June 24, 2020
Reducing knee pain while running might just be a (quicker) stride away
Knee injuries or knee pain are amongst the most common complaint in runners. While there may be varying causes or culprits to the pain, new research suggests that increasing your cadence may be one solution to the problem.
What is cadence?
Cadence is ultimately your step rate (how many steps you are taking per minute).
In a Systematic review there was consistent evidence that showed increased stride rate resulted in reduced ground reaction force, shock attenuation and energy absorbed at the knee as well as greater glute activation, and we know strong glutes help to stabilise our knees.
In these studies the knee joint was most affected by manipulation of step frequency than any other joint. Significant changes in the body’s centre of gravity were noted, when this changed it reduced the ground reaction forces and therefore reduced knee pain.
Fact:
Elite runners on average take 180 steps per minute, this is in comparison to recreational runners who tend to on average take 160 steps per min
Take home message:
Find your baseline and then aim to increase your cadence by 5-10% at a time
3 ways to increase cadence:
Playlist – Create a playlist OR find a pre-made Spotify play list that has a beat that is 5-10% higher than your baseline i.e. if your baseline is 160 BPM find a playlist that has a beat of 168-170 BPM and aim for your foot to strike the ground with every beat of the music.
Metronome- You want to use the same principle as above here! Download a metronome app, set the regular beat to be 5-10% more than your baseline and then run in time to the beats.
Count your steps per minute- Not into music while you run? Have your stopwatch on and count out how many times you step per minute, once you have your number aim to beat this each minute.
Any questions?
Should you have any questions please feel free to call us on 9544-0477 or email us at beachsidephysio@gmail.com or simply drop in to our Cronulla clinic in person, look forward to hearing from you.
