I (Danny) always do my runs on grass. Though is this the best surface for your joints as many tend to think?
A post by our friends in Australia explains more, the answer might not be what you expected...
Health & High Performance
🙋🏼♂️𝗪𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐨𝐧?🏃
🤷♂️“Should I run on grass, concrete or a treadmill?” are frequent questions asked by runners, & the answer is surprising to most.
👟An average runner will take 1,000 steps per km, & with 2.5 times bodyweight in force going into the body with each step, minimizing this impact may play a role in injury prevention.
🤔Runners often think running on a softer surface like grass will “cushion” them & therefore less likely to be injured. However, a new study by Waite et al disputes this train of thought. The authors compared peak vertical tibial acceleration (a proxy for impact forces experienced at the shin) in trained distance runners on 3 surface types (grass, asphalt, and concrete) & 3 grades (incline, decline, & level).
What did they find?
🔑They observed that running on a softer surface (grass) actually resulted in slightly HIGHER tibial accelerations compared to a harder surface (concrete or asphalt).
Before we discuss these findings further, let’s take a slight detour to discuss what happens inside our body when we run. Our bodies are pretty amazing, and when we run on different surfaces, we subtly adapt or “tune” our muscles & tendons to absorb impacts (our in-built springs). This adaptation occurs pretty much instantaneously when we change surfaces (Ferris 1999, Nigg 2001). So when we ran across a harder surface our springs become less stiff, and the opposite occurs when running on a softer surface, so the net result is impact forces that are pretty similar across surfaces.
🙋What do other studies have to say on this?
🙋🏻♀️What should you run on?
🔗Watch the video, or head to our full blog for the answers! www.healthhp.com.au/post/whats-the-best-surface-to-run-on
#running #runninginjury #justright #poundingthepavement #questionsrunnersask #melbourneinstarunnners
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