♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Hi, folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- And we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, Bob.
- And I think we're well qualified
to talk about this one, Brad.
- I do. - Seven secrets
to running without injuries from head to toe.
Both Brad and I are well into our 50s, unfortunately,
(Brad laughs) yet we are still running.
You know, we've dealt with injuries over the years
and we've figured out what works and what doesn't work.
- And we're gonna help you out, whether you're just starting
or getting into it or your body's changing
after you hit 50s, you're wondering,
why are things changing and we can help you out.
- Little clue, it's not for the good, either.
It's not changing for the good.
(Brad laughs)
If you're new to our channel,
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What are we giving away here, Liz?
- We're still giving away- - iReliev--
- iReliev TENS unit, yeah.
You're gonna want to subscribe to us
'cause we provide videos how to stay healthy, fit
pain-free, and we upload every day
and yes, join us on one of our social
media channels or all of them.
- [Brad] Sure.
- And if you go to bobandbrad.com and go to Giveaways,
we're giving away three TENS units,
which will help you with your pain.
- Right.
- And help manage your pain.
- Yep.
- It's also pinned at the top of our Facebook page,
which is also Bob and Brad.
- So Bob, you know, it's springtime
right here, right now, it's beautiful.
We came off of a beautiful April.
- And we're about to have a snowstorm.
- Right, but anyways, it was nice over the weekend.
You were golfing and I did go running.
I started running when I was in my late 20s,
so I got about 30 years in consistent running
and really I still enjoy it, but I've run into injuries.
A lot of them over the years.
- Yes. - You know,
everything from calf muscles
to groin muscles to hip abductor muscles
to hamstrings. - Well, you just
had a hamstring.
- Yeah, I just dealt with a hamstring.
- Yup.
- And I feel pretty comfortable now taking care of it
so I can get back at it 'cause it can be really
a psychological issue if you're a runner
and you got a injury and you really wanna get out there
or if you wanna start running and you wanna learn
how you can run without, you know,
you've had people, why are you running?
You're just gonna hurt your body, you're gonna bang up
your knees, you're never gonna last.
- Yeah, I remember my brother picked up running
at one point and started and he just went out
without stretching and he tore his calf muscle.
(Brad laughs)
Like the, and that was it-- - Right.
- So.
- So let's talk with the first thing.
I've got seven things here.
You know, Bob, how I am about seven.
- You love seven.
- Seven is complete, Bob.
- Seven is heaven.
- There you go.
- So shoes, let's start out with shoes
and now these are not necessarily in order of importance
but they are all important but shoes, now,
the type of shoe you're gonna pick out
is gonna vary depending on how you run.
Most people that start out are heel strikers,
they go heel-toe-- - Right.
- So you're probably a heel-toe striker.
You might be a forefoot runner.
My wife's a natural forefoot runner without even training.
- Nice.
- If you're a heel-toe striker like most people,
then it gets a little complicated
depending if you have a high arch,
a medium arc, or you're flat-footed.
You wanna make sure you get the shoe that fits you.
I don't have time in the whole video
to go through that 'cause that takes--
- We've had videos on this.
- Right. - You may wanna
check out those 'cause that's a whole video--
- Right.
- On how to pick what shoe is correct
for your type of foot.
- Right, so get the right shoe.
If you wanna go just how to choose proper running,
walking shoes, Bob and Brad will get you
to the specific video.
- Yeah, I mean, I think the point we're trying
to make today, Brad, is that you need
to spend the time to get the right shoe.
- Right. - 'Cause it'll make
all the difference.
I mean, you can run into problems--
- Right. - Run into problems
very quickly, so-- - Yeah,
no pun intended.
So yeah, take some time and it's probably likely
that you'll get a pair of shoes
and they might not be the right ones
but then your second pair will be.
Runners have all kinds of stories about shoes.
- Well, generally what you do as a runner,
as I, once you find one that works, I buy a bunch of them
(Brad laughs) and then when I go back in,
I go, what's the latest one of this, now
and I, yeah. - 'Cause they change it.
- They change it but they keep fairly similar.
- Right, right.
- And so once you--
- But anyways, we don't wanna discourage 'em--
- Right. - About the shoe issue.
If you are a forefoot runner, that's a different story.
