RUNNING ON HARD SURFACE

I guess, many people run on hard surface, but some have no other choice, but concrete as their “preference”. Conventional medicine put running on hard surface as one of the most important causes of injuries. And at first glance it seems to be a logical conclusion. Indeed, isn’t concrete really a hard surface without cushioning, which could create an impact on our body? It is difficult to say “no” in this situation.

But is this true? How many people still run on the streets of New York, London, Paris, etc. and have no problem with the surface they run on? But at the same time there are lots of others on the same streets who have injuries. I could add here that there are runners with the same injuries, which they got on softer surfaces. So, the question really is how much does a certain type of surface contribute to injuries?

To my mind, injuries are the consequence of incorrect running technique, but not of the quality of surface. Of course, if you have a bad technique, the quality of surface would contribute to the injury, too, but not by itself. Even when we deal with some specific injuries, associated primarily with hard surface, we have to look at our technique, first, as a major cause of the injury.

For example, widely spread shin splints are related with running on hard surface, but the major reason for them is an active landing on the ground. It means that the foot hits the ground with some downward velocity instead of zero one or even a negative vertical velocity of the landing foot. If we add to this some “commonly accepted” running elements, such as landing on the heel, then we get a standard worst case scenario – landing ahead of the body (braking) with downward acceleration.

This unpleasant picture describes how do the general population of runners suffer from this “unknown impact” of running on hard surface. The first question from your podiatrist would be, “Did you run on hard surface?” Your positive answer would confirm his guess. Thus, the doctor got the right answer and the runner got the right doctor, who knows how it happened. He should also know then how to deal with this, shouldn’t he?

No, he doesn’t, he’ll only recommend you to wear orthotics, have a rest, buy new shoes and have a hydrocortisone shot. What else could he do? Your doctor can’t recommend you not to fight with the ground and not to try to damage local government property – he has no authority for this. But I can, because my philosophy of running is based on developing relations with our environment – Earth and Gravity. Do not fight with them, try to co-exist. They are your support and the primary force to move you forward. The main rule of interacting with them is to not hit the ground, but use it as a support for your falling. Do not work against gravity, if you want to move forward.

Those are very simple rules, but they’ll save you from all imaginable injuries related with hard surface running.

Dr. Romanov