Injury-Free Running, Second Edition: Your Illustrated Guide to Biomechanics, Gait Analysis, and Injury Prevention

The positional tendons are located where high force output is needed, such as in the muscles of your hips and thighs. When exposed to a stretching force, the small fibers slide back and forth over one another, moving only a small distance. This action allows the force generated by the muscle to then be transferred directly through the tendon to the

maintain economy, the best hybrid runners must “fine-tune” the positions of their limbs prior to contact in order to provide just enough stiffness to absorb and return energy at each successive running speed: Too much stiffness, and the center of mass moves up and down excessively and impact forces increase; too little stiffness, and the pathway of

By the age of six, children continue to burn more calories while walking and running. Fortunately, by age 10, mechanical efficiency is equal to that of an adult, and after almost a decade of practice, children are finally efficient at getting around on two legs.

Think of slow hybrid running as a shuffle run in which you generate force by moving your hips in a scissors-like action while moving your knees through a small range of motion. Spend as little time on the ground as

Contracture in the perimysium can inhibit information from spindles, increasing the risk of injury. The skin on the bottom of your feet is also important for injury prevention.

Just as strengthening muscles in their lengthened positions stimulates muscle repair, strengthening tendons while they are maintained in a stretched position enhances tendon flexibility.

Shock absorption is particularly important in marathon running, since the feet of long-distance runners contact the ground an average of 10,000 times per hour, absorbing between two and seven times their body weight with each strike.

stance phase motions, this portion of the gait cycle has been subdivided into

walking and sprint running were only used at the extremes of speed: