Hey runners, how are your knees?
Did you know that novice runners have a very high injury rate?
I used to love running, mainly because I could do it without thinking and it got me outside in my own headspace. But my knees were less than happy.
Sadly a lot of us shouldn’t be only running.
We’ve been talking a lot about ACL injury prevention, particularly for women.
Female athletes are up 6 times more likely to suffer from ACL injuries than their male counterparts in the same sports.
There are many theories for this. They include hormones/monthly cycles, general joint laxity, lack of muscular development/joint imbalances, anteriorly dominant motor patterns, wider hips and femur/q angle, joint alignment or movement technique.
One factor may be that a lot of women land with their knees forward (valgus) which means we can’t absorb the energy properly. Over time, this may contribute to ligament damage.
We can't address all of these issues, but we can raise awareness and try to mitigate these dangers by focusing on the things that we can change.
Something we work on in our classes:
If you have a funky landing - can we coach you into a better position that you can maintain under stress?
OR
Is this something that we need to help you work on your strength and stability over time so that you can improve your energy absorbtion?
If it’s the latter, don’t worry, it’s something that can be improved upon but you may want to pull back on the running until you’ve had a chance to improve your leg strength and stability.
See our video on knee health below.
P.S. stopping running due my hurty knees, knowing I needed to getting into strength and stability but having no inclination to go to gym is one of the many reasons we started WildStrong.
A few articles on ACL health:
General overview of ACL prehab:
Video ideas for exercises that could help prevent ACL injuries
Team USA soccer with some good, basic ideas
Here's some more on knee health & injury prevention:
Clinical guidance best practices for ACL injury prevention programs
Take away: train strength, plyometrics, and control. There’s a need for more than just balance as some old programs had. Combination of jumping & landing and strength training.
Paper includes lots of training ideas like nordics, step ups, lunges etc
Meta-Analysis of meta-analyses on ACL injury prevention
Take away: ACL injury prevention programs can reduce ACL injury rates but 67% in female athletes Any questions, just ask!
