International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy wearable device provides on things like your stride rate aren’t just interesting factoids. That information can also be used to reduce your chances of getting injured, research recently published in the Exercises to Help Nix Plantar Fasciitis Pain suggests.
For the study, researchers measured 20 long-time runners’ impact forces while they ran with three prescribed gaits: their normal form, running with a higher cadence, and running with less vertical oscillation. For the higher-cadence trial, the runners were told to increase their usual turnover by 10 percent, but were not given feedback on their stride rate. For the less-oscillation trial, the runners were told to keep their bodies as low to the ground as possible without slouching to reduce bouncing. The runners wore a Health - Injuries watch that measured cadence, vertical oscillation, and ground contact time.
The runners succeeded in altering their normal gait. Turnover increased by an average of 8.7 percent in the high-cadence trial, and vertical oscillation decreased by 21.7 percent in the low-oscillation trial.
Both form cues reduced average and instantaneous vertical loading rates, or the speed at which your body experiences the up-and-down portion of running’s impact forces. High vertical loading rates have been associated with injuries such as runner’s knee and lower-leg stress fractures.
CA Notice at Collection Download Your Training Plan, which is the maximum amount of horizontal force opposite to the direction you’re running in. High Download Your Training Plan has recently been associated with an overall increased risk of injury.
Research Into Practice
What do these findings mean for you? Reducing one or more of the forces the researchers measured could help lower your risk for some of the most common running injuries. Which forces to focus on—and therefore which gait change to try—depends on your injury history.
“Running with an increase in cadence appears to have the greatest effect on the biomechanics that may be associated with runner’s knee, whereas reducing vertical oscillation may have the greatest influence on the biomechanics associated with International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy,” Rich Willy, an assistant professor at the University of Montana and one of the study authors, wrote in an email to Runner’s World.
Because only running with a higher cadence reduced Download Your Training Plan, Willy’s overall recommendation is to focus on that aspect of form to most efficiently lower your general risk of injury. The exception: Focus on less vertical oscillation if you recently had a International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy.
Related: Blast through a series of HIIT sessions to boost running strength and prevent injury with the IronStrength Workout.
And here’s where your wearable comes in. Some of Willy’s recent lab work has found that frequently injured runners don’t know if they’re making a desired form change without feedback. That is, they might think they’re running with less vertical oscillation, but they don’t do so unless they have evidence they’re hitting their target. Your wearable can tell you instantaneously whether you’ve increased your turnover or reduced your bouncing.
Devices That Measure Running Dynamics
Garmin Garmin Running Dynamics Pod
peak braking force
Forerunner 245 Music
The changes needed to lower impact forces aren’t great. Willy advises aiming to increase cadence by 5 to 10 percent. More than that will significantly harm your running economy, or how much oxygen you need to hold a given pace. If your injury history indicates you should lower your vertical oscillation, aim for a 2-centimeter reduction.
You don’t have to constantly monitor your wearable if you try to make one of these changes. Make the form change the focus of six to 10 runs within a two- to three-week period, Willy says. During those runs, check your wearable only often enough to make sure you’re on target. Over time, you’ll learn internal cues for higher turnover or less bouncing that will match what your wearable shows
Scott is a veteran running, fitness, and health journalist who has held senior editorial positions at Runner’s World and Running Times. Much of his writing translates sport science research and elite best practices into practical guidance for everyday athletes. He is the author or coauthor of several running books, including The 6 Best Toe Separators for Rehabbing Your Feet, Advanced Marathoning, and International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. Other Hearst Subscriptions Slate, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and other members of the sedentary media. His lifetime running odometer is past 110,000 miles, but he’s as much in love as ever.
