Barefoot running form: video. Something's still not right.

[swoggis]

Cross-posting from that 'other' forum. I can see that the video has been watched 54 times now, but nobody is commenting. Possibly none of the viewers thought they were 'experienced' enough??

I'm coming back from a stress fracture and my PT asked if I could record a video of my running gait. The fracture has healed, but I seem to still have trigger points and a lot of residual tension in all the muscles of my left lower leg. I've been running BF since March 2010, but this is the first time I've seen myself on video: I've already spotted some things I want to fix that I didn't realize I was doing.

1. I seem to be overstriding even though I feel like I'm landing under my center of gravity and I can see some extra bounce in my stride as a result of it. Will try to increase my cadence and see if that takes care of this.

2. There's definitely asymmetry in my landings. The right lands more under my body, but the toes are pointed more outwards. My left (which is where I had a fibular stress fracture last year) is landing straighter but seems to pronate more. Not sure how to fix this but I wonder if this is part of why the left leg seems to be taking more than its share of damage.

Figured I'd throw it out there for the experienced BFers on this forum to let me know what else might need fixing. Thanks for any feedback!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKTZu0FXJ4Q

 

[Barefoot TJ]

I looked at your video, and I

I looked at your video, and I have to say... I'm not a good judge of what is bad form, since bad form is really a feeling. I probably don't look like the perfect barefoot runner. I'm not graceful. But I'm not getting injured, so I must be doing something right.

Now, if I see good form, a free flowing, beautiful form, I can tell it's good form. Have you seen Dr. Mark Cucuzella's video posted in a different thread here? You might get some ideas there.

 

[mokaman]

Increasing your cadence

Increasing your cadence couldn't hurt...its hard to tell from your video, a couple shots looks like your hips are a little too far back and tilted a bit, some shots look ok though. Make sure your not thinking about your feet too much...your foot landing is more controlled by what you doing from the knees up.

The dogs tail doesn't control the dogs body...your feet are the same as the dogs tail. Try to keep your hips forward but not so much that its tenses up your back muscles...and like KenBob says relax relax relax!

 

[Abide]

I agree with the asymmetry

I agree with the asymmetry you can see it in your arms too. Try working out and really focusing on developing strength equally on both sides. Yoga works well for this too. The trick is to progress as evenly as possible.

It also looks like you are forcing your feet to land on a straight line? I am not sure if it is intentional or not but try to relax your lower limbs and let them fall naturally.

Your posture was great and your cadence is fine in my opinion.

 

[migangelo]

sorry, its tough for me to

sorry, its tough for me to see much in the video. you look like you do need to relax a bit. perhaps your fracture came as a result of doing tmts. it takes time for the bones to build strength and either going fast or long puts a lot of stress on them. back off a bit and work on your form. you'll feel when its right.



Mike

 

[Jimmy Hart]

I always hate commenting on

I always hate commenting on these when I can't coach the person or cue them in person but you asked so I'll give you my thoughts. In terms of overall form it's not bad at all. If you want some things pointed out that could improve on to make your form more efficient then I would point out these:

1. Stop landing on your heels. For most of the video you actually land heel first.

2. You have a tendency to lean back with your torso. This looks like it's coming from dropping your hips to settle into what looks like the classic Ken Bob knee bend.

3. Your feet are landing on a center line so your have a lot of movement in your hips that could be eliminated by working on keeping your feet slightly apart.

4. Your arms hang too low and cross your body.

What would I suggest to fix it?

1. Relax your feet and try not to angle the foot upward. If you're following Ken Bob then you might have been told to lift the toes which is fine but it has a tendency to cause people to lift the foot. A relaxed foot has a better chance of landing softly.

2. Leaning back can cause the heel landing as well. Your posture is straight which is great but you want your shoulders slightly forward of your center line for forward propolsion

3. Picture a line between your feet that's maybe 3-6 inches wide and keep your feet on either side of the line.

4. Raise your hands up so that they are at least even with the bottom of your rib cage which should put your arms at a 90 degree angle. Keep them at your side and only swing at the shoulder. The arms can move all you want but you want to avoid letting them swing across the torso because it causes a twisting motion that will tax your energy stores and fatigue your entire body sooner than you want



I also caution that doing any of these things can create issues because you are messing with your form. It can be very good to correct yor form, especially if it is causing pain or injury, but you have to remember that it takes a lot of focus and repetition to actually create a biomechanical change.

 

[swoggis]

Wow! That's a lot of input.

Wow! That's a lot of input. Thanks for all the thoughtful responses. It was definitely an eye-opener to see how non-ideal my form actually was when I first reviewed the footage.

@mokaman & migangelo: I've been thinking about nothing but how my feet (well, especially the left) are landing as I try to figure out if it was my form rather than TMTS that gave me the fracture. Probably introducing more tension just doing that and of course, that means I'm not thinking about what the rest of me is doing.

@abide & Jimmy: I'm not actually trying to land my feet on the centerline. When I've tinkered with my form and attempted to land more under each hip, my gait starts resembling a drunken pirate; like my body doesn't know how to dynamically balance with one leg off-center. But yeah, it looks wrong and inefficient when I see the footage.

The cross-body arm swing was something I swore I wasn't doing and yet there it was on the video. Clearly, I haven't got it burned in correctly and it's probably linked to the hip movement.

