Stretches for Runners

Running and jogging is an activity that puts the body through a repetitive, high impact movement. As instinctual and natural that running is, people typically need to focus on proper technique to keep the body in a safe biomechanical posture. It is also quite common for runners (and athletes that run as part of their sport) to eventually experience lower leg, knee, hip, and/or lower back pain. Regardless if the cause of the pain(s) are from improper shoes, poor running technique, overuse, or a body imbalance, stretching can serve to prevent and rehabilitate injuries.

After years of struggling with knee pain caused by IT Band Syndrome I have re-kindled my love for running. By being consistent and focussing on injury prevention I have been jogging twice a week pain-free since my last post. Yay! The major changes I have made are my modifying my running technique, warming up my hips before the run, rolling my IT Bands on a foam roller and stretching after the run. I have also not put any pressure on myself to run longer distances than my body wants me to.

New Balance Minimus

Vibram Five Finger

There is currently a big movement towards barefoot running. The main reason for the change from highly supported/cushioned running shoes to minimal support shoes is to bring people back to running more naturally. By doing so there have been amazing success stories of decreased injury and improved performance. My brother and many of my friends have been happily sporting the Vibram Five Finger shoes and I am using the New Balance Minimus. The difference between these is that the Minimus looks more like a regular shoe with closed toes rather than having the toes individually "wrapped". I chose the Minimus because I prefer trail running and my toes will be safer from injury if I accidently stub them on rogue rocks or roots. Regardless of your choice of footwear I hope you will find the following stretches useful as a tool to improve your running experience.

Dynamic stretches for the hips:

Facing a wall, swing your leg side to side progressively increasing the height of the swing in both directions as you feel ready. Do this for approximately 30 seconds before changing to the other leg.

 Next, turn your body so that you are sideways to the wall, and swing your leg forwards and backwards progressively increasing the height of the swing. Make sure that you are keeping your upper body quite still and not feeling any sharp pains in your legs or back. If this happens you are probably trying to swing too high too soon.

Lower body static stretches:

Hamstring stretch - Keeping leg straight without locking knee, pull leg in until you feel a gentle tension in the back of your leg. A good flexibility is reflected if you can bring your leg to a right angle like in the picture.

Gluteal stretch - Cross your ankle over your other knee and pull your bottom leg in towards your chest until you feel a gentle tension in your hip/glutes. Relax head and upper body on the floor.

Body twist - Keeping both shoulders on the floor, let knees drop to one side and look towards outstretched arm in opposite direction. Deep breaths will help you relax into the twist that is meant to stretch abdominals, lower back, side hip and chest.

Hip Flexor stretch - Keeping your front knee over your ankle, tilt your pelvis under until you feel a stretch come to the front of your hip (my right hip in this picture). Reaching your arms to the sky will help to elongate the side of your body and increase the amount of stretch you feel in your hip flexor.

Quadriceps stretch - Balance on one foot and grab the ankle of the other leg pulling your foot towards to seat. Keep your knee pointing to the floor and push your hip forward to increase the stretch in the front of your thigh.

Calf stretch - Although I'm demonstrating a yoga stretch here what I'm trying to emphasise is pushing my heels towards the floor in order to stretch my calves. By bending your knees in this posture you can move the stretch lower and target your soleus and achillis tendon.

IT Band stretch - It may look like I have to pee really bad here but I'm actually feeling a pretty sweet stretch in my side hip. Most of my weight is on my front (left) foot and I am actively pushing my right hip outwards to the side. By reaching my right arm upwards I am opening up my side body and enhancing the stretch I feel through my side hip and leg.

Butterfly stretch - This stretch is for the groin and inner thigh (adductor) muscles. Sit with the soles of your feet together and push knees towards the floor. If you are quite flexible here you can use your elbows to help push your knees down and/or hinge forward from your hips bringing your stomach towards the floor.

EDIT August 2012: For more information on stretching check out my new post Stretching Do's and Don'ts 2.0