In March 2006, the Standard Charter Marathon, with its 45,000 participants, saw a disproportionate number of running injuries. A great deal of these could have been prevented by improving pelvic and hip-joint mobility and alignment as well as increasing muscle and joint flexibility. Most running injuries occur in the lower limbs (calves, ankles and Achilles tendon) and lower back.

Poor running techniques, poor road surfaces, the heavily polluted tunnel run (carbon monoxide attaches to the hemoglobin 10 times more readily than O2!), muscular overuse, incorrect running shoes and overtraining… all contribute to strains, sprains and pains.

The physical impact of running on tarmac can put as much as 4 times your body-weight on your joints. Therefore, being correctly aligned and being strong and flexible in your lower back, hips and pelvis is essential. Some runners are doing marathons with one leg longer than the other. The impact on the spine and intervertebral joints can be so great that the soft, spongy, cartilaginous disks compress and bulge putting pressure on the sciatic nerve, our longest nerve that runs from the lower back into the heel of the foot.

Before the race, I would highly recommend having a thorough postural assessment to check leg length discrepancies, make sure the core muscles around the trunk are strong and that the lower back and pelvic girdle are well stretched-out.(there are 29 muscles that tie into each hip joint).

SCIATIC PAIN

Sciatic pain can vary depending on the intensity of the nerve compression. It can be a constant, intense ache or shooting pain that runs from the lower back into the deeper part of the gluteals and even down into the back of the knee, which indicates a much greater nerve root compression.

Flexibility in forward bending and side bending will be very limited. Sometimes, the best way to get pain relief is to lie on your back with a pillow under your knees. In this position, over 50% of the weight is being taken off your spine.

In any case, a visit to a well-trained physical therapist, an osteopath or an experienced manual therapist will help to re-balance and re-align the pelvic girdle and start the process of de-compressing the joints.

HIP-HIKING EXERCISE

To improve pelvic alignment, lie on your back; keep the knees locked and legs straight. Actively move (hitch) the hips up and down to engage the quadratus lumborum and sacroiliac joints. For an extra work-out have someone hold onto your legs to provide some added resistance.

back to the January newsletter