MAIN TOPIC: Improving Posture for Running

While it is true that each person is unique and some elements of optimal form may vary from person to person, there are basic physics that tell us running posture is important for everyone.

This episode of the A to Z Running Podcast will make a case for why running posture is important, why it needs our attention, and what we can do starting today to improve it.

Why is our posture poor?

Head is bent over on our computer or phones.

According to Mayo Clinic, 

• “The average human head weighs almost 12 pounds (5.4 kilograms) — the equivalent of a bowling ball! When your neck is bent to 45 degrees, your head exerts nearly 50 pounds (23 kilograms) of force on your neck. In addition to straining joints and muscles in your neck and shoulders, the pressure affects your breathing and mood.” 
• In the article we link they also give some tips on how to design your work space for better positioning.

How this affects our spine
From Physio-on.com 

• “The spine has 4 curvatures… The reason why it has 4 curvatures and “jelly” discs is because the spine works as a spring and one of the spine’s primary functions is to absorb impacts and our weight whilst we are in the vertical position.” 
• “When you are sitting down the spine “loses” some curvatures and increases others, so the ability to absorb impacts and weight decreases so your body has to rely on the muscles to help deal with this.” 
• “This may lead to wrong mechanical patterns of movement that can lead to injuries.”

Jay Dicharry confirms this in Running Rewired…

• “Most of us spend a significant amount of time reinforcing bad postural alignment.”
  • Sitting in a chair
  • Standing while slumped
  • Carrying heavy things
  • Heels
  • Looking down over phone
• These things are all NOT neutral

Why does posture matter to the runner?

In chapter 5 of Running Rewired, Jay Discharry addresses the issue of posture for runners

• “posture is not a detail- it’s one of the most important aspects of running form. It keeps your body healthy and helps you beat the clock.”
• “If you can’t stand right, you can’t run right.”
• Interesting can test: set a 10lb weight on top of empty can… then dimple the side.

Our trunk must be mobile and also able to cue and connect power to the rest of our body. (We will talk more about mobility of the back in next week’s episode with world-renowned musculoskeletal specialist, Phil Wharton.)

What can I do to improve my posture?

Identify the problem (consider a top-down approach)

From Dicharry…

• Back, chest, and shoulders…
  • Step 1: Open the Spine and Ribs
  • Step 2: Open the chest
  • Step 3: put your shoulder blades back where they belong
• Hip
  • Mobility of hip flexor/pelvic tilt is a key area
  • Address this kind of thing specifically with mobilizing
• Ankle
  • Test ankle mobility with the wall test (toe to wall, bend knee to wall, scoot it back, try again)
  • Depending on where you feel tightness (front of ankle, back, or can make the motion but it’s stiff)…
• Simple posture test and re-wiring
  • Stand relaxed/natural and eval: where is your weight?
  • If back or front of foot, then need to make adjustments

Recommended by Jay Dicharry is also Basketball Mobility. Check on Instagram for a reel on that. I’ve also included the ½ Kneeling Trunk on wall from previous guest Adam Homolka of Endurance Rehabilitation and Athletics. 

To really improve posture

• Increase mobility as we will discuss next week with Phil Wharton
• Strengthen and improve imbalances
• Build your neuromuscular responses to cue better form while running.
• Improve habits such as creating workspaces with your body in mind.

What can I do on my run to improve posture? 

Put your hands over your head, that’s how you should feel when you are running.

(Mike Swinger has a nice little posture check-in strategy he calls the Zombie drills…)

While better back mobility and training functional movement will lead to your long term health and success, here are some things you can do today to help you with posture on your run: 

1. The single easiest thing to do which will help you with better form is looking up. Hunching and looking down is a hindering posture. If you are looking down your hips drop back, then you overstride.
2. Opening the chest is often best attained by keeping the eyes ahead. A very slight lean forward is best for biomechanics.
3. Airplane Zombie– Help efficiency and running form. Upper body is a tattle tale for lower body problems. Run with your arms straight out. It calibrates the upper body to keep it still to not allow for excessive rotational movement. Forces our hips and core to dial in more quickly. Feels awkward through the hips. 
4. Forward Zombie– Run with your arms straight out in front of you. Big problem hinging too much at the hips. This drill forces you to run more upright. Best for calf, achilles, hamstrings, low back, upper back. Do it for about 10 sec.  As you do it more and more your body will learn.
5.  Overhead Zombie– Run with your arms straight above your head. What does our upper body tell us about how efficiently our lower half is working. Load and push off as quickly and efficiently as possible. Each time you load on a single leg and push off again, More stress on glutes and core and legs there is too much load. By putting arms way above the head. A longer lever arm, I have to work harder to keep from falling. Everything has to dial in more. More open and upright as well.
   
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