As someone who has experienced back pain for over twenty years and finds running to be both a relief and sometimes an irritant to my back, I have found that there are three things that I can focus on to get the benefits of running without the pain. Our orthopedic and spine surgeons are eliminating the back pain through running. Running is also a part of exercise to repair the damaged cells of the back. Some of them are mentioned below –
Running Technique Number One: Elongate the spine
A wellness coaching client once told me that she didn’t like the idea of running because when she saw runners they all looked so uncomfortable! I had to laugh – and agree – that many runners do appear uncomfortable. But the reason they are uncomfortable is that their posture is out of balance, particularly their spine.
Many people, from years of poor postural habits and often from too much time spent at a desk, have slumped shoulders. Further, their backs are curved forward instead of well stacked and balanced.
It’s important to remember that our backs have a wonderful design and are strong. They just need to be oriented in the way that they were built to function most effectively. So, when running, elongate your spine from your pelvis to the top of your head.
Running Technique Number Two: Always keep a bend in the knees.
One of the reasons that my back used to hurt during running is that I tend to straighten my knee on my forward foot. When the knee is fully extended when landing, the impact is transferred to the hip joint.
