UK Runners Clinic works to prevent injuries,
make running more fun for participants

By Mark Boxley
mark@kyforward.com

Even the most active of people can have trouble when it comes to running. That’s why the University of Kentucky Runners Clinic is working to help runners improve their habits to reduce injuries and just make running more fun.

As Runners Clinic staffer — and assistant professor of physical therapy at the University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences — Dr. Brian Noehren put it: “Running is one of the few sports where you just kind of go outside and do it, unlike golf or swimming, or tennis, baseball, where you get all this instruction on your form and your technique and everything.”

Take Stephanie Lester, for example.

“I’m not a good runner,” she said while getting ready for the clinic’s tests. “I do a lot of physical activity, I teach a lot of classes at a gym, but I’m not a good runner.”

“So, I think this will tell me what I’m doing wrong and how I can become better at running.”

Lester was at the University of Kentucky Runners Clinic, getting numerous reflective dots attached to her shoes, legs, arms and torso for a 3D gait analysis (kind of like the kind of motion capture they do in the movies).

The video gait analysis uses a 3D motion-capture system and a treadmill with built-in force plates to assess runners’ form with computerized modeling. The results are reviewed and discussed so the Runners Clinic staff are able to come up with the best possible treatment options.

For Lester, one of the issues she has with running — which she calls “uncomfortable” due to pain in her joints — was the way her feet hit the ground.

While going over Lester’s results, Noehren was a little surprised.

“Is it that bad?” Lester asked.

“No, uh, it’s just special,” Noehren replied. “You have your own unique (running) pattern.”

“You have something you can work on,” added Runners Clinic physician Dr. Scott Black.

For the staff of the Runners Clinic, the regiment — which also includes a physical therapy evaluation and musculoskeletal exam — gives a detailed view of the runner and his or her habits. And that can be exciting.

“So, do you want to learn about you?” Noehren asked Lester.

“Yes,” she said with a smile.

“This is exciting,” Noehren continued. “I feel like I know more about you than you know about you right now.”

Then came the results of her 3D gait analysis — which included a 3D model of a skeleton representing her on a computer screen.

“One of the first things we noticed was you were hammering the treadmill pretty hard,” Black said.

“Is that why my feet hurt when I run?” Lester asked.

“That would be a big part of it,” Black said.

“What you described, I think, is very typical of someone who hits the ground hard,” Noehren said, noting the impact of Lester’s feet on the treadmill was about twice as hard as it should be. “If I had you as a research subject, I’d be giddy with excitement.

“Because that’s way off the charts there.”

Lester’s impact level was 2.3 to 2.5 body weights, meaning when her feet hit the ground the impact is that of a person more than twice her weight.

“That’s really, really, really high,” Noehren said.

A normal impact level is 1.2 to 1.4 body weights, he said.

The next step would be to get Lester back on the treadmill and actually teach her how to run in a way that drastically decreased the impact of her feet to the ground.

A regiment like the one at UK’s Runners Clinic is something that is gaining mainstream acceptance.

“I think there’a growing appreciation and awareness that there are running forms and styles out there that put people at a higher risk for potentially developing an injury,” Noehren said.

“For folks that are struggling to make some changes in the way they run, we do have the capability to bring them in here and teach them very specifically how to modify their running mechanics.”

While the clinic has seen promising results in the short term, it’s too early to say whether or not the program helps with long-term running health. But that is, of course, the goal, Noehren said.

“I hope so,” he said. “The researcher in me says that we don’t have that evidence just yet. But in the short term I do know that we can reduce pain and improve mechanics and thats certainly our hope long term.

“But those studies are still ongoing.”

For more information on the UK Runners Clinic, visit the program’s website.

From the Runners Clinic website: “Please contact your insurance company prior to making your appointment to verify your coverage and referral requirements regarding the orthopaedic evaluation and physical therapy benefits. If you are planning this visit for a computerized running/gait assessment alone, please be aware that this will incur a charge that will not be covered by your insurance.”

Video by Mark Boxley, photos by Jon Hale.