Dr. Yessis Sports Training Blog

Recent studies are once again proving that runners and triathletes suffer injuries at a higher rate than ordinarily thought. For example, a recent study of over 500 competitive runners and triathletes found that 90% had suffered an injury in the past year.

About half of the athletes were sidelined for at least two weeks or forced out of training for more than a month. Yet, in spite of the statistics, runners and triathletes in the run, do not take preventive measures to not only decrease the incidence of injury, but to decrease the severity of the injury if it occurs. Read more… »

Many recommendations for improving your run relate to improving your posture. In this regard we hear coaches tell a runner to be more upright. But how does one get more upright?

You are often told to straighten up and to maintain your head and shoulders in alignment. This typically means that the head should be directly above the shoulders which should be directly above the hips. However, this alignment is only seen momentarily in certain phases of the running stride. Read more… »

Following are some comments that I wrote in a discussion about the best marathon training programs: All training should be individualized. This is something that the running world has not addressed nor is it for the most part practiced.

Each runner should have a general overall plan worked out which includes some specific goals. The weekly program should be adjusted every two weeks (sometimes one) depending upon what he or she experienced and how well he or she did in the prior week(s). Read more… »

Although they do not specifically state this, most articles in running or other magazines that deal with running, are intended for beginners and novices. Howeve, they are typically written in a manner that indicates that they apply to all levels of runners. This is misleading.

As a result of this many runners incorporate recommendations in the belief that it will improve their performance when in reality, it can produce the opposite result. With sorrow, we still do not have a system that can identify different levels of performance so that each runner will know where he stands in relation to other runners. Read more… »

An interesting article from the New York Times Services appeared in the paper the other day titled, “Despite injuries, humans are born to run”. It was related to marathon running and brought out some very interesting facts.

For example in the US, 425,000 marathoners completed the marathon. This is an increase of 20% from the beginning of the decade. At the same time injury rates have climbed with studies reporting that 90% of those who train for the marathon sustained injuries in the process. Read more… »

Do yoga to prevent injury. There’s no questioning the fact that yoga has many great benefits. But it appears that these benefits are greatly over exaggerated. For example, in a recent article in Runners World a 10 minute yoga sequence is touted as being effective for improving your range of motion and preventing injury.

That it increases your range of motion is undeniable. However, merely becoming more flexible does not mean that it will improve your running. In fact, it can do just the opposite by interfering with your technique. Read more… »

When discussing hamstring injuries you typically see the leg curl described as the best exercise for both rehabilitation and prevention. However, is this exercise that effective?

The key point to remember here is that the hamstring is a two joint muscle that crosses the knee joint to attach on the shin, with the other end attaching on the hip bone. The leg curl involves the hamstrings and the lower tendons that attach to the shin. It has no effect on the tendons that attach to the hip joint where most injuries occur. Read more… »

It is not uncommon to find articles dealing with strength training for runners. What is surprising, is that many of them advocate strengthening only the upper body since, in the authors opinions, the lower body is already sufficiently strong from the running. This, however, is a fallacy. Read more… »

With the increase in popularity in trail running, there has been an increasing number of ankle injuries, mainly ankle twists. In addition, these types of injuries also seem to be increasing in football and baseball. The most common injury occurs when the foot turns inward, i.e., adduction in which the sole of the foot rotates toward the mid-line of the body. The most severe, but rare ankle twist, occurs in abduction, when the sole of the foot is turned outward, away from the mid-line.

In both cases, there is overstretching of the tendons and ligaments that hold the bones and muscles of the foot in place. These injuries can usually be prevented, or if not prevented, have the severity of the injury decreased greatly. This is most easily done by strengthening the muscles and tendons that are involved. The main muscles in this case are the muscles on the sides of the foot and shin, not the calf muscle which plays a role only in ankle flexion and extension. Read more… »

For years runners have been told that it is necessary to do static stretches before running, especially when sprinting. According to many runners and recent research, static stretching before sprinting does not improve performance nor does it prevent injury. In fact, it may be the cause of some injuries. Although this has been known for well over 20 years, the information still has not trickled down to runners.

When studying animals in the wild, you can see that they do not do any static stretching before going into a sprint to attack their prey. They often rear back to prepare for the initial leap, but that is the only preparation that is typically done. Read more… »

In recent years, many strength exercises involving the use of a stability ball (also known as a physio ball or simply a large inflated ball) have been recommended for runners and other athletes a. However, are doing exercises on stability balls — that are not stable — an effective way to develop greater strength together with stability? If you look at the effects of such exercises the answer is the strong no.

But yet, the physio ball appears to be gaining in popularity and more people are using them. As a consequence, we are seeing more injuries and less strength. This is understandable since you are doing a strength exercise which requires great stability in order to be effective and safe for handling weights. When you have an unstable support base it becomes relatively easy to lose one’s balance and be injured. Read more… »

According to many sports medicine doctors, there appears to be a knee crisis among runners and athletes who run in their sport. Doctors are seeing an increasing number of knee injuries and are doing more knee surgeries. They attribute the problems to several key factors.

One is running technique. However, doctors and even coaches, rarely examine technique in detail. For example, heel hitters are especially prone to knee injuries because the forces on landing are exceptionally high. When multiplied by many foot strikes, the total amount of force that the muscles must handle is very high. But when the muscles and tendons are weak, the joint structures are especially unable to withstand the landing forces. Changing technique to a midfoot landing can reduce the number of injuries greatly even when there are muscle weaknesses. Read more… »