[{"id":51,"date":"2017-08-23T03:34:42","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T03:34:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pacernationweb.wpenginepowered.com\/sanbernardino\/?p=51"},"modified":"2017-08-23T03:34:42","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T03:34:42","slug":"the-core-of-all-running-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/the-core-of-all-running-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cCore\u201d of All Running Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Steve Smith, Pacers Founder and Team Doc<\/em><\/p>\n

\"fullsizerender-24\"Abdominal strength has a real and immediate effect on your running gait, and the faster you\u00a0go, the more your abdominal muscles participate in your gait. Many running injuries can be traced back to weak core muscles that result in poor running biomechanics. If you are looking to improve your pace and lower finish times, strengthening your abdominal muscles may be a straight path to a breakthrough. If you are injury prone, abdominal strength might be the key to resolving the problem.<\/p>\n

The Importance of Core Strength<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

To understand why the abdominals can are so important, we have to look at how your hip and torso moves during the gait cycle. We need to look down at you from above your head and watch how your hips and torso move when you are running. When the right leg swings forward, your hip will twist slightly forward at the same time the shoulder will twist slightly back in counterrotation. This causes natural twist in your spine, causing elastic potential energy. Some of the twist is a result of the way the joints fit together and some of this action is caused by the way your muscles contract. Much of this twisting and arm swing is done to keep you in balance. If you don\u2019t believe me then try running and swinging your arm in the same direction your leg is moving! When the twist gets just tight enough, you tend to snap into the opposite direction, counterrotation. Makes sense, right? If you have a strong core, the twist will be tight and more power released when you unwind. If you have strong oblique abdominal muscles, these are the abdominal that run across your waist sideways, the twisting motion will work efficiently.<\/p>\n

But what happens when there is not enough abdominal strength? You\u2019ll use that rubbery computer in the back of your brain to calculate a way to sequence other muscles to do the work. That means the muscles that run right through the middle of you get twisted in a way they were never intended. Your gluteal muscles get wrapped tightly wrapped around your hip, your leg rotates awkwardly, your knees will torque too much, and then your arches collapse. In other words, every part of the chain of movement is now under a lot of strain. Now let\u2019s take this whirling twisted mess out for a fast eight-mile run. You feel pretty good, but every muscle is working at a disadvantage. It isn\u2019t long before the overloaded muscles just can\u2019t keep up with the demand, then your IT band erupts in a painful protest. See where I\u2019m going with this? You need a strong core.<\/p>\n

Knowing the Core<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Okay, what exactly is the core? They don\u2019t have a \u201ccore\u201d in any of the anatomy books. (Believe me, I\u2019ve looked in those books.) This is where abundant opinion exists. I am here now to substitute all other opinions and insert my own. Core muscles are made up of the back muscles, psoas, and abdominals. Some folks add in the muscles of the pelvic floor, fair enough. Yet others will add in the diaphragm, okay I\u2019ll go with that opinion as well. But let\u2019s look at the primary core muscles and concentrate on the big three:<\/p>\n

Back Muscles. <\/strong>There are a lot of them. I like the multifidus and the quadratus lumborum, but there are quite a few others. They all tend to work together and they twist, bend, and straighten your back in all sorts of ways. The main take away about your back muscles is that if they are strong, you\u2019ll have a good strong pillar, right in the middle where everything is attached.<\/p>\n

Psoas.<\/strong>\u00a0 We\u2019ll start with the Psoas which are the muscles that are attached to the upper part of your lower back and connect to the inside of your thigh bone. They swing your leg forward or, if your foot is planted on the ground, they pull you forward. These muscles also control the sideways movement of your pelvis. And, as if that is not enough, they hold your pelvis level when your foot is off the ground.<\/p>\n

Abdominals<\/strong>. \u00a0Next on the hit parade of all-time, most important core gait muscles are the abdominal muscles (abs). The abs run straight up from the pelvis to the lower ribs. But they also run sideways and they run oblique. They crisscross from the front of your body and wrap around to your back. The abs are the twist and spring muscles. They also help control the tilt of your pelvis.<\/p>\n

