’Grounded running’ drastically reduces the loading on the musculoskeletal system

Ghent University scientists, in collaboration with American and Japanese researchers, unraveled the "grounded running" pattern, which drastically reduces the loading on the musculoskeletal system compared to the "classical" running pattern. Benefits (and disadvantages) of running. Distance running is one of the most popular forms of physical activity, with health benefits given as one of the main reasons to go for a run. Also the feasibility and the social context contribute to the popularity of it. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated the preventive effects on chronical diseases, with even an increase in life expectancy for people who run regularly. The high incidence of running related injuries, mostly caused by running too much or/and too fast relative to the respective training status, are disadvantages that runners often have to cope with. Both the average running distance per week as the average running speed vary strongly within the running population. Based on running-apps and screenings during running events, it is demonstrated that a sizeable proportion of the distance runners run slowly: 25% runs slower than 10 km/h and 5% runs even slower than 7.5 km/h. This happens in a combination of step frequency and step length, in which the flight phase shortens when running slower. New insights, based on high-speed video images show that 21% of these slow runners run without a flight phase