STRUCTURAL/POSTURAL IMBALANCES = WASTED ENERGY = UNDESIRABLE FATIGUE
GREG SPINDLER, LMT, CSBE
Today’s modern cars have warning lights on the dashboards to let us know when something has gone awry with the car’s performance. For a runner, awareness skills need to be our warning system, and they must be practiced on a daily basis. Pain is one indicator that something is wrong. It should be considered our friend instead of an inconvenience. Pain is our call to take action. But, it is not the only sign of potential problems in training (or unproductive training/racing). What are some other warnings (warning lights)?
Different wear patterns on the shoes
Soreness lasting more than 48 hours after a hard effort/race
The same ole repeated injuries or strains each season
Different sounds between the two feet landing
A sudden change in gait, over-striding, out-of-balance gait; A sense of feeling “off”
A worsening of speed work times; Long slow distance (LSD) runs becoming difficult
If you experience any of the above, be proactive and take immediate action with four basic steps.
STEP 1: Get screened for dysfunctional abnormalities in order to avoid setbacks and be more efficient with training, even if the racing season is here. The sooner the better. Think long term. Seek help from a physical therapist, trainer, coach, manual therapist, chiropractor, or another medical professional.
Coaches, trainers, and therapists can observe runners’ imbalances. And with the aid of video analysis, they can point things out to the athlete. Corrective exercises are often the answer, so runners should have a “tool box” of such exercises to maintain the body. This will help to correct the postural patterns that are causing the problem of weakened muscles while other, overworked muscles become too strong. It’s a head-to-toe compensation problem which creates excessive wear and tear on certain joints for the runner ( i.e. knees, hips, low back). What a mess…and a recipe for injury! Furthermore, too much energy is zig-zagged throughout the body, which is wasted energy. This misdirected energy is a time soaker for the endurance athlete. It wears down the runner over time, resulting in unnecessary fatigue. Moreover, it distorts proprioception for the body (like the trigger point discussed in the last article). To expedite improvements, soft tissue manipulation coupled with the tool box of corrective exercises offers a one-two punch.
There is a Zen saying, “To become different from what we are, we must have some awareness of what we are.”
Here is a chart of some common stuck postural patterns and the effect on a few muscles for the runner. Patterns are identified by what is happening in the lumbar spine.
STEP 2: TREAT THE PATTERN: Let’s pull one of these stuck patterns out of the chart and discuss some more. How about the ever-so-popular Right Torsion? In the Right Torsion, the body has the bottom 2 lumbar vertebrae rotation to the right. Starting the compensation rule up the spine, and through the extremities, the body now has to adapt to a new way to perform movement and stand under weight-bearing stress. The left hip flexor goes weak, with a collapse or rotation of the illium (hip) going anterior. This often creates one or a few combined issues: a leg discrepancy, hyper extended knee, medially rotated knee, lateral rotation of leg, and down the chain to the foot into pronation (collapsed arch). All of this occurs to absorb the extra leg length from anterior rotation of the hip. Caught in time, injuries can avoided, but living in that state too long brings an increased chance for trouble since training is put on top of dysfunctional relationships in the body. Plantar Fascia, Hip Flexor strains, a variety of knee complications, low back pain, and instability in the Sacrum Illium joint, are just a few examples of potential problems. The weakest link of that kinetic chain line is most often where injury/strain shows up first. For long term benefits, corrections must begin by treating the core at the beginning point of the chain, not by treating the site of pain in isolation. That would be treating the symptom, not the cause. When the health of the muscles, myofascia, and connective tissues return to normalcy and proper postural relationships resume, corrective exercises and strength training lock these corrections in place.
Endurance sport athletes need to get to know their postural make up and what muscles tend to collapse, shift or weaken when fatigued. Nobody is perfect. The body is always changing, correcting and healing. Many make the mistake of believing that more strength training is the answer. This only leads to a stronger dysfunction, more misdirected energy, and increased fatigue during an endurance event. Adding strength training to dysfunction before soft tissue health is restored leads to a longer process of unwinding the structural pattern to an ideal state. You can’t strength train your way out of postural imbalances.
In order for strength training and corrective exercises to be effective, soft tissue needs to be healthy. It must be nutritionally sound from an adequate intake of protein for rehab and minerals for contraction and relaxation. It is also imperative to be hydrated consistently each and every day, not just on race day. Seek the help of a bodyworker to free restrictions within the muscles, lines of myofascia, and connective tissue.
Step 3: Begin the training program all over again from a starting point. Get to know the new corrected runner. This takes acclimation and adaptation. Training the muscles that were working too much or not enough takes some time. Even daily living tasks will feel different and need some time to normalize. Returning too aggressively to the same mileage and intensity as prior to corrections could result in another setback.
Step 4: Maintain it. The saying goes, “Restore it, Race it, Repeat it.” This is life. We tend to maintain our cars better than our bodies. After completing the steps above, it’s easy to develop a maintenance/restorative program. Each individual has his/her own requirements from a maintenance program. Why? Because not everyone is the same. Since not everyone has the same postural pattern, not everyone should receive the same bodywork protocols. It might need to be weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Budget it into the costs of being an athlete. Corrective exercises are tailored to each, so do them as needed. For many, it could be 10 minutes every day. For others, just once a week. Make no mistake, you have to do them.
Strength training is designed for each athlete as well. Athletes can get into trouble with group classes that have a one size fits all plan. Don’t do something simply because a friend is doing it or because it’s popular. Know that any exercise that is done should provide value and be appropriate for the body type.
Running is a lifetime sport. Taking care of oneself is for a lifetime too. When you do, you’ll get:
Postural Balance= Efficiency in Movement= INCREASED POTENTIAL!