Strengthening the Core<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Phew, now that we have the anatomy and structure part of the discussion out of the way, let\u2019s talk about the best way to strengthen your core to optimize your gait and prevent injuries. I\u2019ll bet you are thinking about sit-ups right now. Relax! No sit ups. Don\u2019t get me wrong: I love sit ups! They cause back problems, I treat back problems and I charge for those treatments. See why I like sit ups? Seriously though, I like exercises that mimic movements you would naturally do in a primitive state. Think about gardening for a minute. There is a lot of reaching, lifting, bending, pulling, kneeling, and pushing. Think about planting, hunting, building a shelter, clearing a path. Think about all the movements that would have been done a thousand years ago. Where in these movements would you have done a hundred sit-ups, leg extensions, hamstring curls, overhead reaching? If you think about natural movements when designing exercises, you are on the right track because those are the very movements we were born to do. These are called \u201cFunctional Movement Exercises,\u201d and they are exercises that have a specific function that is natural to our bodies.<\/p>\n

Functional Movement Exercises<\/strong>. So now that we have put it that way, what are some Functional Movement Exercises that will strengthen your core? Bending and twisting against resistance, raising your knees, pulling against a heavy object, chopping movements, pulling up from the ground (especially if you are coming up from a squat position), crawling on your back and on your stomach, and climbing. You would have done all these exercises on the hunt, gardening, picking fruits from a high place, or building a hut.<\/p>\n

You have only to use a little imagination to come up with a dozen ways to strengthen your core. The more ways you do it, the more you mimic nature, the stronger you get and the better you function.<\/p>\n

Core Exercises<\/strong>. Planks, how useful are they? Where in nature would you ever do a plank? This is an isometric exercise that strengthens you, but only in one position. Muscles need to be strengthened along their entire range of movement to be functional. Want a good plank with movement: walk on all fours, without your knees touching the ground across a room or grassy field. That\u2019s planking, but with movement. Then flip over and do a crab walk forward and backward. Burpees, although not recommended for older people, are a tremendous full body workout and they work your core. Pull-ups with knee-ups, Gecko crawls, quadruped, resisted rotations, knee thrusts against resistance bands, pulldowns while kneeling are all versions of core strength.<\/p>\n

Pick three core exercises and give them a try. Go easy and check for excessive soreness. Rest for a day or two then add two or three different core exercises. Two or three days later add a couple of more exercises to your repertoire. Just do a few of your core exercises at any one time. Soon you have ten or twelve core exercises and your workouts will be interesting and fun.<\/p>\n

If you add in the right nutrition program, you\u2019ll have a great looking core in no time at all. But more important than looking good, you\u2019ll be a bulletproof running machine ready to go the distance without the worry of injuries!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Steve Smith, Pacers Founder and Team Doc Abdominal strength has a real and immediate effect on your running gait, and the faster you\u00a0go, the more your abdominal muscles […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":52,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-running-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":54,"date":"2017-07-18T03:36:05","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T03:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pacernationweb.wpenginepowered.com\/sanbernardino\/?p=54"},"modified":"2017-08-23T03:36:15","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T03:36:15","slug":"running-in-the-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/running-in-the-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Running in the Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Steve Smith, Pasadena Pacer Founder and Team Doc<\/em><\/p>\n

We live in southern California where hot days are a fact of life. As such, it\u2019s important we discuss some tips to keep you safe, healthy, and running.<\/p>\n

\"img_4232\"<\/p>\n

Run Early<\/em><\/strong>. If you are going long, go early. If you are training for a marathon and need to beat the heat, start your run early\u20146:00am at the latest. We like seeing everyone at the tables at 7:00am; we are a team, a community, a family. We want everyone to come to the table at dinnertime, and new Pacers need to be assigned to a group, which is difficult if you are absent. If you can, come back to the tables at 7:00am for stretches and camaraderie. Otherwise, go early and outrun the sun!<\/p>\n

Hydrate.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Don\u2019t forget to hydrate during the week. \u00a0More sweat means electrolyte loss, take salt or electrolyte drink while on your run.<\/p>\n

Fuel Up.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Eat before your run! Eat a super clean diet, plants, no processed food. Have a banana or half a PBJ about 30 to 45 minutes before you start. Long runs require more nutritional support. Whatever you have experimented with, use it. I like a PBJ sandwich, Robin loves peanut butter pretzels, other runners like special nut clusters. We are all different so this is the time to try things out. What sounds gross right now may sound like heaven during your run.<\/p>\n

Never mix GU, Chomps, or other carb replacement snacks with an electrolyte drink but do drink water with carb snacks for better digestion and absorption.<\/p>\n

