Daisey Physical Therapy and The Center for Human Performance

MPEG: Treadmill Running

Correct Form

Whether you are running on a treadmill or the ground, no single exercise has more sustained popularity than jogging. Next to walking, no single exercise comes more naturally, requires less money and burns more calories than jogging and running.

It may seem silly to describe how to run, however, there are still many misconceptions about running form. Things like how much to swing your arms or what part of your foot to land on, often leave people confused.

Upper Body
Run with your shoulders back and your arms and hands relaxed. Bend your elbows at your waist with the palms of your hands facing each other. Your arm and hand should go back to the point where if you dropped your hand, it would land your back pant's pockets. Keep your hands loosely cupped. Do not cross your hands across your chest. Keep them straight ahead of you. Keep your head erect and your eyes focused about ten to fifteen yards in front of you. Don't look straight down at your feet. Your chin should be parallel to the ground.

Lower Body
If you are jogging, you will land heel-toe. If you are sprinting, you will land on the balls of your feet (the met-heads or base of your toes). Jogging on your toes will only force prolonged tension in the muscles of the shin. This is a sure way to create shin splints - a painful inflammation of the muscles that attach to the tibia or shin.

Good Posture
Keeping strong, upright posture is critical to safe, effective running. This means you do not want to lean forward excessively. Here is what this will do for you.

You will move forward as one unit, with all your muscles working in sync.
Your muscles won't waste energy having to maintain your balance, correcting for excessive forward lean and so on.
Upright posture helps keep your whole body in proper alignment. This way, you will generate maximum power, which reduces the effort required to run at any pace.
You will increase your speed more easily. An upright body allows your legs to extend forward before hitting the ground with no extra effort. With this kind of extension, you'll be able to change directions or suddenly increase your speed more easily because you're already in the proper biomechanical position to do so.
You will get injured less. When you reduce inefficient leanings and extraneous motions, your muscles and tendons will spend less time correcting these problems. Therefore, they'll be less likely to end up with an overuse injury.
You will breathe easier. When you are more upright, you will get maximum breathing capacity from your lungs. A forward lean makes it tougher for you to fill your lungs and use your diaphragm properly. Stronger, deeper breathing allows you to get more oxygen in and out of the lungs.
You'll cut down on side stitches or cramping. By encouraging better breathing, good posture makes it less likely that you'll develop stitches.

If you want to be sophisticated, try having someone film you as you run. This way you can get a true evaluation of your running style. There is no more effective biofeedback technique than this. Are you leaning too far forward? Too far backward? Are your shoulders hunched? Is your head slung forward? Is your arm form optimal? Are you bending your knees enough? Bringing your knees up high?

A good visualization technique to try while running is to Imagine that you have a pulley attached to the center of your breastbone. The other end of the pulley is attached by a rope to the top of a low building one block away. As you run, imagine that the rope is pulling you toward the top of the building. This will help lift your chest. Remember, don't lean forward. You want your whole chest leading the way forward.

Which is Better - Treadmill or Outdoor Running?
There are a number of ways to evaluate this question. First, let's look at it from an energy standpoint. Treadmill walking and running will require slightly less energy than outdoor running primarily because of wind resistance. It has been determined that in order to make up for this, you can adjust the treadmill to a 1% grade in order to simulate wind resistance (1). Obviously, weather factors into this as well. As the temperature of the environment increases, so will fluid loss and your need to replenish those fluids. If your only outdoor walking option will place you in an environment where there are cars and pollutants, you are better off walking indoors on a treadmill. More about this at the end of this article. From a muscle and joint perspective, a treadmill surface is going to be much softer and have less impact on your joints. Not only is the surface softer, but the direction of the treadmill platform moving in stride with your feet will absorb more of the force of impact. If you are concerned about worsening arthritis in the ankle, knee, hip or back, you are better off using a treadmill.

Safety Considerations and Precautions
As always, safety should be your number one priority with exercise.

Wear comfortable running shoes with good support. The support of running shoes will differ depending on the quality of the shoe. Many shoes offer various types of arch supports that may not be appropriate for your foot. To find out how to find the best running shoe, click here.
Always run in a well-lit area. Do not wear a headset unless you know you are in a safe place. Run with a friend to help ensure your safety.
Be sure the ground surface you are running on is soft and even. Stay away from areas where there are small indents in the ground that can cause an ankle sprain.
Run in an area away from automobile traffic. The pollutants (carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone) commonly seen in high traffic areas will negate any benefits of exercise you are getting by filling your hard-working lungs with environmental contaminants.
Avoid distractions if you are running on a treadmill to avoid injury. Keep your eyes on the front of the treadmill to maintain a point of reference and be sure to use the "kill" switch that shuts the machine off if you begin to fall.

REFERENCES
1. Jones AM, Doust JH: A 1% treadmill grade most accurately reflects the energetic cost of outdoor running. J Sports Sci 1996 Aug;14(4):321-7.