Check the height of your arches when you shop for new running or walking shoes. If you have high arches, you usually need shoes with good shock absorption. If you have low arches, you will probably benefit from shoes with good motion control (Gait & Posture, July 2007).
When you run, you land on the outside bottom of your foot and roll inward. This is called pronation, which helps to protect you from injury. If you landed on your foot and did not roll, the force of the impact would be transmitted up your leg to increase your chance of breaking bones and tearing muscles. However, as you roll in from the outside bottom to the inside bottom of your foot, you will see that your lower leg twists inward.
Excessive pronation twists your lower leg, which can cause stress fractures of the lower leg bones. It can cause knee pain because it forces your kneecap to rub against the bone of your upper leg. Excessive pronation can even twist your hip joint to cause pain in the hips and lower back.
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Need advice? Injured? Confused? Overwhelmed? Bored? ASK LARA!
ASK LARA is a free advice column to help you with all of your running, fitness and nutrition inquiries. To ASK LARA — simply fill out the form at the conclusion of the column.
Q. I think I have plantar fasciitis and have a marathon coming up in 2 weeks. I’m not sure how much running I can do between now and then. Any advice on how I can keep my fitness level up? I already bike indoors once a week but I’m not sure if biking can take the place of running. Anything you can suggest is much appreciated.
~Darlene from Boise, Idaho
A. Plantar fasciitis is a pesky problem that affects numerous runners. With a marathon so close, you certainly don’t want to make matters worse, but you do want to maintain your fitness level. The good news is that you are only 2 weeks out from the marathon, and thus the work is done. As you have already accomplished your training over the past weeks, now is the time to begin a taper and thus decrease your training anyway. The severity of the problem should dictate how much you are able to run. If it’s painful to run, it’s not a good sign and you should focus mostly on other activities. Adding some good cross training to the mix can help you heal the problem while maintaining your fitness. First, let’s take a look at the injury.
Plantar fasci-what?
Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the band of tissue, the plantar fascia, that connects the heel bone (calcaneus) to the forefoot, supporting your arch. When this area is strained through overuse or weaknesses, it causes irritation and inflammation, often causing pain in the heel first thing in the morning and …
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Need advice? Injured? Confused? Overwhelmed? Bored? ASK LARA!
ASK LARA is a free advice column to help you with all of your running, fitness and nutrition inquiries. To ASK LARA — simply fill out the form at the conclusion of the column.
You’ve heard of ASK FLASH…Welcome to ASK LARA, a new place to submit all of your running questions. Let’s get to it!
Q. So Lara, we have Flash for all of our running and fitness questions, why do we need another Q and A columnist?
~Maggie from Boston, MA
A. I’m glad you asked that question. Well, it’s true that I do not have a catchy nickname. And I don’t have Flash’s years of wisdom, as I am much younger. However, I can offer guidance based upon my own personal and professional experiences. On the personal side of the coin, I have had my share of injuries and triumphs and set-backs, and all of those other things that come with being a runner.
Professionally, I have a background in the sciences, including a M.S. in Health & Exercise Science (See below for my full bio), and simply a fascination with human anatomy and exercise physiology. I am a personal trainer and have worked with the old, the young, heart patients, diabetics, healthy adults, addicts, students, in the clinic, and in fitness. And all related to exercise. In order to tackle your many questions, I am teaming up with Flash so that we may best conquer your running inquiries. Two heads are better than one, right? Plus, perhaps some of you ladies have women-specific questions. Send them my way!
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Achilles tendinitis means you feel pain in the large tendon that extends from in the back of your heel to your calf muscle.
It hurts most when you get up in the morning and when you start to walk or run. It will heal only if you stop running and find another sport that doesn’t hurt when you do it, such as cycling, swimming, or pulling on a rowing machine.
The Achilles tendon is the largest tendon in the human body and can withstand forces of 1,000 pounds or more. But it also the most frequently ruptured tendon. The Achilles tendon is made up of thousands of individual fibers, like a rope with thousand of threads.
The fibers are broken by applying a force greater than their inherent strength. No medicines hasten healing. As soon as the tendon stops hurting, doctors usually prescribe strengthening exercises, but you have to exercise against greater resistance to become strong and strong resistance prevents healing.
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Traditional shoe technology focuses on the heel; a concept that has been widely accepted by manufacturers and athletes for more than 50 years. However, architect Daniel Talbott and his team at Oregon-based Velocy have decided to challenge this conventional wisdom with their innovative new line of running shoes.
After spending ten years researching human performance and identifying the factors that help propel the animal kingdoms fastest species, such as the cheetah and ostrich, Talbot invented Velocy’s patent pending “Forward Gravity” shoe technology. Velocy explains:
“Forward Gravity technology is engineered to place emphasis on the forefoot and in doing this, all weight is shifted forward and supported by your leg’s muscular ability during knee flexion. This is the human body’s natural way of absorbing shock.”
Velocy asserts that Forward Gravity will enable runners to run more efficiently and effectively. They also believe that Velocy shoes are capable of helping elite runners run times that are substantially faster than many, current world records.
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