Beware of Poor Running Form: Get to Know Your Runners Gait by Dr. Matt Silver

Workshops and Gait Analyses are something we love putting on at Alpha Project Phyzio & Performance!  A question you may have is,” why do we put on workshops” and” What is a gait assessment/analyses?”.  Those are all great questions.  The short answer is to give you, the runner, a level of knowledge of how to take care of yourself on your own!  This is something we love doing and is a great opportunity for you, to learn valuable skills to continue running well into your 60’s, 70’s, and older!

At Alpha Project, we focus on treating distance runners.  We are a physical therapy practice and we run ourselves! One of the biggest issues we find with runners is a lack of mobility.  This lack of mobility may come from the ankles, the calfs, hips, the back, etc.  Whatever the mobility limitation is, we have to address it!  If we don’t we are setting ourselves up for potential aches, pains, and injuries down the road.  Having a lack of mobility somewhere will most likely cause a compensation in our running form.  For instance, having tightness in the hip flexors (front of the hip) will make it much harder to move your leg backwards when running.  If you’re unable to bring your leg backwards you will compensate by over-striding.  It’s safe to say being tight or restricted in your mobility does not assist you as a distance runner!  

Running form is one of my favorite topics to talk about!  This is part of the reason I love putting on Gait Analyses at Charm City Run!  However, there’s more to this than being a nerd and watching you on the treadmill.  Running form is, hands down, one of the most important parts of running a runner can work on!  Why? Well…. It’s the thing we are doing for thousands of steps!  We need to make sure we are running with proper form in order to have longevity as runners.  Imagine a baseball pitcher not practicing or getting coached when he throws the ball.  His elbow might be low, he might by stepping the wrong way, he might not be following through after throwing the ball.  All of these things have the potential to cause him aches, pains, and eventual injury to the elbow or shoulder.  This is the reason why pitchers are constantly practicing with a pitching coach, not just to practice their pitches, but to have a set of eyes on them when they pitch.  

During mobility workshops we will be going over 4-5 mobility exercises you can do on your own to improve your mobility.  These are exercises I regularly do on my own in order to improve and maintain my own mobility!  Who should attend a mobility workshop or gait assessment??  Are your a distance runner who thinks they have tight hips? Do you have trouble activating your glutes ( butt)?  Do you have knee pain, low back pain, or hip pain when running? Would you also like to learn how to take care of your body and your mobility on your own? Or would you like to learn how your running form is causing your aches and pains?? These are all great reasons to join one of our workshops/gait assessments at the Charm City Run!