Sunday morning coffee and more...

Sunday, November 03, 2013 · Mike Davis

Good morning! Today is another day at the base for me so this will be a short entry. What muscles do you need to develop in order to improve your running posture? Some might think having a strong core is all that is required for good posture and that is only partly right. While it is beneficial to have strong core muscles, the real benefit comes using them. We have 27 muscles that all connect to support the lower back into the gluts and even the strongest of them is of little benefit unless they are active participants. Making them strong by doing core workouts will do little good if our neurological (our brain) system doesn't key in to activate them. Simply put; we have to make a conscience decision to utilize those 27 muscles in order to run with proper posture. So you are ready to run and you check your posture to make sure your core is in a neutral position and all is aligned. Step by step you go and now you start to feel a little fatigued and that posture that you started out with has changed and it is somewhere between not so good and really bad. Because your posture has changed so has your running gait and now you're not running as efficient and potentially more prone to injury. Running shorter distances you may get away without a problem as your gait may not become a factor, but increased distance or overall mileage normally increases a runner's vulnerability to gait abnomalities. So how can we improve our running posture with the ultimate goal of improving overall gait? As I noted posture is a result of neurological not muscular so we have to become more aware of those 27 muscles that support good posture. Strength will help, but control is a far greater factor so that's where the brain comes into play. When we walk down a street, hall or etc... do we maintain control of our core? While driving are we in control? How about sitting in front of the computer? Many are going to standup workstations and those are great, but how is our posture? If we aren't aware of our core (posture) while doing those daily functions, how can we expect to run with the correct posture? When we do a gait analysis we always start with the individual standing and we get a video of all angles. If the posture is not so good, most likely it will also reflect in their gait. Standing, sitting and walking are all opportunities to teach your brain to be in tune with your core and correct poor habits. I am definitely lazy when it comes to posture and I have no doubt it has played a role in my running. I now think about standing tall, keeping my head in line with my backside and having a neutral core as often as I can. I am far from successful but I am trying. Gait analysis definitely helps to identfy posture abnormalities so I highly sugest you reach out to NFLR to see what you look like. For the longest time I tried to understand my running gait but it wasn't til I got a gait analysis that I could see exactly what I was doing. I am working on correcting my gait and posture but improvements need to be made in my car, walking down the hall and just about every function I do. Not easy but possible. Hope you have a great Sunday! mike