Chiropractic and Running Injuries

Why are running injuries so common?

Running and jogging are very popular forms of exercise in Vancouver. Typically running injuries consist of two major types; acute or repetitive. Thankfully acute injuries are fairly rare and are usually a result of falls or collisions. The vast majority of running injuries are of repetitive nature. These injuries will occur slowly over time as the person performs the same motion or action again and again. For example, the typical runner will take 800 – 1000 strides per mile. In addition to this repetition, when runners heel strike, their bodies are absorbing a force equal to 3 – 4 times their body weight. This is a considerable amount of force that is being put through the body with each stride.

Running injuries start to occur when the body is unable to properly alleviate the forces produced during exercise. In order to correctly absorb these forces, all the joints and muscles need proper mobility, strength, endurance, and balance. All the joints and muscles of the lower extremity, pelvis, and trunk work together, in what is known as a kinetic chain, to reduce excess force created during running. Even a small change, such as a tight muscle or joint misalignment, can alter the biomechanics along the entire kinetic chain, putting it off-balance. This will cause your body to compensate in what is known as a “stride fault” or “stride compensation” meaning a problem in one area will cause excessive or altered movement in another area along the kinetic chain.

If you consider altered biomechanics with the repetitive, high-force nature of running, it is easy to see why running injuries are so common. This also shows why the entire kinetic chain must be evaluated when dealing with running injuries and not just the area of pain.

The Injury Process

When these large repetitive forces accumulate in the body, they will strain the muscles, ligaments, and joints. As training continues, these strains develop into small tears or micro-trauma. Runners and joggers usually experience micro-trauma as soreness, tightness, or an ache. The body responds to this injury by placing small amounts of scar tissue around the injury - this scar tissue is actually part of the normal healing process and doesn’t necessarily pose a problem. The problem occurs when you have the same repetitive impact forces occurring again and again, straining the same muscles, ligaments, and joints. The body then has to repair that same tissue, which leads to a buildup and accumulation of scar tissue, called an adhesion. Adhesion can impair the function of the tissue by sticking muscle fibers together, limiting their ability to contract and/or stretch, therefore decreasing that muscle’s strength, power, flexibility, and endurance.

As training continues, those muscles must now stretch and contract with those adhesions, causing them to work harder and thus placing more strain on them. This will lead to more micro-trauma, scar tissue deposition, and eventually adhesion formation. This now becomes a repetitive injury cycle of tissue dysfunction and re-injury, which will lead to a larger tissue failure and pain.

Treating Running Injuries

It’s clear that in order to treat running injuries, the whole kinetic chain must be examined first, addressing all the muscles, ligaments, joints, and nerves of the lower extremity, pelvis, and trunk. Examining the kinetic chain can assure that all areas are functioning properly or help identify where the kinetic chain is misaligned.

As a Chiropractor, Dr. Jay Guarino utilizes chiropractic joint manipulation and strengthening exercises to treat running injuries. In addition, he is a certified provider of Active Release Techniques (ART). ART is a hands-on treatment and soft tissue technique, designed to locate and treat the adhesions that form within muscles due to repetitive injury cycles. By combining these three techniques Dr. Jay Guarino can ensure that joints have their full range of motion, the muscles of the kinetic chain are strong and balanced, and all the tissues are functioning optimally, without adhesion restriction.

For more information on Active Release Techniques please visit www.activerelease.com or Dr. Guarino Chiropractic Active Release Techniques information page.