And the heel landing. Again, something that I would never have guessed until I looked at the video. I'm still not sure it's actually happening. I definitely feel that the forefoot (esp. the outside) is coming down first and if the thickness of the 'pads' on my soles are any indication, it's the metatarsal heads and the outer edge of my foot that are being stressed the most; the skin on my heels has always remained relatively thin. But I'm definitely seem to be almost 'leaning back' in my running instead of using the 'tilt forward at the ankles' posture that seems to be universal for BFR.

A lot to think about. My PT will get to see this footage tomorrow. I'll just keep mum and see what he concludes so I can compare his unbiased assessment to what we pick out as barefooters when we watch someone run. (He's definitely not an advocate of barefoot running and has told me on many occasions to wear 'cushioned' shoes to avoid re-injury. Aside from that difference of opinion, he's a damn good PT though...) I would think that if he picks up on the asymmetry, that would be the hardest thing for me to fix and the area I'd need the most help with.

Thanks again for the critical eye and advice. Very much appreciated and I intend to put it to good use. (I also intend to video myself running every few weeks so I can see what the hell I'm actually doing as opposed to what I think I'm doing... @TJ, when I'm as good as Cucuzella, then I'll add the music track.)

 

[Jimmy Hart]

Don't worry so much about the

Don't worry so much about the assymetry aspect of things. If most runners (if not all) really looked at it they would find they are the same from one foot to the next. Your left arm doesn't work the same as your right does and the legs are in the same boat. I've been doing this for 15 years as a coach and the feet don't have to be exactly the same. What needs to be the same is the hips and shoulders. They need to be sitting at the same level from one side to the other so everything stemming from them can work in the proper lines.

I also hate to break it to you but you are landing on your heels. It is slight and you transition to the fore foot quickly but in most of the strides you filmed the heel lands first. The reason it feels like you aren't is because of two things. First you get to the fore foot quickly which is creating the sense of it connecting first as it's landing is actually harder than your heel's. Second there are more nerve endings in the fore foot than the heel. The heel is really just a dense area of tissue designed to not really give a lot of feedback. As a kid I ran barefoot all over the place and I would stickers in my feet. The ones in the heel rarely hurt but the ones in my toes and fore foot stung. This abundance of nerves in the front of the foot is also allowing you to think the fore foot is landing first. Those nerves read more than the heel does so you feel it more.

The fix is simple and that is to just relax your ankles.

 

[mokaman]

Jimmy - Great comments on

Jimmy - Great comments on your last post - I have never heard of this before about the nerves in the for-foot vs the heel.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Ha, Swoggis funny!

Ha, Swoggis funny!

 

[Tamara Bialle]

I've heard barefoot running

I've heard barefoot running has some health benefits for our body. Does this mean running with minimalist shoes or barefoot running shoes get the same benefits as barefoot running?

I'm quite confused, but I've read it from this site - Born to Run and Barefoot shoes

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Hi Tamara!  That's my

Hi Tamara! That's my name!

Yes, you can get "some" of the benefits of barefoot running through "true, very minimal" minimalist footwear, but no where near what you could get by actually running barefoot. The more restrictive and over-built the shoe, the less benefits you will get; the more minimal the footwear, i.e., socks, very flexible huaraches..., the heathier it is for your feet. There are other reasons why barefooting is best too. Barefoot running doesn't change your natural biomechanics; therefore, you won't be injured by some false correcting orthotic/shoe forcing you to run in a way that is not natural for your body. Our plantar skin will also prevent you from running farther and faster than your body is ready to because you will feel it; you will feel your feet telling you to stop or change course. Running barefoot limits your ability to push through and heel strike with great force, whereas, many people even find in minimalist shoes that they still will heel strike. These are just some of the reasons why it's best to always go barefoot as much as is possible, and only use the shoes when you really need to.

(Some of the shoes in that link you provided are not anywhere near what we call minimal, i.e., Newtons, Nikes...)

 

[swoggis]

Jimmy Hart wrote: I also hate

I also hate to break it to you but you are landing on your heels. It is slight and you transition to the fore foot quickly but in most of the strides you filmed the heel lands first. The reason it feels like you aren't is because of two things. First you get to the fore foot quickly which is creating the sense of it connecting first as it's landing is actually harder than your heel's. Second there are more nerve endings in the fore foot than the heel. The heel is really just a dense area of tissue designed to not really give a lot of feedback. As a kid I ran barefoot all over the place and I would stickers in my feet. The ones in the heel rarely hurt but the ones in my toes and fore foot stung. This abundance of nerves in the front of the foot is also allowing you to think the fore foot is landing first. Those nerves read more than the heel does so you feel it more. The fix is simple and that is to just relax your ankles.

After this weekend's race, I can definitely feel that my left heel has a slightly thicker "pad" under it than my right and that I was landing on it despite conscious effort to maintain a forward lean and to keep my strides a bit shorter than normal. This is likely the culprit behind many of the symptoms I've been having in my left ankle and shin. Thanks again for the critique; I wouldn't have thought to look for this at all. I expect to get feedback from PT about the my running form at today's appointment; will see if he spotted the same things.

Alas, it may be too late as I'm definitely feeling some soreness when I push on the bone (fibula) above my left ankle. It's a remarkably similar sensation to last year's stress fracture further up on the same bone. We'll see if I caught it in time, or if I'm going to have to wait 6-10 weeks again before I get a chance to try to fix my form to remove that heelstrike.

 

[Barefoot TJ]

Let's hope it's not a stress

Let's hope it's not a stress fracture, Swoggis. Please let us know what/when you find out. Good luck!