Good balance is essential for distance runners, according to Jay Dicharry, MPT, SCS, author of Anatomy for Runners: Unlocking Your Athletic Potential for Health, Speed, and Injury Prevention. Because running involves having only one foot on the ground at a time (usually for less than 0.3 seconds), it's important to be able to quickly stabilize your body. Balance is "about your ability to keep your entire body aligned in all three planes of motion," Dicharry says, in an email. Without that alignment, the forces produced by running can lead to injury.
Because runners mostly move forward, Dicharry says they often fail to develop the stability necessary to balance joints in other planes of motion. One way to improve your balance is to do contrakicks, which, Dicharry says, "are also a great way to activate your feet, hips and core.
CONTRA-KICKS
- Place both ankles inside an elastic band, approximately 8–9 inches apart.
- Raise one foot slightly off the ground.
- Adjust your weight on the supporting foot so that it is evenly distributed between the forefoot and heel.
- Keeping your leg straight, move your raised foot forward (A), back to center, to the side (B), back to center, backward (C), and back to center.
- Continue the motion for two minutes on each leg.
- Repeat two to three times per leg.
Original article and pictures take www.runnersworld.com site
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