Why Running Isn’t Bad For Your Knees, How To Exercise Without Pain & Move Faster (Without Even Trying!) with Helen Hall (re-release) #542
Helen Hall, a movement therapist and pain expert, discusses the vital importance of head and foot position for overall movement efficiency. She debunks myths about running and knees, advocates for walk-run strategies, and highlights the benefits of barefoot movement to reduce pain and enhance performance.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Debunking the Myth: Running is Not Bad for Your Knees
The Critical Importance of Head Position for Overall Movement
Understanding the Vestibular and Proprioceptive Systems
The Concept of Movement Efficiency and Spinal Extension
Overcoming Ego: The Benefits of Walk-Run Strategies
The Science of Recovery During Movement
Practical Exercise: How to Find and Improve Head Awareness
Doris: Advanced Gait Analysis Technology and Its Insights
The Connection Between Foot Health and Overall Body Movement
Foot Wiping: A Simple Practice for Hypersensitive Feet
The Impact of Minimalist Footwear and Barefoot Living
The Power of Peripheral Vision for Spinal Extension and Relaxation
7 Key Concepts
Mass Management Effect
This refers to how the weight and position of the head impact the rest of the body. A forward head posture significantly increases the effective load on the neck and spine, forcing other parts of the body to work harder to maintain balance and movement.
Vestibular System
Located in the inner ear, this system is crucial for informing the brain about our orientation in space and helping with balance. It's a fundamental component of preventing falls and maintaining stable movement.
Proprioceptive System
This system involves specialized cells in muscles, tendons, and joint capsules that provide information to the brain about how our limbs are moving, their speed, and the forces involved. It's essential for coordinated, non-injurious movement.
Spinal Extension
This refers to an upright, elongated spinal posture that offers maximum movement potential. When the spine is in extension, the body can move more freely in all planes of motion, leading to greater efficiency and reduced strain.
Contralateral Movement
This is the natural human movement pattern where opposite arms and legs work in coordination, twisting through the system. For example, as the left arm swings forward, the right leg also moves forward, creating a dynamic, spiraling motion through the torso.
Receptive Fields
These are areas on the skin, particularly in the soles of the feet, that contain hypersensitive receptor cells. When stimulated, they trigger reflexive reactions, which are crucial for infant movement development but can become disorganized, leading to 'ticklish' or squeamish feet in adults.
Peripheral Vision
This is the ability to see objects outside of the direct line of sight. Utilizing peripheral vision, rather than a narrow, focused gaze, helps the central nervous system sense safety, relax, and promotes spinal extension, leading to more upright and fluid movement.
10 Questions Answered
No, running itself is not bad for your knees. If you experience knee pain, it's usually due to how you are running or underlying movement patterns, rather than the act of running itself.
The head is heavy (around 5 kilos), and a forward head posture significantly increases the effective load on the neck and spine, affecting mass management throughout the body. This can lead to a flexed spine, reduced movement potential, and pain in various areas like the neck, shoulders, back, hips, and feet.
For every inch your head is forward from an effortlessly perched position, it adds the weight of another head (approximately 5 kilos). A 15-degree forward tilt can increase the effective load to 12 kilos, and a 30-degree tilt to 18 kilos, making the body work much harder.
Proprioception is the body's awareness of itself and its limbs in space, especially during motion. It's a fundamental spatial awareness that allows the brain to coordinate complex movements without conscious thought, preventing injury and improving efficiency.
Walk-run strategies help prevent fatigue, reduce injury risk, and improve recovery by allowing the body to switch gait patterns. Walking periods enable muscle recovery and healing, making the overall effort more efficient and enjoyable, even leading to faster times for some.
Lie on your back with your head comfortably supported, then place a hand on the crown of your head and gently wiggle your scalp. This provides sensory input to the brain. Also, use a slippery surface under your head and practice gentle nodding and rotation to help your brain map its position and connection to the neck.
Ticklish feet indicate hypersensitive receptive fields in the soles, meaning the feet are over-responsive to touch. This is suboptimal because the feet are designed to provide clear sensory information to the brain for balance and movement, and hypersensitivity can cause the body to avoid ground contact or stiffen, leading to inefficient movement patterns.
Vigorously scrubbing the soles of the feet, particularly the area where the toes meet the foot, helps to 'use up' or organize the hypersensitive receptive fields. This process reduces noise in the sensory input to the brain, leading to more balanced foot pressures, better timing, increased stride length, and overall more efficient movement.
Minimalist shoes allow the feet to feel the ground more, promoting natural foot mechanics and strengthening the four layers of muscles in the feet that provide natural cushioning. They avoid elevating the heel, which can disrupt body alignment, and encourage the foot's 33 joints to move freely, reducing downstream problems like back, hip, or knee pain.
