Any sport that involves running, places much greater demands on the body than during normal day-to-day activities.  For example, during a 10km run, an athlete will take, on average 3 000 landings per foot.  This can involve a total impact force of around 700-800 tonnes of force (3-4 times your body weight) - based on a 66kg runner.  Imbalance in the lower limb (i.e. feet, legs) may remain unnoticed during daily activities... but when involved in running or sports, this imbalance can give rise to injury when placed under the repeated strains of athletic training (and keep fit programs).

As a preventative measure, it is important for all sportspeople to have the movement of their lower limb structure (biomechanics) assessed by a qualified podiatrist to rule out any imbalance or weakness... if there is a problem, then treatment can commence. These steps can not only prevent prolonged injury time but more importantly... prevent injury from occurring. 

When a person’s foot posture / alignment is incorrect, then the entire body structure / alignment could be incorrect and this could lead to the following conditions:

• As a runner myself, I have an interest in assisting other runners and sportspeople to perform to their highest standard, whilst minimizing the chance of injuries. Over the years, I have seen many injuries as a result of incorrect balance and posture i.e. leg length difference, feet rolling inwards (foot pronation - i.e. excess degree and time spent in a pronated state). These problems (in most cases) are simply treated and can prevent further injury from occurring.  At backontrack, the aim is to make sure your foot / lower limb posture is correct so that you can perform in the most efficient way possible. 


• Excessive lower limb rotation in Steve Cram (328 - Bronze medalist). Note the optimum foot orientation parallel to the path of movement in Seb Coe (326 - Gold medalist) & Tom McKean (351 - Silver medalist).

Cram's style of foot plant not only increases the risk of lower limb injuries (i.e. torsional stressors) but it has been estimated to also reduce his stride length by more than 1cm. At Cram's race pace & stride length, Cram was losing a little more than 50cm every 100m - which is quite a disadvantage at this degree of competition (particularly against the perfection of Coe!).


• BIOMECHANICAL ASSESSMENT:

At backontrack, you will receive a thorough assessment (taking about an hour).  This includes a computerised sensor plate / treadmill gait analysis of your walking / running style.  This analysis will assess your biomechanical structure and determine the most appropriate treatment for your condition.  This may include prescribing of corrective foot orthoses and / or giving you specific exercises to stretch and / or strengthen muscles.