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Runners’ posture changes during races, and the ankles are one of the body parts to give out first, reducing efficiency.
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The loss of efficiency during running is due to the transfer of effort from the ankles to the hips and knees.
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Strengthening the muscles and tendons of the ankles helps maintain efficiency during running, reducing overall fatigue.
On theone hand there are us runners who accumulate-all together-millions of miles run every day, every month, every year. On the other, there are people who study to understand what makes us go faster and why some of us go faster. Does it depend on genetics? From training? From the motivation? From the predisposition? Certainly from a little bit of all these factors but among all of them some can be measured to draw conclusions or make assumptions.
An observation
The scientists in this story guessed one trivial thing and one somewhat less trivial thing. The first to tell the truth, they didn’t even have to guess because it was obvious: at races, the first ones to cross the finish line have a fitness and cleanliness of athletic gesture that fades as you get to the last ones. The more you run, after all, the more fatigued you become, so it is not a mystery of difficult resolution why the last ones seem more exhausted. The most interesting insight, however, was another and came by studying a group of 25 runners of the same age over the distance of 10 km run at 5% less than their personal best on threadmill. Starting with one observation: that posture and athletic gesture change from the beginning to the end of a race, as mentioned earlier. Why does this happen and what is the weak link in the biomechanical chain? Which part of the body “gives out” first to the point of affecting overall performance? It is known, for example, that the heavier the race gets, the more different factors intervene to support the running, such as the shoes worn or the muscles in particular areas of the body. It is at this point that a vicious circle is generated: more energy is required to sustain the rhythm because some parts “give out,” just at the time when there is less energy!
The suspect
The analysis on the 25 runners (all male, so it is not yet known how women behave at these junctures) performed by placing several infrared readers on the candidates’ bodies found that as the “race” progressed, the spot that was most obviously unloaded was the ankles, transferring the strain to the hips and knees. However, this phenomenon was less noticeable in stronger runners who maintained constant functioning of the ankles, hips and knees. So the “weak point” seems to be the ankles, said scientists at the German University of Sport in Cologne headed by Maximilian Sanno, and the fact that they gradually lose their ability to support the athlete makes running less and less efficient. Another way to define inefficiency is to think that an efficient run is one that uses the minimum necessary amount of energy. The less efficient it is the more energy is required therefore, leading to runner fatigue and exhaustion. But where is this loss of energy concentrated? According to scholars, there are two possible explanations. The first assumes that the tendons of the ankles and feet are the most elastic and capable of returning energy during movement: as competition fatigue and load transfer more to the hips and knees, the contribution of these tendons is lost. The other explanation is that by working the ankles less and the hips and knees more, which have more important and energy-hungry muscle bands, the result is that you consume more, fatiguing as a result and at the expense of efficiency.
The (partial) solution
According to the logic and results obtained by German scientists, therefore, strengthening the muscles of the ankles is a good way to make them more capable of withstanding prolonged exertion and thus to make running more efficient. The more support the runner finds in this part of the body, the less effort he or she has to bring in others to compensate, burning precious energy, especially after an already prolonged effort over time. The suggested exercises serve to strengthen not only the calf-which is delegated much of the ankle work-but also the flexibility of the ankle tendons. In fact, as mentioned above, the elasticity of these tendons is essential to give contribution to the stride by returning elastic energy without requiring the work of any muscle (it is enough for these tendons to work and by dilating they return energy in the compression phase). A simple exercise is to stand with the sole of the foot firmly on the ground and then press the front of the foot (always leaving the sole adhered to the supporting surface) four times per cycle for five cycles. Pressure should be applied for 3 seconds followed by 3 seconds of relaxation. It is recommended to repeat this exercise 4 times a week. As you can see, it does not take very long and, in the long run, it helps strengthen the ankle muscles, while also working on tendon flexibility. And who knows, you may notice it in the final miles of your next race, when whatever energy you have left will allow you to cross the finish line “looking good” and not reduced to a zombie without strength. (via Outside)