RUNNING ANALYSIS IN DOWNTOWN TORONTO
Whether you are just getting into running or someone who has been racing for years, your running mechanics is something that everyone can improve. Having someone assess your running biomechanics, and then guide you through the process of re-training your running gait, has the potential to reduce running related injuries, improve running performance and running economy, and optimize running kinematic variables. At Back In Balance Clinic, we can do a running gait analysis, conveniently in downtown Toronto, to help you with your running goals.
How Running Injuries Develop
Due to the highly repetitive nature of running, most running related injuries are not acute injuries that happen during a run but are caused by a build-up of tissue stress over time. This can be caused by overtraining, gait abnormalities, muscle weaknesses or other small changes that over time can lead to injury. It has been found that 37%-79% of regular runners will sustain some type of running-related injury over the course of a year. Don’t worry though- all hope is not lost – this is where gait retraining can help!
What Is Gait Retraining?
Gait retraining is a method of using video analysis to analyze your running mechanics and provide a foundation for rehabilitation and running specific drills to improve your running form. Not only is this something that we see makes a big difference for people in clinic, but the research backs it up as well. Chan et. al in 2018 took 320 runners and looked at the effect of a 2-week gait retraining program on the risk of developing a running related injury in the next 12 months. After just the 2-week intervention, it was found that there was a 62% lower risk of injury in the gait retrained subjects compared to the control subjects.
Research has also shown that gait retraining can decreased pain in those who have already developed a running-related injury. Noehren et. al in 2011 showed that 8 gait retraining sessions in runners with patellofemoral pain syndrome (knee pain) saw an 86% decrease in running-related pain, improvement in their lower limb mechanics when running, and decreased their peak vertical loading rates when running (how hard they are hitting the ground) in the 1 month follow up after training concluded.
Who Can Benefit from a Running Analysis
What this means for the average runner is that no matter what your experience with running is, and whether you currently have an injury or not, gait retraining is a method of improving your running form to run faster, for longer, and in less pain. During a running assessment, we are not trying to change your running form completely, but simply observe and tweak a few of the common problems that can lead to
