The sound of the road….
The breeze blowing past….
Nature all around….
Oh running! It can be such a stress reliever can’t it?!
But what about when it hurts while you’re running? Or the next day, making you unsure if you should do it again?
Don’t give up my friend!! You can most likely continue to run – you may just need to work on a few things. As simple and convenient as running seems like it can be, you definitely have to do some work OUTSIDE of just running if you want to be able to continue long term.
So where do you start?
First lets talk mobility, or the way each joint moves. You have to consider your knees of course, but also your ankle, foot, hips and even into your back, shoulders and neck! Running is actually a full body activity – think about when you watch someone run. Their feet hit and push off the ground, their knees
have to bend to do that, and then the hips have to move forward and backwards (and although you can’t really see it if you aren’t looking for it, they also go through some rotation), their arms are swinging forward and backward which is also causing rotation through the mid back and their head has to turn to watch where they are going.
That is a lot of joints to consider, right?
So step one – check the mobility you have in all of those joints. If you are lacking mobility in the foot/ankle, your knees and hips may be trying to compensate with too much movement which may cause pain in one of those joints or even in the back.
Ok, mobility – check
Step two – strength and stability. Remember all those joints we just checked, now we need to make sure they are strong and stable to allow you to go through the mobility you require.
Strength – check
Now what?
Well that’s a majority of the physical aspect – there is of course more things to consider: such as, power, off days, cross training, strength training, breathing, shoes, nutrition, water intake, etc.
If you feel a little confused or want more info on a specific topic, let me know and I’ll write another blog on it.
If you feel like maybe you need individualized help or want an assessment to see how you stack up, let’s connect and get you in for an assessment so you can make sure you are able to stay on the road! Message me here and I’ll get back to you!
But for now, happy running! The weather couldn’t be much better right now!