Stretching
Stretch without Pain
One
of the key things to do to avoid injury as you run is to stretch and
strengthen your muscles before and after you run. Light stretching before you
run will loosen your muscles and help you warm up for your run. Stretching after
will help remove the lactate from your muscles that was
generated while you ran. In addition, stretching will help strengthen
your muscles, enabling you to run better and helping you avoid injury.
A word of caution is in order, however. Any activity that causes muscle movement causes stress in your body, and too much stress is the cause of injury. Thus, if you aren't careful, doing stretches can contribute to injury. I've found that the keys to safe stretching are (a) experience no pain while you stretch, (b) do gentle, slow muscle movements when you stretch, and (c) don't rock your body back and forth or jump up and down. If you feel pain, back off and don't pull your muscles as much.
Use Anti-Injury Exercises
Dr.
Weisenfeld in The Runners' Repair Manual (Amazon) has a chapter on "The Best Anti-Injury Exercises I've
Ever Found".
Let's take a look at what he says:
I'm going to let you in on a secret that could cut my practice by a third. If you do the right exercises and do them regularly, you can avoid most injuries. On the other hand, if you run and don't exercise, you're almost sure to be injured. It's that simple. Every run you take causes microscopic tears in the muscles, and when these tiny tears repair themselves, they form scar tissue. This scar tissue cannot be flexed or stretched. So every time you run, your muscles are getting tighter and tighter--and less able to stretch. A tight, inflexible muscle is a setup for injury. It can't take the shocks and jolts of running or the constant pulling of a long runner's stride. A tight muscle is one that's ready to be injured. And, along with these tight muscles, other muscles in your body are very tight while nearby muscles are relatively very soft. That's another setup for injury. So save yourself yourself some pain and money. Learn a basic group of exercises like the warm-up I'll give you here, or any good, well-balanced set of exercises.-- The Runners' Repair Manual, copyright 1980, chapter 3, pp. 33-34
He describes (with pictures) a set of stretches that will help keep your muscles lose, strong, and injury-free. I heartily recommend that you get his book and follow it in your running!
We all have our
own way of stretching, and this is what
I do (most are from Weisenfeld). I've posted
pictures illustrating most
of these stretches.
 | Three variations of wall pushups for calf and soleus |
| Foot on stair knee up for hamstring |
| The traditional bent leg for quads |
| Knee press for hamstring and lower back |
| Knee lifts for lower back and abdominal |
| A variation of knee lifts in which one knee is bent and my head is raised up to touch the knee with my nose, the other leg is on the ground with knee bent |
| Foot press, outer thighs, inner thighs for knee & groin (see below) |
| Flying to relax my back |
| A variation of flying in which my arms trace a horizontal figure-8 to get both sides of my brain working |
| 33 sit ups from a Runners' World article (see below) |
|
10 push ups. These aren't for running. In New England
they were to help me split wood for my stove. Now they are to help me carry
bags of fertilizer to my wife's garden |
Sit Ups Can Kill Your Back
Lower
back pain is one of the common ailments that afflict runners. After I
had been running for several years, I started having lower back pain.
Coincidentally, Runners' World published an article on lower
back pain about a month after I started having pains. That article
suggested doing sit ups to strengthen ones stomach and thus strengthen
ones back muscles; you can't have a strong back if you have a flabby
stomach. To me, doing sit ups meant doing them the "army" way, but the
method suggested by Runners' World was different.
If
you do sit ups the "army" way, you'll keep your arms behind your head
and place your head and shoulders on the ground each cycle. Your back
muscles will have to exert great effort to raise your head and
shoulders off the ground, and unless your back is in great condition,
that effort can injure your back.
In
contrast, the Runners' World method for sit ups is to keep your head and
shoulders off the ground and to keep your arms stretched out in front
of you, parallel to the floor, as if you were reaching for your toes.
You then bend your body back and forth. Your knees are bent in both
positions. How
far you bend depends on your condition, but keep your head and
shoulders off the ground). When I tried this method, I found that
could raise my body up and down with no noticeable strain on my back
muscles. After about a month of doing sit ups this way, my lower back
pain was gone!
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|
I
do 30 sit ups before I run, and after years of running, my back is in
fine shape. I've also gained a beneficial side effect from doing the
sit ups. Most of the time when I finish the sit ups, I feel great and
am anxious to hit the roads. Some times, however, I feel tired after
completing the sit ups, and I know that my body is tired and that I'd
better take a slower and perhaps shorter run. My sit ups are a good
indicator of my body condition.
For a
stronger back, do the following lower-back stretches
|
Lie prone to relax lower back muscles |
Keep head flat, pull knees towards chest |
|
Raise head, touch knee to nose if possible |
Touch other knee to nose if possible |
Your Knees are for Running not for Hurting
Knee
pain is another common problem with runners. Runners doing hills are
especially susceptible to knee problems.
Before each run, I do several repetitions of
the foot press and inner thighs stretches that are
described by Dr. Weisenfeld in The Runners' Repair Manual, and
I've never had knee injuries, even after 17 years of running in hilly
New England. Here is Dr. Weisenfeld's description of how to do those
exercises.
Foot Press. Strengthens quadriceps (thigh) muscles, for treatment/prevention of runner's knee. Strengthens anterior leg muscles, for treatment of shin splints. Can be done lying down or sitting in a chair. Put your right foot on top of your left foot. Your lower foot tries to pull toward your body as your upper foot pushes it away from the body. Hold for ten seconds. Now switch feet--put the left foot on top of the right foot, and push/pull for ten seconds. This equals one set. Do five sets.-- The Runners' Repair Manual, copyright 1980, chapter 4, pp. 38
Foot Press: Do isometrics with your toes
Inner and Outer Thighs. The turned-out position strengthens the outer thigh muscles--for treatment/prevention of runner's knee. The turned-in position strengthens the inner thigh muscles--for treatment/prevention of groin pull. Can be done lying down or sitting in a chair. Stretch both legs out--knees straight, feet flexed (Toes pointed toward knees.) Tighten your thigh muscles. Now, turn your feet out as far as you can and hold ten seconds. Then turn your feet in as far as you can and hold ten seconds. Keep thigh muscles tight throughout exercise.-- The Runners' Repair Manual, copyright 1980, chapter 4, pp. 38 -39
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Here is a good link about stretching and another one.
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