FOOTBALL RUNNING SKILL & INJURY

Jon is professional Referee in the 'La Liga' in spain.  His training regime to keep fit to be at the top of his game is very similar to a professional footballers training.  Seeing him train at the Battersea Park Running track I approach him to see if he would be interested in seeing if our techniques at the Barefoot Performance Academy would improve his running skill that would improve his performance being a refree on the pitch.

Jon's Running Assessment

There are noticeable differences from left to right foot strike which is causing an asymmetry through his kinetic chain.  Jon would be looked upon as a vey athletic and good runner at normal filming speed.  Only when you look at his running style in slow motion or frame by frame as above do you notice these little differences.

The left foot is striking on the forefoot first and the right, slightly as a heel strike.  This asymmetry is a coordination issue which can be associated with nerval symptoms.  However far easier than that is to look at the skill of running and where the person's general centre of mass (GCM) is positioned on the yeild phase (foot strike).  Jon has his GCM behind the striking foot and way behind the ball of foot (BOF) where good running form would first load as seen at the end of this session. (The yellow line represents gravity vector line through the centre of mass).  With the GCM behing the BOF excessive breaking forces will be experienced.

Jon's style of running has a vicious circle of knock on effects which is common to all runners like him.  By the leading leg reaching further out it has a counter balance effect with the trailing leg being left further behind from the gravity vector line.  In Jon's case this represents to biomechanical issues for the hamstring, excessive deceleration forces and then a holding game for the trailing leg which subjects the hamstring to over loading (greater stresses) and a wrong firing sequence (coordination skill).   This is unecessary and good running form smartens all this up.

By assessing athlete's with their barefoot running skill allows a certified barefoot running coach to fully understand biomechanical issues runners present when being filmed.  Barefoot allows the runner to understand how far he or she is from good running form.   Running is about mastering the barefoot running skill first (like any Keynan runner) before tuning performance through specialist distances, activities, terrain and shoe type to best fit the best potential an athlete can put themselves in for their given goals.

Also from a barefoot coach's knowledge the foot plays such a huge part in the communication process in movement skill that here at the BPA we can get more information to Jon's overall running skill.  (R. McNeil Alexander states 17% of shock is absorbed by the plantar arches of the foot)  The majority of feet have lost there mobility, stability and strength in the western world.  Then cover them up in a shock absorbing materials loosing the majority of all the foot senses cannot be a good thing. (D. Lieberman professor of evolutionary Biology, Harvard Universtiy http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~skeleton/pdfs/2010a.pdf)

Running barefoot has allowed Jon to gain some better skill.  He is striking the ground closer to the gravity vector line (line of action).  However he still has an asymmetry and posture that represents his injury inducing running skill.

The previous picture shows where the foot is landing, however it is important to recognise where Jon is at full load (shock absorption) in the yield phase as above.  To move forwards the general centre of mass has to travel over the ball of foot before the unloading phase can happen.  The quicker you hit this point, the ball of foot, on the yield phase the less you are subjected to unnecessary excessive forces which cause injury.

The perception of a heel striker increase their step length when running faster.  Subconsciously the power needs to come from some where and by increasing the joint torque through the hips the body can produce more power but at a cost of being subjected to injury inducing mechanics.  Jon heel strikes on both feet more aggressively when running faster.   Because he is running faster he is now subjected to greater momentum forces, this increases the joint torques and because of the longer stride pattern the braking forces is increased to.  You can visually see this by the foot striking the ground further away from the line of action.

Physics would suggest you would be better off to minimise these forces by being more efficient with your lever arms, not increase them like above.

Running skill is the subconscious awareness of changing postures (shape) to deal with the changing forces experienced in motion.  This skill keeps the joint torques efficient for the forces experienced.  Injury comes when this skill is lost and you will see how Jon’s training programme affects his skill.

Movement assessment – The Squat

I asked Jon to do a squat, back squat and front squat.  This is the range of motion he showed me.  For an athlete this is not a good sign.  Mobility and stability come in the same package.  If the mobility is poor then you can quite quickly see that stability is an issue too.  As a norm if you have lost the skill of the barefoot deep squat then dysfunction will start to creep in. (Metro article -  The Barefoot Deep Squat maintains healthy hip joints)

Then I asked Jon to do a barefoot deep squat, giving him only a cue for the bar to travel vertical to the floor through the whole motion.  Now the squat is looking better in balance and stronger through good posture.  However you can see his heels have left the ground allowing him ROM (better posture) up the chain.  Where in the previous squats he was limited by his ankle range.  Ankles are one of his major limiting factors.  Which also tells us again that he is not utilising the lower limb to its full potential.

I asked Jon to show me one of his top conditioning exercises.  Jon is incredibly athletic and strong, there is no denying that and by keeping up this type of training, the common lunge which emphasises heel striking as you quite clearly see from above, will keep him conditioned.  However it is at a real cost to movement skill and doesn’t quite eliminate common injury.  We have written more about this training lunge myth in The Common Lunge running training myth

Through improving his Barefoot Deep Squat (a movement skill milestone) which looks at changing posture by increasing good mobility, stability and strenght through all proper joint ranges.  Then it is possible to then coach coordination through three simple coaching cues Posture, Rhythm and Relaxation to gain the necessary foundation skill to good running form.  By using a host of different cueing techniques and drills we are able to tap into the movement skill our bodies best adapt to.   Jon was able to improve his asymmetry and running skill in an hour and half.

The second last two photos show, less rotation in the upper body, loads on BOF quicker, therefore trailing leg is not left behind (frame width is shorter), better posture, less forward head lean.  In all it just looks better balanced, stronger,  and with more skill.

Jon now has a new goal in his training and that is to improve his coordination, to increase his running skill by awakening his nervous system through concious drills he was shown so to rid himself of his asymmetry.  He will gain valueable strength with mobility and stability through improving the BDS.  By applying this into his training routine he will improve his overall movement skill, which will make him stronger, faster and more agile in the process as he also gets a better sense of movement which will correlate straight to his profession.

Better vision, more stamina, travel faster around the pitch whilst the body knows it is working within its efficient biomechanics.  Having these skills under you not only increase your skill on the day in the activity but allows your body to recover faster.

Although Jon is a referee, recovery is everything in today’s professional sporting circuit.  To keep at the top of his game as with any us by doing training that simulates good form saves you valuable time whilst at the same time increases you skill and all the motor abilities associated with your game.  Win, win really and I am shocked still today that this is not practiced.  To find out in more depth why his hamstring was becoming more dominant in its secondary role and prone to injury read The Number One Role of the Hamstring

Immediately after this session Jon notice a huge improvement in his hamstring which never reappeared through his training regime whilst he was hear in England.  Now he has a marker to the quality of his workouts.  If his hamstring injury reappears he can be sure to check his form.

About the author

Rollo Mahon has an academic background in Sports Therapy.  His academic journey has led him through various athlete performance accreditations where he has specialised in the science and biomechanics of barefoot running.  His search has been to find the solution to injury free biomechanics and therefore better performance which has been cemented by the science of barefoot running.