Injury Free Running

We were not born to run. If we were, injury rates among runners wouldn't be so high. Of the 12 million runners in the United States, the annual injury rate is close to 50%. This translates into nearly 2 million stress fractures and 4 million sprains/strains. To run injury-free for decades, you have to be strong, coordinated and most of all, well informed. While various experts will give you advice based on anecdotal information (e.g., wear minimalist shoes, strike on your midfoot, and never stretch), this book reviews the scientific literature to show you how to: Develop a running form based on your alignment, prior injuries, and desired running speed. Design a personalized rehab program you can do at home by evaluating your arch height, flexibility, strength, and coordination. Choose a running shoe that is right for you. Select the best preexercise warm-up routine. Treat 25 of the most common running-related injuries with the most up-to-date, scientifically justified treatment prototocols available.

This no-nonsense guide shows you how an understanding of anatomy and biomechanics, coupled with the latest strengthening exercises and rehab protocols, can keep you running injury-free for a long time to come. Each time your foot hits the ground while running, an impact force averaging three times your weight travels through your body at more than 200 miles per hour, causing your bones to vibrate and tendons to stretch. When you consider that the average runner strikes the ground more than 10,000 times per hour, this translates into a remarkable amount of force that needs to be absorbed, and explains why nearly 50% of recreational runners are injured each year. The purpose of this book is to show you that impact forces are not necessarily harmful. By modifying your running form and doing specific exercises to improve tendon resiliency, not only can you effectively absorb these forces, but you can also store and return a significant percentage of them in the form of elastic recoil. Besides reducing your risk of injury, efficiently storing and returning energy can allow you to run faster with less effort. With more than 200 illustrations and 300 references, this book reviews how to: Perform an at-home gait analysis to make specific changes in your running form that can reduce impact forces and improve performance. Decrease your risk of injury by identifying problems with strength, flexibility, and/or neuromotor coordination using specific functional tests. Incorporate new exercises to enhance the storage and return of energy in your tendons. Select the running shoe that is right for you. Treat 25 of the most common running-related injuries with the most up-to-date, scientifically justified treatment protocols available.

Running Injury-Free uses anecdotal examples from Ellis's own patients and experiences in order to discuss injury-prevention, treatment, and recovery. He implements a clinical approach toward treating the most common running-related injuries, as well as providing detailed background situations to describe how each injury can happen, so the reader can recognize poor habits or compare training and running practices in his or her own experience. In this updated version, content relating to shoes and shoe selection, "over the counter" treatments, orthotic techniques and materials, Piriformis Syndrome, chiropractic medicine and acupuncture, stretching techniques, nutrition and supplements, injuries related to minimalist runners, as well as running issues for women, children, and endurance runners will be updated to reflect timely practices and research.

The revised edition of the bestselling ChiRunning, a groundbreaking program from ultra-marathoner and nationally-known coach Danny Dreyer, that teaches you how to run faster and farther with less effort, and to prevent and heal injuries for runners of any age or fitness level. In ChiRunning, Danny and Katherine Dreyer, well-known walking and running coaches, provide powerful insight that transforms running from a high-injury sport to a body-friendly, injury-free fitness phenomenon. ChiRunning employs the deep power reserves in the core muscles, an approach found in disciplines such as yoga, Pilates, and T’ai Chi. ChiRunning enables you to develop a personalized exercise program by blending running with the powerful mind-body principles of T’ai Chi: -Get aligned: Develop great posture and reduce your potential for injury while running, and make knee pain and shin splints a thing of the past. -Engage your core: Shift the workload from your leg muscles to your core muscles, for efficiency and speed. -Add relaxation to your running: Learn to focus your mind and relax your body to increase speed and distance. -Make it a Mindful Practice: Maintain high performance and make running a mindful, enjoyable life-long practice. It’s easy to learn. Transform your running with the ten-step ChiRunning training program.

Don't let an old injury keep you from enjoying races, morning runs, or attaining fitness goals. In the first part of Healthy Running Step by Step, authors Robert Forster, PT and Roy M. Wallack recommend the best training based on your fitness goals, including strength training, cross training, sprints, yoga, and rest. Part two goes a step further from other books by addressing the most modern methods of treatment—including current studies on the amount of rest required, new and controversial surgical operations and injections, the newest and most effective gear, and barefoot/minimalist running as a form of healing. If you are recovering from an injury or want to prevent becoming injured in the first place, Healthy Running Step by Step is a must-have guide.

The ultimate pain-to-personal-best guide to running injuries, covering prevention, detection and rehabilitation. Runners suffer from the highest injury rates of all recreational athletes. Whether you are a novice or elite-level runner, guide yourself through a step-by-step process of avoiding and managing injury and get yourself safely to the start and finish lines. Written by a globally respected physiotherapist who has worked with Olympic and World Champion athletes, Running Free of Injuries will help runners to understand their body, identify weaknesses and develop a natural defence against injury. The book covers the most common running injuries that occur to the foot, ankle, lower leg, hip, knee and pelvis and includes key exercises applicable to all levels of fitness.

Draws on expert advice on how to limit pain and injury risks as well as minimize recovery and rehabilitation times, providing coverage of common injuries while providing a wealth of tips on everything from training and stretching to selecting equipment and maintaining a proper running form. Original.

No pain-maximum gain. More than half of all runners in the U.S. are sidelined at least once a year because of an injury. Many others run through the pain that starts to surface as they age - the result of years of bad posture, joint and muscle stiffness and poor running mechanics. This guide provides readers with a holistic approach to preventing injuries and getting rid of nagging pains. In it, readers learn how to increase flexibility, calibrate muscle strength, pick the right shoes, break bad habits, and more-all while improving distance and efficiency.