How To Run Without Stressing Knees: Backward

August 15, 2012 7:27 am 0 comments

Subscribe:

Newsletter

Author:

Art Jahnke

Tags:

No, this is not a script for a Saturday Night Live comedy skit, but it could be. Researchers at Cardiff University in the UK have figured out how to run with minimal stress on knee joints: in reverse. That’s right. A Cardiff news release reports that researchers analyzed the stresses on knee joints of runners running both backwards and forwards at a speed of 2.8 to 3.4 meters per second. Data was collected by placing reflective markers on the participants’ legs, video recording the session with infrared cameras and then assessing the gait using computer software. The force exerted when the foot hits the ground was measured using force plates under the floor. Good news: By running backwards, the researchers found, compressive forces behind the knee cap were reduced, at any running speed. The researchers do not envision sidewalks crowded with the injury-averse running in reverse, but they do suggest that backwards running might become a useful part of the rehabilitation of runners with injured knees. Once the runners return to health, they would also return to running forwards. Or not. Read more from Cardiff University.

Click here to cancel reply.

Recent Posts

Pain
Prostate Cancer: Study Says Watch It, Don’t Treat It

The good news is that a new study conducted at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston strongly suggests that low-risk, localized prostate cancers can safely be treated with active surveillance or “watchful waiting” instead of surgery, which almost always has unpleasant side effects. The bad news is: it’s still hard to tell low-risk from high-risk prostate cancer. That inability to distinguish the not-so bad from the very bad leads us to the current dilemma, in which “70 percent of men [...]
Read more →
Attitude Pain
One Out Of Three Designated Drivers Has Been Drinking

No, the world is not cleanly divided between designated drinkers and designated drivers. There is some serious overlap; the kind that puts many people at risk. In fact, a University of Florida study found that 35 percent of designated drivers had quaffed alcohol and most had blood-alcohol levels high enough to impair their driving. A University of Florida news release reports that when researchers interviewed and breath-tested more than 1,000 bar patrons in the downtown restaurant and bar district of [...]
Read more →
Fitness Pain
Endurance Events May Increase Heart Risk: Cross-Country Skiing

Yikes! What if endurance training were not good for your heart? That’s the suspicion of some cardiologists at Uppsala University Hospital, where researchers tracked the heart health of 52,755 cross-country skiers who competed in the 90 kilometer cross-country ski race known as the Vasaloppet between 1989-1998. Checking in on the racers in 2005, the researchers found that those who completed five or more races in ten years had a 30 percent higher risk of developing any arrhythmia than those who [...]
Read more →
Pain
Biking And Your Head: Helmet Choices

Yes, biking can be tremendously good for you, but it can also be tremendously bad for you, if you’re one of the tens of thousands of cyclists who suffer serious head injuries while biking each year. Anahad O’Connor, writing in the New York Times, reports that cycling accidents played a role in about 86,000 of the 447,000 sports-related head injuries treated in emergency rooms in 2009. He also points out that 90 percent of bicyclists killed in the United States [...]
Read more →
Pain
Lyme Disease: Maybe You Have It, Maybe You Don’t

Lyme disease, the second most often reported infectious disease in New England, (chlamydia is first) may infect as many as 30,000 more people in Massachusetts alone over the next few months, and it will cause a host of unpleasantness, including flu-like symptoms, arthritis, heart blockage, extreme fatigue, mental decline, irritability, and depression. As reported by Beth Daley in the Boston Globe, it may also be blamed for the miseries of tens of thousands of others, who do not have Lyme [...]
Read more →
Gear
Ten Essential Items For Every Hike, No Matter How Short

Many day hikers head out to the mountains seeking adventure, and return with more than they bargained for. Ryan Mason, a fourth-year medical student at Brown University, thinks he knows why. Mason and other researchers from Brown studied surveys of hikers in New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest, and found that many people hit the trails without essential equipment, often because they don’t think it’s needed for short hikes. Wrong. Young, inexperienced hikers were most likely to lack essential gear. [...]
Read more →
Fitness Pain
Is The Cool Down Another Exercise Myth? The Short Answer Is “Yes”.

Is the benefit of cooling down just another exercise myth? The short answer, according to Gretchen Reynolds, of the New York Times, is “yes”. Reynolds points us to a recent study of 36 active adults, who did a strenuous, one-time program of forward lunges while holding barbells, an exercise, Reynolds says, “almost guaranteed to make untrained people extremely sore the next day.” Some of the group warmed up for 20 minutes on a stationary bike. Another contingent blew off the [...]
Read more →
Pain Women's Health
Energy Drink Warning: Stay Away From DMAA

The FDA has some scary news for fans of energy drinks and weight-loss supplements. The stimulant called dimethylamylamine (DMAA), often used in supplements promising weight loss, muscle building and performance enhancement, has been shown to “elevate blood pressure and could lead to cardiovascular problems, including heart attack, shortness of breath and tightening of the chest.” Given the known biological activity of DMAA, the agency warns, the ingredient may be particularly dangerous when used with caffeine. An FDA news release reports [...]
Read more →