Outdoor Gait Training and Shin Splints
New research shows gait training cues can help runners avoid common injuries.
Many exercisers enjoy treadmill running, but often suffer from shin splints. Outdoor gait training and home exercises significantly reduced pain for subjects in a 4-week study conducted by University of Virginia researchers. Gait training exercises reduced ground contact time, increased cadence, and decreased stride lengths. For home conditioning, participants did single-leg squats and lateral step downs, among other exercises, to improve leg muscle strength.
“It’s not really an issue if you’re running every once in a while in a pickup game,” says study author David Hryvniak, DO, assistant professor, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at University of Virginia. “But when you’re starting to train more regularly it starts to overuse some of those muscles, and when we don’t have the strength and biomechanics to support that, that’s when we run into some injury issues.”
Study authors recommend that those who work with runners that are prone to shin splints incorporate gait training and resistance exercises.
The study is published in Journal of Biomechanics (2024).
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA
Shirley Eichenberger-Archer, JD, MA, is an internationally acknowledged integrative health and mindfulness specialist, best-selling author of 16 fitness and wellness books translated into multiple languages and sold worldwide, award-winning health journalist, contributing editor to Fitness Journal, media spokesperson, and IDEA's 2008 Fitness Instructor of the Year. She's a 25-year industry veteran and former health and fitness educator at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, who has served on multiple industry committees and co-authored trade books and manuals for ACE, ACSM and YMCA of the USA. She has appeared on TV worldwide and was a featured trainer on America's Next Top Model.
