Well well well… hello there! It is safe to say that with everything else going on, I have somewhat neglected my blog the last couple of months! BUT that will soon be changing and I plan to get back to blogging regularly again from the New Year! But to kick it off, I wanted to write about my recent experience with the Run 3D clinic and share my results with you.  

I am very fortunate that aside from #hamstringgate earlier in the year, I have managed to avoid any other niggles or injuries in the last 12 months (keeping everything crossed that as I write this I am not jinxing myself!) but still, I was really interested to get a comprehensive gait analysis to make sure that everything was indeed in working order and that there were no underlying issues before I throw myself into London Marathon training!

Anyway, it was a beautiful Monday morning here in London as I headed into the city for my appointment with Ken at Six Physio in Bank (Run3D have a number of clinics in the UK, you can find your nearest one by clicking here) 

I was going to be taken through the Run 3D Silver Assessment and then we also went through a musculoskeletal examination (not as scary as it sounds!) to see if there were any areas of my strength, flexibility & mobility I needed to work on (and it turns out there was, but more on that later!) But before we could do anything, we needed to get all the techy bits sorted!

First of all, my shoes and my body were fitted with motion sensors so that they could be picked up by the motion sensor cameras (just like they use in the films!) which then produced a 3D moving image of me on the screens in front of the treadmill (I felt like I was in a Daft Punk video!) This is to ensure that everything can be picked up, and you are given actual facts and numbers rather then relying on judging solely by eye.

 

So now it was time for the fun part, getting to run on the treadmill! First of all you start at walking pace before you then move into a steady/easy run pace. The cameras then record you for approx 30 seconds and measure everything from your hips all the way down to your toes! But I wasn’t done there… Ken then asked me if I wanted to crank the speed up and see how I faired running at my goal marathon pace, which obviously I said yes to!

Here are the results from my test. Overall, I am in good nick and my running style is pretty efficient, but as you can see – my hip alignment definitely needs some work!

‘The results are compared to our database of uninjured controls and presented on a colour-coded scale to give a clear illustration of whether you are above, below or within our control range’

After the gait analysis, it was then time to go through some basic, but key strength and mobility exercises. For me personally these were really interesting, especially those exercises focused around my hip & pelvic mobility. Once again these were measured and compiled into a report, some of the results were determined by eye, but for others Ken used a device which was able to accurately measure the force in some of the exercises.

Overall, Ken was really happy with my results & tried to reassure me that there was nothing to really worry about, but certainly areas I could improve upon! As soon as I left the clinic I sent a message to Alex (@quinnphysio) with something along the lines of… Help me sort out my wonky hips! And I am already booked in for the New Year where we are going to go through my report together in more detail and come up with a plan to get everything in working order – and once we have come up with a plan, I will of course share it with you all!

No matter what level runner you are, I highly recommend getting a gait analysis at some point in your running journey. There are many different types you can get, and the most common is the one you can get in running shops which can help determine which trainers you need to buy. I am in no way knocking these, as they can be extremely useful, but just please be aware that this will not be able to measure everything accurately, as a lot of the time this is tested by eye only.

The Run3D team are going to be at the National Running Show on the 19th-20th January 2019, and for one weekend only they are offering their Run 3D Package for 1/2 price! Spaces are limited, and appointments are 100% essential, so please book on before by clicking here! I will also be at the show on Saturday 19th January, and look forward to hopefully meeting lots of you there!

And lastly, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas, and an even happier New Year!

Jordan xx

#AD