Your running performance can be an exciting thing to improve, but a challenging thing to perfect. Whether it’s increasing the distance of your runs, improving stride efficiency, or just staying injury-free, you’ll need to put in a lot of time and effort to see results. Unfortunately for most experienced runners, running performance tends to decline over time for a variety of reasons, rather than improve. Despite their best efforts, most runners find themselves frustrated by a lack of progress and helpful resources. But why does this happen in the first place? Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common reasons running performance declines, what you can do about it, and why seeing a running chiropractor might be the missing ingredient for finally seeing the results you want for your running performance.
Why Running Performance Declines
There are many different reasons why your running performance might decline over time despite your best efforts, with the following three reasons rising to the top of the list.
Poor Technique
Put simply, you can’t get better if you don’t know how. For a lot of runners, performance naturally improves early on with repetition and determination, but those performance gains eventually slow and come to a halt without the right technique to keep them going.
Stubborn Injuries
Whether during your run or your recovery time afterwards, injuries can cause pain and soreness that create hesitation in your technique and endurance. For example, mild hip stiffness, runner’s knee, or a little bit of back pain might feel like nothing at first, but it can gradually lead to compensations and massive drops in endurance that stop you miles short of your goal.
Deflated Mindset
Sometimes frustration over your technique or accumulating injuries can lead to a poor outlook during your run, but other times it may just be that you’re feeling stale and uninspired. Regardless of what’s causing you to have a deflated mindset, your running performance is almost sure to suffer in a big way. The old saying “practice makes perfect” has more recently been replaced with “perfect practice makes perfect”. What this means is that practicing with poor technique, stubborn injuries, and a deflated mindset aren’t going to get your run time or distance any closer to perfect. In order to make your practice perfect again, you need to know when to ask for help from a professional.
Top 5 Reasons Runners Should See a Chiropractor
When it comes to refining your running technique, besting stubborn injuries, and improving your overall mindset, getting help from a professional should be top of mind. Chiropractors are musculoskeletal specialists with expert knowledge of the human body, what can slow it down, and how to optimize performance. Here are five major reasons runners should see a running chiropractor to improve their performance.
Spinal Alignment
While you might not think about it, your spine is at the center of every step you take during your run. Whether you’re sprinting, jogging, or going for a half marathon, the alignment of your spine plays a pivotal role in your running technique and endurance. After getting to know you and your specific goals, your chiropractor can identify where your problem areas are and what chiropractic adjustments for runners are needed. From there, your chiropractor will use a combination of spinal adjustments, manual therapy, and corrective exercise to improve the alignment of your spine and encourage fluid, pain-free movement that boosts your performance during every run.
Muscle Balance
Equally as important as spinal alignment, muscle balance - more specifically imbalance - is a major factor in declining performance for runners. Imbalanced muscles mean uneven pulling and tugging that negatively impacts your mechanics, and can also lead to injury. On the other hand, when your muscles are well balanced, you can enjoy better performance and less pain overall. To help you overcome muscle imbalances, your chiropractor will combine manual adjustments with strengthening and muscle activation techniques to train your body out of bad habits that are affecting your performance and causing pain. With consistent training and guidance, you can even overcome muscle imbalances that have been building up for years and slowly hurting your running performance.
Body Mechanics
Even if you’ve taken the time to learn correct running technique, how you actually perform it may not be as ideal as you think. More importantly, your technique or equipment might need to be adjusted slightly to accommodate your body and prevent injuries. When working on body mechanics, your chiropractor will combine ideal running technique with your unique body mechanics and help you find the ideal combination to maximize performance while minimizing the stress on your joints. With ideal body mechanics on your side, your technique can flourish, along with your mile time.
Endurance
While it can feel great to perform well in the first few minutes or miles of your run, most runners find themselves struggling to keep the pace for long. That’s because running is an endurance sport (with the exception of sprinting) and it requires you to pace yourself for long periods without losing your steam along the way. Working with a chiropractor who understands the demands of running on your body means getting treatments and advice that will help you save energy and reduce body stress during each stride, allowing you to stay focused and maintain your technique run after run.
Confidence
Confidence matters in just about every sport, but it’s especially important for runners looking to improve their performance and overcome other obstacles that have been holding them back. When your confidence is shaky during your run, you’ll find yourself second-guessing your strategy and hesitating to trust yourself as you get farther from home (or farther on the treadmill). On top of helping you improve your spinal alignment and muscle balance, refine your body mechanics, and prevent running injuries, your running chiropractor can give you the guidance and support that you need to boost your confidence and feel like yourself again during your runs.
Finding The Right Chiropractor for Your Running Performance
By now it’s probably clear that there are plenty of good reasons to see a chiropractor to boost your running performance and feel better during your run. That said, not all chiropractic care for runners is created equally, and not every chiropractor will be a good fit to help you improve your running performance. When you’re looking for the best chiropractor for running injuries and performance, start by investigating the type of people they usually help. For starters, you could check your chiropractor’s website to see if they work with athletes regularly. To get more specific, you might also look for success stories or testimonials from athletes or runners they’ve worked with. At Strive2Move, our chiropractic team works with runners of all backgrounds to improve performance, overcome stubborn running injuries, and take back confidence during each run. With the help of state-of-the-art treatments such as targeted spinal adjustments, sport movement training, and running-specific conditioning, you can finally improve your running technique and performance for good.Ready to unlock your full running potential with the help of chiropractic care for runners? Schedule a consultation with one of our specialists today!
