Archive for the ‘Running’ Category

Allow me to update you on who I am. I’m Wendy Bowen and I have a background in Kinesiology and 13 years of clinical experience as a physiotherapist.  I hadn’t run more than a mile until the age of 22. I struggled for years with running. Even five kilometres was a challenge due to a chronic Iliotibial Band problem.

What I discovered through my physiotherapy postgraduate studies and from what I had learned about my own issue was that the pelvis is the centre of your universe if you want to run without the pain of tissue damage or injury.   

When we run…

we are standing only on one leg at any given time. We transfer the load from the ground up through the pelvis. The pelvis is made up of the sacrum (triangle bone) and two innominants (pelvic bones). It’s held together through very tough ligaments at the front and the back (stronger at the back). It takes a lot of force to damage these ligaments (child birth, car accidents etc.). Very few people actually have hypermobility from ligament damage.

The pelvis is also controlled by muscles (dynamic system). There are a few key inner core muscles (transverses abdominus, pelvic floor muscles, multifidus at the back and the diaphragm) that all need to work in perfect timing to offer good stability. 

What else?

Other muscles attached to the pelvis (quadriceps or thigh muscles, hip muscle or gluteal muscles, hamstrings, hip adductors or inner thigh muscles) are the movers. Think of these longer muscles as springs. If there is more tension on the spring at the front of the thigh it will pull the pelvis forward and vice versa with the tension at the back of the leg (hamstrings). We can also see this tension from the muscle that runs from the pelvis up to the mid back region.

Many people are told that they have one leg that is shorter and get the leg tugged on (manipulation of the pelvis). This only corrects the problem temporarily until the next time you run. If you run with an apparent leg length discrepancy, what may happen is that you run more on the outside of your foot to have it hit the ground (more supination) but in order to get the foot in the position to push-off, you’ll need pronation, which will come from the mid foot. This pronation may contribute to plantar fasciitis or Achilles tendonitis (two other big running injuries). 

Muscle shortening (springs too tight) also contributes to muscle weakness. A common weakness is the muscles at the side of the pelvis (gluteus medius). These attach to the ITB, along with the outer (lateral) quadriceps, gluteus maximus and Tensor Fascia Lata (TFL). There is often an over dominance of the TFL over the posterior gluteus medius. This creates the abnormal pull on the ITB.

The answer!

If you’ve tried stretching or yoga and still find you have muscle imbalances, what has worked well for me (to the point where I have been able to run a half marathon distance without any ITB symptoms) has been to use Intramuscular Stimulation (IMS) to release my chronically tight muscles around my pelvis and lower back. It also worked on finding and retraining my inner core muscles while continuing to strengthen my outer core.

I continue to use core shorts as I’m still not able to continually recruit my inner core over long distance runs. 

I’m currently the only person in the Cowichan Valley trained in IMS, but as of April 1 Heidi Bovey, who is also working at Start Line Physiotherapy, will also be trained.

For more information:

1. www.istop.org

Start Line Physiotherapy (250) 746-7463

wendy@wendybowen.com