Review of System of a Run course – Christopher Johnson, PT

Evan

I had the pleasure of spending last weekend in Vancouver, BC listening to two great PT’s, Christopher Johnson from Zeren PT in Seattle and The Manual Therapist, Erson Religioso, teaching about treating the injured runner.  This was a course I was really excited to take considering I have followed both of their blogs for quite some time.  There was so much great information!  Much more than I can remember right now but here goes…

Here are some of my biggest takeaways:

-The main risk factor for a future injury is a previous injury within the last 12 months. Can’t do a thing about it but it is worth noting.

-THE 80% RULE: 80% of runners run at 80% intensity 80% of the time which is why up to 80% of runners get injured.

-Variability is KING!!! Vary your footwear, your strike pattern, your speed and your step width. Change things up to stay healthy.

-The 3 S’s of Treadmill Gait Analysis:

1) Strike
  • how and where are they striking?
2) Step Rate/Cadence
  • “5 will give you 20” which simply means, research shows increasing your cadence by 5% will give you 20% less force on your knees.  This is a really simple and powerful cue!
3) Sound
  • are they striking hard, soft?
  • another simple cue to change force attenuation is “Land like a Ninja”

-Running less than twice or more than six days per week is correlated with an increased risk of injury. 3-5 days per week is the sweet spot!

-Train the hamstrings!!!  They are highly active in the running cycle, mostly involved with deceleration. Eccentric training may be beneficial here. Single leg RDL’s anyone?

-Decreasing your stride length can affect several factors…often for the better.

-Do you have limited ankle dorsiflexion? If you have stretched and mobilized and nothing seems to help, work on shortening your stride length and increase you leg speed i.e. foot turn-over.

-When choosing shoes: look for defects i.e. left/right symmetry, make sure the heel counter is vertical, it shouldn’t rock on a flat surface. Choose an appropriate heel/toe drop for your ankle range of motion and comfort. Make sure it has adequate forefoot width – take the insert out and make sure it captures your whole foot. Make sure to have more than 1 pair in your arsenal to ensure good variability.

and finally…

-Fitness walking and slow marching make you look weird…do them anyway 🙂

Here is another link to a review from Erson:

http://www.themanualtherapist.com/2015/10/review-of-system-of-run-strike-step.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheManualTherapist+%28The+Manual+Therapist%29

As well as links to both of their websites if you would like to learn more about them!

Christopher Johnson – http://www.zerenpt.com

Erson Religioso – http://www.themanualtherapist.com

Keep Learning!

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