Running Technique: What are we observing on the treadmill?
- vicgidney
- Mar 3
- 3 min read
Have you ever wondered what exactly a gait analysis involves? What your coach is thinking as they watch your walking and/or running technique? Here’s a little insight of what we’re looking at when you come and see us at Runlates...
First of all, it’s perfectly natural to feel a bit nervous - perhaps you’re not used to walking/running on a treadmill, and being in an unfamiliar environment makes you tense. So, we usually start with a chat whilst you’re walking on the treadmill - we gather information about your background and relevant history, and you warm up and get used to our treadmill!
It’s important we get a general feel for the experience you have when running, and not just from what you tell us, as a lot of our movement is unconscious. This is one of the reasons we film you - so you can see what we see, and learn more about your movement.
So what we’re generally looking at initially is:
Are you relaxed and comfortable? For instance:
What’s your breathing like?
Can you make eye contact briefly whilst chatting without feeling unsteady?
Do you ‘drift’ across the treadmill or have to check on your positioning?
Are you worried about tripping?
Other than your fitness level, one thing we want to ascertain is what your proprioception is like. Essentially, how much trust does your brain have in your body to keep you safely upright on a moving surface? Whilst you may not run on a treadmill regularly, it’s likely you’re sometimes running on uneven or unstable surfaces (wet leaves, ice, gravel) so how you cope with a treadmill gives us clues about your coordination, agility and balance.
What does your movement look like?
Are hips, shoulders, arms and legs moving fluidly?
What’s the range of movement like at each joint through the gait cycle?
Is there excessive, minimal or restricted movement in any one area?
How do left and right compare?
We usually start the bottom and work our way up, so firstly where do you land on your foot and in relation to your centre of mass. This along with noticing how much time you spend on the ground vs in the air helps us assess how much load your joints and muscles are dealing with. We observe dynamic hip mobility, and pelvic stability, and gauge likely levels of glute activation you’re achieving.
There may be some areas where the left is different to the right, or there is excessive movement or a lack of control - sometimes if we are stiff in one area we find some rhythm or movement from somewhere else. All of this information helps us prescribe relevant exercises specific to you, that will help you translate effective strength and activation to your walking and running technique.
We’re also listening…
What’s important to you about running, why, what and how would you like to improve?
How do you feel when running, now and usually?
Are you able to tell us about your running background and injury history?
What do your feet sound like when they land - heavy, light, the same on both sides?
It’s useful for us to know what you are aware of, and perhaps what you aren’t! When you get injured your body adapts to continue to achieve the tasks its faced with, but whilst protecting the vulnerable area - for instance walking with a limp. The longer you are in pain for the more established these compensations become, so unless you retrain the efficient movement pattern as part of a rehab programme they can become permanent. So we still run with a slight limp, or hold the right arm still due to a historic collarbone break even though the pain has passed!
All of the information we gain from your walking and running we put together with our observations from your Functional Movement Assessment. This allows us to understand which movements maybe your body can't do (due to a mobility restriction, or lack of strength for example), and others perhaps that it can - we're just not doing them when we run! We're then able to recommend the best steps to implement the feedback that we've discussed.
Most importantly though, we want to know how to best support you to enjoy your running as much as you can! For some, it might be going faster, for others it might be going further, or it might simply be we’re frustrated that it doesn’t feel as natural/comfortable/easy as it used to. The more we can understand about your goals and what motivates you, the more we can tailor our feedback, advice and recommendations.
Curious? Enquire about our Running Technique appointments and workshops, and Strength, Activation and Mobility for Runners classes now to get started.
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