will eventually lead to failure once enough strain has accumulated. Main take away, increasing running cadence decreases the vertical loading rate, loading time, and overall strain in the body.

How do I measure cadence?

Easy! If you have a GPS watch, there is a setting for cadence (most watches these days) that you can select to show on your display screen while running.

If you do not have a GPS watch with that function, then use a timer and count your steps to get your cadence as follows: count the number of steps you take for 20 seconds. Take that number and multiply by 3 to get your steps per minute. To make the math easier, count every time the same foot touches the ground to get the number of strides you take. Multiply by 3 to get strides per minute (85-95 strides is the goal).

How long will it take to run naturally with a faster cadence?

It can take 3-6 months before you are able to run at that range effortlessly. We recommend doing cadence drills twice a week. Do not over think your cadence and force yourself to run with a faster cadence every run. Increasing running cadence takes time and patience. Every 6 weeks, run 3 miles and try to keep the cadence elevated the entire run; remember what the average cadence was and try to increase it the next test run.

The only way I can get my cadence up is to run faster, is that normal?

That is very normal initially. However, with practice you will learn how to run with a faster cadence at all speeds! Technically you can “run” with a 170-190 cadence while not moving. What changes is the width of the steps when changing speed but the cadence should still fall into that range. Our advanced cadence drills help with this.

Beginning Drills

Cadence

Garmin Fenix with cadence option

No GPS watch- Run 20 seconds as you normally would, count your steps (or strides) for the next 20 seconds, then go back to your normal running for the last 20 seconds. Repeat 5 times

GPS watch- Set the display to show cadence, run for 1 minute working on getting your stride turn over quicker. Look at the watch periodically to see the cadence. Repeat 5 times.

RunTempo- Application for smartphones. It is a metronome that you can set a specific cadence. Every time you hear a “beep” your foot should hit the ground. If you know your cadence is let’s say 155, set RunTempo to 165 and run for 1 minute. Once you can easily match the cadence, bump up the cadence by 5 until you are in range. Once in the proper range, experiment by working at the different cadences 170-190 to see where you “feel” the best.

Advanced Drills

Cadence Test- Every 6 weeks, run a 5k and try to keep your cadence high the entire time. Make note of the average cadence after the run. Use that average cadence as your new benchmark for cadence drills. If you averaged 165, perform drills with the goal of 170 or 175. Repeat test and check again 6 weeks later.

Treadmill Roller Coaster– Once you can easily run in the 170-190 steps per minute range, now is the time to work on maintaining the cadence at different speeds. Set up a treadmill for 2 minute intervals. The first two minutes, set the treadmill to the slowest pace you can maintain your elevated cadence. For the next two minutes, bump up the pace to a tempo effort. The goal is to maintain the same cadence when switching from the slower pace to the quicker pace. What changes is the step width, but cadence should be the same! Repeat for 5-10 rounds.

Super Cadence Drills– Find a long gradual downhill. Run with a “as fast as possible” cadence on the way down for 1 minute. The goal is to get your cadence as fast as possible often reaching above 200 steps per minute. Repeat 5-10 times. I recommend this drill for triathletes to get there legs used to having a very quick turn over so when they run off the bike and their legs feel sluggish, what feels “slow” is actually still in the recommended cadence range due to the practice at running with an extremely high cadence.

There you have it, one of the easiest yet best ways to correct running form is increasing running cadence. If you are dealing with an injury, please get evaluated by a sports minded healthcare provider. At our Mission Valley sports injury clinic, we help countless runners overcome injury. Changing cadence while injured may result in worsening of symptoms so it is important to have a proper evaluation before making any significant changes to your workouts.

Peak Form Health Center

Please call 619-818-4306 or visit www.peakformhealthcenter.com to schedule!
2635 Camino del Rio South #200
San Diego, CA 92108