Running Right: The importance of running form

"I don't run to add days to my life, I run to add life to my days." - Dr Ronald Rook (Orthopaedic Sports Medicine Specialist, Michigan, USA)

Although the running form of elite athletes, such as Eluid Kipchoge, Mo Farah and Kenenisa Bekele, can be classified as proper or rather ideal, most runners can only aspire to this. These running gods make form look effortless, but it takes a lot of hard work to emulate this for us mere mortals. Every runner is also different and, over time, adapts to their own running style. However, some important principles do apply across the spectrum of running ability that both save energy and improve performance.

The most important tips relating to proper running form include the following:

• Run with your head straight and facing forward. Be sure to keep your eyes focused on the ground a few metres in front of you without tilting your head down. In this way, you can see any obstacles on the road to avoid unnecessary falls.
• Keep shoulders relaxed, down and back. Broaden your chest and bend your elbows at 90 degrees. Lightly fold your hands into a fist without clenching them.
• Ensure that you swing your arms from your shoulders and not across the midline. During an arm swing, your shoulders will rotate slightly with the counter rotation of your pelvis which occurs during normal running gait. Instead, your arms should move forwards and backwards with your hands slightly brushing your hips. Do not rotate your upper body as this results in unnecessary energy expenditure.
• Focus on your posture by activating your core muscles. Run upright with a slight forward lean that should come from your hips. While running, your hips will rotate slightly but ensure that you keep them level, so that they do not tilt or drop on either side during the stance phase of running.
• Optimise your foot strike, another important aspect of proper running form. Landing on the balls of the feet with a light mid-foot strike has been described as being most efficient. This keeps the contact time of the feet with the ground short which in turn allows for more energy transfer when pushing off into your next stride. Your foot should land directly below your knee or slightly behind it. Avoid pointing your toes as well as hitting the ground hard with your heel. This will slow you down and place unnecessary stress on your knees.
• Keep your cadence (tempo) as high as possible while running. The optimal cadence is 180 steps a minute. Increased cadence helps to decrease the contact time with the ground. This results in decreased impact force, increased efficiency, and a reduced risk of injury. Runners tend to overstride when their cadence is too low, and this happens when compensating for a decreased pace. Overstriding can lead to inefficient running and injury.

Intrinsic factors is an important group of causes of running injuries - these are specific issues related to the runner's body and running style that contribute towards injury. Systematically self-evaluating the aforementioned aspects of running technique may help to decrease the risk of injury.

Although a proper running technique does exist, all runners are different. For example, look at some runners with an improper or even awkward running form, such as Camille Herron, who still performs very well at elite level. If you are plagued by injuries, it is best to get a professional biomechanical running assessment as correcting your running form is one way to reduce your chances of getting injured over the longer term. It will also make you faster.

Article written by Belinda Waghorn and Jon Patricios

Belinda Waghorn is a physiotherapist with an interest in sport. She is a Comrades Marathon gold medallist and chairs the Wits Sport and Health (WiSH) Running Interest Group

Jon Patricios is Professor of Sport and Exercise Medicine, Wits Sport and Health (WiSH), School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Wits University