Train Your Brain To Avoid Pain

This entry was written on Jul 29, 2009 by our Running Guru Heidi Splete

All runners know that running is as much mental as physical. But results of a recent study suggest a mind-body approach to injury prevention.

In the study, researchers at the University of Michigan found that individuals who performed one-legged squats to the point of fatigue, and the more tired they were, the less able they were to respond to unexpected stimuli to move in a certain direction.

Maybe that's not so surprising, but some other implications of the findings are that improving proprioception (the sense of where the body is in space) may help reduce injury by training the body to react more quickly to changes in motion (when playing soccer, or running on a trail, or negotiating a mobbed marathon start).

Check out the lifetips balance site, www.balance.lifetips.com, for more ideas on improving your balance as part of your running cross training.

Happy Running!

For more info: The paper, "Fatigue Induced ACL Injury Risk Stems from a Degradation in Central Control," will appear in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise in August 2009.

"Difference between Sexes and Limbs in Hip and Knee Kinematics and Kinetics During Anticipated and Unanticipated Jump Landings: Implications for ACL Injury," appears online at the British Journal of Sports Medicine:
http://tiny.cc/FpEwo