Friday, February 3, 2012

Gait and Cadence Analysis

The 1st of February I went into the physical therapists office thinking this month was going to start off great. Was hoping to get the news I could start running and she said YES!!! I wanted to start jumping up and down right there but held it back, it was hard. I'm sure I had a huge smile on my face.

......AND then I realized they were going to put me on the treadmill and have my running gait analyzed and check my cadence. I wasn't feeling too thrilled about having 2 ladies starting at my backside while running and staring at a wall. I really don't enjoy running on a treadmill and I'm much happier outside that I think I run totally different, but I tried to make myself as comfortable as possible.

So here is everything that is apparently wrong with my form (at least on a treadmill):

1. I'm a loud treadmill runner (my foot is striking hard and not using enough muscle to balance my stride)
2. I'm a foot whipper, with my left foot only
3. I land mid-foot on my right foot and more between my mid and heel on my left
4. I run on a very narrow base - morso with the left than the right (cross my feet too much to my middle)
5. I basically don't move my right leg from it's form during running (probably from my knee injury last year and I keep that leg as stiff as possible)
6. My cadence is at 160 and should be closer to 180, so I need to speed my little legs up!!

ALL of these are contributing factors to what caused my left leg inner shin splints and now that I can finally start running, I have to try and correct all of these things now!! I'm feeling slighly overwhelmed by all these issues and really nervous I will start to feel the dreaded pain again since it's come back twice now. Tonight will be my first attempt at 4 minutes walking/1 minute running for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I really need to learn how to make that device my friend.

Remind me never to go through that again, since my form pretty much blows!!!

2 comments:

  1. What a bummer. Try not to feel overwhelmed - you don't need to "fix" all of these things to be a healthy, happy runner. Do some research on Pose or Chi running.. you might pick up some info that's helpful.

    Also, I saw on DM that you had some pain with your first run. I've always found that if I'm feeling pain, I need more time off. My PT said I should be able to walk briskly for 45 minutes at a time without pain before trying running after ANY injury.

    Sending magical healing vibes your way..

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  2. Don't be discouraged! you'll get there. Take it slow. It's great you had this analysis and know what to fix. I second the motion on the Chi Running. Great book--helped me a ton!

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