I'll get into that later.
Warmup.
There's no controversy about warmup.
There's been some studies in the last few years
warmups are not necessary, why do you warm up,
it doesn't do anything
anyways. - Ah.
- I personally disagree
with that. - I do, too.
As you get older, I definitely disagree with that.
- Right, right.
As far as warmups, I don't personally go through
an extensive warmup before I run
because I'm not going out sprinting.
I usually start out walking.
- That's what I do.
- Maybe about a block and then I'll go into a jog
and as my body feels warmed up, I will start running.
- That's what I do but I do stretching before, too.
- Sure. - Which is the next one.
- That's kind of a individual thing, I think.
So in wintertime, or I've got the elliptical in my house.
That's a really good way for me to warm up.
I think it's-- - Yeah,
it gets all body parts going.
- Yep, exactly. - Yeah,
puts the arms in there.
- Jumping jacks is really nice way--
- Yeah. - Before you get running.
You know, if you're a sprinter,
that's a whole different story.
We're talking about people who are going out
for jogging, running. - Right, right.
- That type of exercise.
And then the stretch.
Now a stretch is another thing that some people
you know, will do or will not do.
I think the two major muscle groups
that you really should pay attention to and stretch
are the calf muscles and the hamstrings.
- I agree.
- They're the most commonly injured muscles,
in my opinion, with runners.
- With runners, yeah.
- So I would do a warmup, the jumping jacks,
maybe some walking, and then do some stretching
with your heel cords.
- Yeah.
- You can just do a wall stretch
where you stretch like this.
If you wanna get something that's more made for it
and it really works well, there's,
what do we have here, Bob?
- We have the ProStretch
but I gotta tell a real quick story.
So I was on Reader's Digest, so one lady was doing that
against her car-- - Yeah.
- Doing the stretch and another man thought
she needed help pushing her car (Brad laughs)
so he came up and she goes, "What are you doing?"
And he goes, "Well, you need help pushing your car?"
She says, "No, I'm just stretching."
So anyway, yeah, this is the ProStretch.
They sent us one of these and I was like,
wow, who cares about this?
But it actually, I use it every morning.
It's a great one to do because what's nice about it,
it actually stretches the toes, too.
- [Brad] Right.
- [Bob] Which helps prevent plantar fasciitis.
- [Brad] Sure.
- [Bob] Or if you have plantar fasciitis
but I just, I get up on it, Brad, like this,
and I stretch like this and I rock it back and forth
and it works out really well and then you can actually
pop it off that way-- - Sure.
- Because it sticks on ya, so--
- Yeah, I see that.
Wouldn't be fun running with that.
And then the hamstrings.
If you're a runner, I'm assuming you're
pretty able and have good balance.
I like to just bring my foot up on a stair
or object like this and straighten the knee out and stretch
and you can hold it for that 30 seconds
or a couple, three times or--
- Keep your back straight.
- Yep. I don't like to do the hold 30 seconds.
I like to just relax, stretch on, pressure on,
pressure off, and I'll do that five to 10 times,
of course on both legs.
- Right.
- Make sure you stretch both legs on both of these.
So those are the two primary groups we're gonna talk about
and then let's talk the more technicalities
of running. - Right.
- I mentioned forefoot versus heel strike
and if this is new to you, when you walk,
your heel hits first and you roll
through your foot to your forefoot.
- Yep.
- When you run, you do the same thing
if you're a heel striker.
- Yup. - Now, in theory,
actually not in theory but that puts
a lot more impact-- - Yeah.
- To your ankle, your knee,
and your hip-- - Right--
- As well as your back.
- Yeah, your heel hits and the force comes
right up through the body
through your lower leg-- - Right.
- And into your leg.
- And that can be up to 10 times as much
as your body weight if they put a force gauge on there.
- Both Brad and I have evolved from heel strikers--
- Right. - To forefoot runners
because it seems like it disperses the force more
so when we run now, now we're hitting forefoot first--
- Right. - Taking more stress
on the calf muscles, though.
- As well as the quads, too.
- And the quads.
- Yep.
- But you're taking less stress on the joints of the body
that can't handle it-- - Right.
So if you're a heel striker and you want to convert
to a forefoot runner, don't expect
to do it within a week or two.
