Not a podiatrist

Members do not see these Ads. Sign Up.

Hi,

I figured, I was ok to drop in here after reading the guidelines.

As mentioned in the title, I'm not a podiatrist.
As a running coach though, I do have more than a passing interest.
I've checked in lately to view the discussions on running barefoot, and value the expertise and balanced view on the subject; research is great of course but what's not so great is the interpretation by some to make it 'fit' with their own ideas (and products!).

Aside from the barefoot running debate, I'm obviously interested in the wider issues related to podiatry and running.

Graham

 

Hi Graham,

Welcome! I have an interest in running technique - it's all the rage in London. Where are you based?

In addition to the above threads posted by Admin2 you may find the discussion on leg stiffness of interest.

IG

 

Ian,
Thanks for pointer to leg stiffness; I think I might have to retrain for a few years to understand much of it. As far as running performance goes, leg stiffness obviously has a huge influence. Unfortunately, understanding it fully and more importantly understanding how it interacts with everything else that's going on during the running gait is probably impossible.
Even if we could, we then have to apply it to running and individual runners and then add in all the other variables such as shoes, running surface, level of fatigue, running distance, weather, pain thresholds, etc, etc.
But, of course, if we could just say that stiffer legs were better (or worse), that would be too simple. I do think though, that sometimes, science can get in the way of the pragmatic approach. We try and understand and measure things to the nth degree and some of it can never be effectively applied in the real world. Maybe this will seem a little simplistic for some.
It reminds me of surprisingly similar discussions about the compliance of cartridges for record players. Some are springy, some are stiff, some reproduce beautiful music, and involve the listener, some don't. Yes, there was science involved in the design and rightly so, but very often something that measured awfully in the lab sounded exquisite.

Interesting point about technique, many runners just run and assume because they are doing what comes naturally it'll serve them well. Always amazes me when I watch a race from the sidelines how effective some bad techniques can be; I'm constantly asking myself 'how can they be running that fast?' And also, if we helped them 'improve' their technique, would they run faster? Or, would they get injured? Maybe, on seeing the bad technician running faster than 99% of everyone else, we should be questioning our ideas of what bad technique is.

And I nearly forgot, I'm in Heathfield, East Sussex.