Prepare for Sweat.<\/strong> More sweat means more chafing, use glide, or, better yet, \u201cTri Slide\u201d on areas that rub. Carry Chap Stick for emergency chafe treatment.<\/p>\n

If your feet sweat a lot, try leaving a change of dry socks at a drop point.<\/p>\n

Listen to Your Body. \u00a0<\/strong>Most of you will feel like your run is a lot harder and your pace will likely be slower. It’s ok, live with it. This is not the weekend to push your pace.<\/p>\n

IF YOU BECOME LIGHTHEADED, MENTALLY SLUGGISH, HAVE DIFFICULTY MAINTAINING BALANCE, ARE SWEATING PROFUSELY\u2026OR ESPECIALLY IF YOU QUIT SWEATING, STOP RUNNING<\/strong> AND GET OUT OF THE SUN<\/strong>. CALL FOR HELP AND COOL YOURSELF BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE.<\/p>\n

Stay safe, stay cool, and run well, Pacers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Steve Smith, Pasadena Pacer Founder and Team Doc We live in southern California where hot days are a fact of life. As such, it\u2019s important we discuss some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":55,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-running-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":57,"date":"2017-02-07T03:39:33","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T03:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pacernationweb.wpenginepowered.com\/sanbernardino\/?p=57"},"modified":"2017-08-23T03:39:44","modified_gmt":"2017-08-23T03:39:44","slug":"a-friend-in-deed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/a-friend-in-deed\/","title":{"rendered":"A Friend in Deed"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Steve Smith<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a pain in my knee, what should I do?\u201d I overheard a runner ask his friend last week. I listened, mostly to see what kind of advice would be given, thinking the friend might be a physical therapist or a doctor. This could be good; I might pick up a golden nugget of knowledge. Sure enough, the answers began flowing in earnest. \u201cWell, if you have pain in knee you need to foam roll and get a massage, and ice. And magnesium, take magnesium, it really helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were no questions about the pain, no inquiry about training or any of the other pertinent history taking that is vital to understanding the problem. There were no questions to rule out stress fracture, patellofemoral pain syndrome, patellar tendonitis, Pes Anserine bursitis\/tendonitis, arthritis, torn meniscus, Bakers cyst, ACL\/MCL tears, Plica, patellar tracking, femoral rotation control, faulty biomechanics, iliotibial band syndrome, or worse yet\u2014pathology. There is a long list of reasons why a runner might have pain in the knee, but you need to know what the problem is before you recommend a treatment.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a true scenario of when I was a student and had a car repair shop. I worked with a fellow who was on a fast track to impressing a young lady:<\/p>\n

Young lady: \u201cMy car is running kind of funny and there\u2019s a \u2018chingely-dingeley\u2019 noise when I step on the brake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casanova: \u201cOh man, that\u2019s really bad. I had that same problem. You probably need a valve job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young lady: \u201cHow much will that cost?\u201d<\/p>\n

Casanova: \u201cAbout fifteen hundred\u201d<\/p>\n

The Organic Mechanic (Me): \u201cHang on. Your 12-year-old brother left his jar full of change in the storage compartment. It\u2019s rolling back and forth every time you step on the brakes.\u201d<\/p>\n

I removed the jar of coins and the noise was gone.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s that simple: remove the jar of coins, change the lacing pattern on your shoes, place a neuroma pad in the forefoot, or put some tape on the knee and voil\u00e0\u2014the problem is solved. I get lucky sometimes with simple solutions, and it\u2019s very rewarding to be the one who solves a runner\u2019s problem.<\/p>\n

I would love to have been the guy who told mission control how to reroute the carbon scrubbers on Apollo 13 and save the day. Wow, that would have been fun to be a hero and save the lives of those brave astronauts. But, I just kept quiet and let the engineers do it. It\u2019s their job, and even if I knew how, it\u2019s best to ensure the professional can take a whack at the issue.<\/p>\n

Okay, you get the point: unless you are a trained professional and are certain what the problem is, the best advice is to get an expert opinion. Don\u2019t be a hero. Recommend your friend see the doc. The money he may spend will be offset by being able to participate in that race that cost him a hundred bucks or more.<\/p>\n

Best of all, his knee will thank you for not running on a stress fracture that likely would have ended his running career.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Steve Smith \u201cI have a pain in my knee, what should I do?\u201d I overheard a runner ask his friend last week. I listened, mostly to see what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":58,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-running-advice","category-thoughts-observations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runpacers.org\/sanbernardino\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}]