It took me two seasons, two summers, before I could do it.
- Sure.
- 'Cause I started getting, I'd strain my calf muscle--
- Oh yeah, it's a lot more strain
on your calf muscle-- - Yeah,
and I strained my hip abductor muscle--
- You did? - Doing it, too, yeah.
- Interesting.
- So I just kept at it and eventually,
and I took a running course for physical therapy
and they also said, you know, one to two seasons
it's gonna take you to convert
from a heel striker to a forefoot runner.
- There's a book, The Pose Method, right?
- Yep.
- P-O-S-E--
- Yep.
- And they go into great detail on how to convert.
- Right.
- To become a forefoot runner.
- Right, and the popular book that's come out
in the last few years, Born to Run,
is all about forefoot running
as well-- - Sure, yep.
- And that forefoot, I wanna step back into shoes.
If you're a forefoot runner, it's easier to pick out shoes
'cause you usually pick out a minimalist--
- Right. - A real light shoe
and you're just striking on your forefoot
so you don't need that cushion in the shoe,
the arch support issue is not near
as important-- - Yeah, what I've found
is that once I became a forefoot runner,
I could run with my shoes longer.
You know what I mean, I--
- They lasted longer?
- They lasted longer-- - Sure.
- Because I didn't rely on the cushion as much
so when the cushioning started going down--
- Right. - I didn't care, really.
- Yep. - So.
- And supposedly, your speed will greatly increase
when you become a forefoot runner.
- I know they say that.
That didn't happen to me.
(Brad laughs)
I thought it would but it didn't.
- Yup.
And then cadence, how you strike.
Now one thing I didn't really know and my first--
- Cadence means the number of foot strikes per, like--
- Per minute. - Per minute, right.
- Mm hm and the location where your foot touches the ground,
now, this is for more advanced runners--
- Right. - But if you're thinking
about, I used to think if stretch out in front of me--
- Right.
- That I'm gonna run faster,
more efficiently. - Yeah.
That's not the case. - I heard people
that say this all the time at cross-country meets,
like, oh, he's a good runner 'cause look it,
he's tall, he's got those long legs
(murmurs) stretch it out. - But no,
the key is really to get a lot of foot strikes
in a rapid succession. - Right.
And to do that, your foot should not strike the ground,
if you draw a vertical line over your hips,
it should not land in front of that,
it should be right below it so you're pushing
as opposed to going out and pulling and coming through
and there's some other biomechanics
with the knee mechanics that reaching out in front of you
can give you knee problems with hyperextension, etc.,
but the whole idea is, and I started doing this
and I think my time is gonna be faster.
- Yeah, it does.
I had a friend that was talking about this.
He's quite a good runner and he goes,
I'm running behind this older person
and I can't keep up with them and I'm watching 'em
and it's like, they're striking the foot,
you know, the feet so often compared to what I was--
- Right. - So I started doing that
and I pulled up to them. (Brad laughs)
- Give it a try.
- Right.
- A higher rate.
- So I think the books we've mentioned, The Pulls
and Born to Run are two good reference books
that you could read if you're want to get,
step up your running-- - Gotcha.
- Reducing injuries as well as increase your speed
and the last one and not the least
is very simple, very basic.
- If you can run on a non-pavement or concrete surface
and you know, get in a trail.
Anything that's grass or dirt or gravel,
any of that, takes off stress.
- You also wanna watch the camber of the road--
- Oh, good point.
- So if you go down, the road always has a slant,
and if you always go down the same slant,
you're gonna develop injuries.
- Right.
- So I know for safety-wise you're supposed
to kind of always go against the traffic
so you can see it coming.
- Right, yeah, so you can see yourself get ahead.
- But I actually go down one side
and come back the same side--
- Right.
- So that I'm varying the angles--
- Right.
- That my ankles are dealing with, and feet.
- Right, because the road does curve so the water runs off
instead of into the center so that's a good consideration.
- Now if you're on a trail
that doesn't have that consideration,
- Right.
- Then you don't have to worry about it
'cause there's lake trails and stuff like that.
- Just watch out for rocks and roots
so you don't sprain your ankle.
- Yeah, sounds good.
Thanks for watching.
(upbeat music)