Many times running injures aren’t necessarily a disfunction of the area that hurts it’s a sign of imbalance and weakness somewhere else in the body. We get injured when our muscles aren’t functioning properly, sometimes they are weak or perhaps the function of the muscle has been impaired by chronic tightness.
Whatever is going on, our body has to compensate in order to get us down the road as we run. And so our knees, our feet, our shins, our ankles, they all suffer because primary mover muscles and the muscles that stabilize our movement aren’t functioning properly.
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3 Essential Moves
Here are three moves that can help strengthen a weak core, hips and glutes and help prevent some running injuries that stem from weakness and imbalance in these areas.
Bird Dogs
Position yourself on all fours. Keep a neutral spine and engage your core. Slowly extend your arm and opposite leg. Be sure to limit all movement in your back, imagine you’re balancing a glass of water on the end of your spine. Repeat on the opposite side. Do two sets of 20 reps
Clamshells
Lay on your side, with your head resting on your bottom arm. Bring knees up to a 90° angle, so that the bottom of your feet and your spine are along the same plane. Raise your top knee as if opening the top of a “clam,” keeping your heels together. Engage your glute at the top and hold for 3 seconds. Do two sets of 20 reps.
Backward Lunge
From a standing position.Move right leg behind you in a backward lunge. Come back up to standing and continue to raise your knee in front of you in a running motion. Repeat on opposite side. Do two sets of 20 reps.
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The best way to prevent injury is with an assessment from your physical therapist when you aren’t injured. When you meet with them you can find out what moves are right for you and how you should be performing them.
-Sarah
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Thanks for sharing! I’m VERY prone to muscle imbalances (for some reason just in my right leg), so I try to do strength training quite often to overcome/prevent problems. Clamshells and side leg raises are my go-tos so I’ll definitely add the rest of these exercises to my routine!
I love how simple and effective your workout is! It only takes a few minutes of specific work to prevent weeks of injury - no excuse not to do it.
Bird dogs are such a deceptively simple move, but so effective! Love our round ups. 🙂