A friend of mine who is a very smart guy, and who also has a good knowledge of running mechanics, asked me if I had seen a recent article by uber writer Matt Fitzgerald, in a recent issue of Triathlete Magazine. Specifically, he asked: “Matt has a book coming out - this was an excerpt - that basically says that running technique cannot be taught, that you can’t try to emulate other runners, and that everyone has to find their own best way to run. Sounds similar to your philosophy?”
First, I haven’t read that article, but being familiar with Matt’s philosophy, I imagine he’s essentially saying what I have said all along: we move the way we move because of what is happening on the INSIDE of our bodies, NOT on the outside!
By the same token, I have to say, I DO believe that some elements of running technique can be taught. In fact, I believe that running technique is “taught” every day, at many schools and universities across the country and around the world, by well qualified coaches who know what efficient running is. Also, well known coach to the “stars,” Bobby McGee, as one example, is teaching technique to many athletes who he works with. And, a BIG PART of what can be learned, and what greatly impacts technique, is posture. That is something we adapt, and which can be altered with improved awareness and learning.
What CAN’T be taught OUT of someone, or changed permanently, is poor movement that is severely effected (and/or limited) by a LACK of functional strength/stability, or mobility…
We run the way we run because of what is happening inside of our bodies. It is an inside - out thing! That is, our relative level of good or poor run specific functional strength, ankle and hip mobility, muscle elasticity, and other similar factors, all end up resulting in “creating” our running movements, e.g. the “way” we run.
HOWEVER, it’s also important to note that our knowledge and/or our ability to learn and apply good running mechanics, also contributes to how we run.
The question I’m often asking myself: how well and effectively (resulting in long term improvement) can someone be “taught” to run differently, IF THEY DON’T also change-IMPROVE their mobility/flexibility/ and functional strength?
While I think there’s much less chance that real change can be achieved IF one doesn’t also change how their bodies move and function (mob/stab/strength), I have also learned something recently, or been reminded of it, if nothing else:
Over the last two weeks or so, in our Pursuit Athletic Performance Gait Lab in Old Saybrook, CT., we’ve done about 7 or 8 gait analysis’. With each, I’ve also done a (FMS) Functional Movement Screen. I’ve discovered that it’s quite possible and even common(?), for someone to do fairly “well” on the FMS, yet lack good/efficient movement skills when they are actually running. In other words, they can have decent mobility and core control - stability in quasi-static positions or in the FMS, yet not display that same control or mobility when running.
Pursuit Athletic Performance Gait Lab
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What I believe may be happening to some degree, is that less than optimal mechanics (or simply a lack of knowledge about what most experts agree is efficient run mechanics) ends up resulting in some undoing of the good mob/stab they displayed in the screen. Perhaps the poor mechanics, in many instances, are the primary cause of the injury and less-than-capable/optimal performance, not necessarily just the lack of mobility or stability, per se.
Just like in many other sports (most notable, swimming!), there ARE very specific elements that “most” experts identify as good run mechanics (skill).
While the whole running world might not agree 100% as to exactly what they are, and there ARE of course various other schools of thought outside of what most experts agree upon (pose and chi, for two ex.), IMO those key skill components do exist. I have my opinions as to what they are, and it’s what I teach. My opinions are always evolving. I’m open to change and to learning new things. I’ll be spending 4 days with Owen Anderson in June (a true expert, IMO!) and I’m sure he’s going to teach me some new things! Can’t wait!
We KNOW poor mechanics DO result in much greater risk of injury. One simple example is over striding - which depending on how severe it is, places a LOT MORE strain on the ITB as it has to work to decelerate a leg that is braking and absorbing a lot of ground impact stress. This is made even worse in any runner who is slightly bowlegged or who has poor core control/stab. One can be taught NOT to over stride. That is a RUN TECHNIQUE issue. Just one example….
On the other side of the coin: do I believe someone can “arbitrarily” change their technique by changing the kind of shoe they wear or simply by trying to emulate their favorite runner or triathlete? In most instances, no. That kind of change is rarely permanent, and can often end up in compensation or stress that can create OTHER injuries.
I’m pretty sure there is no “one size fits all rule,” that applies to every runner. We’re all an experiment of one!
Our Gait Lab exists in large part, because I and my partner Kurt Strecker, DC., do believe that in addition to some very real dysfunctional issues which often do need to be addressed and relate to joint mobility, stability, and elasticity, there also are very “teachable” elements to good run mechanics….