When you use peripheral vision (seeing everything without focusing on one point), your central nervous system senses safety, causing your autonomic nervous system to relax. This relaxation naturally promotes spinal extension, making your body feel more upright and fluid without conscious effort, improving movement efficiency.
9 Actionable Insights
1. Prioritize Head Posture for Pain Relief
If experiencing pain in the neck, shoulders, back, hips, knees, calves, or feet, check your head position. A forward head posture can add significant load (up to 18kg for a 30-degree forward tilt), flex your spine, and limit movement potential, contributing to various pains.
2. Re-establish Head Awareness
If you lack awareness of your head’s position, lie on your back with a slippery surface under your head (using cushions for comfort if needed). Touch the crown of your head and gently nod and rotate, allowing your neck spine to follow, to provide sensory input and re-establish your brain’s spatial awareness.
3. Improve Foot Function with Wiping
If you have hypersensitive (’ticklish’) or hyposensitive feet, or experience pain, vigorously scrub every millimeter of your soles for 1-2 minutes, twice daily (e.g., while brushing teeth). This practice organizes sensory input to the brain, leading to more balanced foot pressures, improved weight shift, longer strides, and increased movement efficiency throughout the body.
4. Enhance Movement with Peripheral Vision
When moving, utilize a wide, peripheral field of vision (seeing everything without focusing on one point) instead of looking down or having tunnel vision. This relaxes the autonomic nervous system, promotes spinal extension, and improves overall movement fluidity and efficiency, even making movement feel easier and faster.
5. Implement Run-Walk Strategies
Use a run-walk strategy from the start of your activity, not just when tired, to prevent fatigue, reduce injury risk, and improve recovery. Walking intervals allow muscles to recover and heal, maintaining efficiency and enjoyment, and can even lead to faster overall times in endurance events.
6. Reconsider Cushioned Footwear, Tight Socks
Minimize the use of cushioned shoes and tight socks, especially for children, to allow feet to move freely and receive natural sensory input from the ground. Cushioned footwear and restrictive socks can hinder the natural development and function of the foot’s 33 joints and four layers of muscles, potentially leading to compensatory movements and downstream problems.
7. Investigate Root Causes of Knee Pain
Instead of stopping an activity like running due to knee pain, investigate the underlying reasons for the pain. Issues in joints above (hip, pelvis, head) or below (foot, ankle) the knee can be the true cause of the knee being overloaded.
8. Use Poles for Reduced Joint Load
When walking or running, especially for long distances or if you have knee issues, use poles from the start of your activity. Poles can offload up to 75% of body weight from your knees, engage your upper body, improve circulation, and enhance overall movement efficiency.
9. Maintain Posture with Mental Cues
When fatigued during movement, use mental effort to maintain good posture, such as focusing on head position or using a physical cue like pressing hands on the upper chest and dragging the skin down. This can help you move more freely, with less effort, and even faster despite fatigue.
9 Key Quotes
Running per se cannot be bad for your knees. We're not so badly made that we should be injuring ourselves every time we move.
Helen Hall
For every inch further forward that your head would be if it was perched effortlessly with maximum movement potential, you add the weight of another head.
Helen Hall
Don't stop running. Find out why the knee is upset.
Helen Hall
The party bus is at the back, the heroes are at the back because they're out for so much longer.
Helen Hall
You are recovering and healing whilst you are walking.
Helen Hall
What if you didn't believe that it only counts when I run?
Dr. Rangan Chatterjee
The more you move, the better your mental health.
Helen Hall
Our entire being moves, so our mental health improves because it's our entire being that is moving. Our thoughts are moving and our body is moving and there is no separation.
Helen Hall
The human mind is very powerful, you can push through and finish the event and get the t-shirt and get the medal, but you may have 6, 12, 18 months of discomfort and injury and pain afterwards if you weren't ready for it.
Helen Hall
2 Protocols
Head Awareness and Spinal Extension Exercise
Helen Hall- Lie on your back on a comfortable surface. If needed, place cushions under your head for comfort.
- Touch the crown of your head (the squirrely whirly bit where the top meets the back of the head) and wiggle it around to give sensory input to your brain.
- Place something slippery (like a document wallet or piece of paper) between your head and the surface you're lying on to avoid traction.
- Gently nod and tip your head back within comfortable ranges, feeling the movement and how your neck spine pushes backwards.
- Start a rotation vibration, noticing how close each ear is to the floor to gain awareness of head rotation.
Foot Wiping for Hypersensitive/Hyposensitive Feet
Helen Hall- Vigorously scrub every single millimeter of the sole of your foot, as if you're trying to get something sticky off.
- Pay particular attention to the area where the toes meet the foot, using a motion like stubbing out a cigarette.
- Ensure you are not padding your feet or lifting your toes to avoid contact with the scrubbing surface (e.g., a doormat).
- Perform this for approximately two minutes per foot, ideally twice a day (e.g., while brushing teeth).
- Observe changes in balance, stability, ground connection, and toe awareness.