Avoiding Running Injuries 102: The Way you Stand Increases Your Risk of Pain

Yep, that’s right. In our last post (Running Injuries 101), we talked about how avoiding running injuries starts with not sitting as much.   And now you’re thinking, “Damnit Megan, you just told me I should be standing more, now you’re saying it can hurt my running?” Yep, standing can be a problem too, but it matters HOW you’re standing.

Do you ever catch yourself standing in line at Starbucks, cooking in the kitchen, or for those with standing desks, looking like this…

These prolonged and repeated positions lead to imbalances in your muscles, in the same way that prolonged sitting does. Imbalanced muscles=crappy running.

Yes, standing is better than sitting, but it can be more harmful than helpful if you’re not paying attention to HOW you’re standing or how much movement you’re actually getting. When you stand in one position for hours, there are a small number of muscles working REALLY hard to hold you up, that’s crazy tiring, even for you, crazy distance runner. One study found a decrease in muscle force production after a 5 hour standing workday that persisted more than 30 minutes after the workday ended, even though perceived fatigue had faded. You’re not going to be able to run your best that evening if you’ve worn yourself out still technically being sedentary while standing.

Ever dealt with back pain during your workday, or even worse, during or after your runs?

Coenen and friends found that amount of time standing and the posture you stand in are the biggest indicators for developing low back symptoms. Also important in staving off low back pain with prolonged standing is your hip strength. You know what else it’s important for? DING DING DING! Your running! Hip muscle weakness is huge contributor to the development of running injuries all the way from the low back to the ankle, and having a regular strength training practice is vastly neglected in so many training programs. I know you’ve heard this a million times, but WHY is it important?

Which one looks more efficient? Which one looks like you’d be leaking speed and energy all over the pavement? Nobody likes leaking during a race, so don’t be that guy or gal. If you’ve hit a plateau in improving your times or are injury prone, it’s probably time to consider adding strength and stability training.

What can you do?

Take movement breaks. If you catch yourself standing still for a long time, especially if you’re in a lazy slouched posture, take movement breaks the same way you would from a sitting workday!

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Make your standing workstation dynamic and interactive. A simple and effective addition is having a footrest. Grab an empty trash can, turn it over, or use an empty box—you don’t have to go buy anything fancy. This small change allows you to shift your weight, use different muscles and avoid back pain that might be associated with prolonged standing. Get your Captain Morgan on! Another easy item to keep at your desk is a ball, take your shoes off and roll your feet! If you work on a hard surface (concrete or tile), you may feel better using an anti-fatigue mat where you stand. Have fun with your space and get creative!

If you haven’t already, check out the video I referred to in my last post for your desk setup.
Optimize your hip and core stability. Injuries and wasted energy (read: things that slow you down) always come down to our body’s inability to handle the stress we put on it. Having weak hips and core muscles makes it hard enough to stand with optimal position on two legs, much less one, for longer periods of time. We tend to quickly default to those lazy positions because our muscles aren’t strong enough to hold us up. Re-enters the vicious cycle of prolonged positions further contributing to muscle imbalances. How long can you spend standing on one leg? Do you fall over right away? Try it with your eyes closed. If you have a hard time with that, you have some things you’d benefit from working on. If you’re already doing some hip and core strengthening every week, great! Keep it up! If you’re not, or it’s just an every now and then thing when you think about it and half-heartedly do some crunches after a run—it’s time to get after it! You go out, day after day on your runs, and ask your body to stabilize itself on each leg over and over as you land each step. It’s important to spend time improving your core and hip stability if you want to keep hitting those PRs and stay injury free.

Stay tuned for the final post in this series and see what two things you can improve on to go out and ROCK all of your runs! They affect you 24/7 so you don’t want to miss these tips!

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