Run faster by swinging your arms more efficiently says the NY Times; Three tips to help you run more efficiently.

Run smarter, rather than harder is what I tell our patients when we do treadmill evaluations in the office. There are great variations in how people use their arms as they run, and some variations end up slowing us down or even may be responsible for stitches we feel in the diaphragm.

When we run, we will stride and then counter stride. If one leg tends to stride unevenly, as seen in those who are built asymmetrically (we have proven that on every video we have done in the office), typically, the arm and body motion will reflect this as well with an uneven counter stride in our upper body. This can have a shearing effect on the thoracolumbar fascia, causing it to always be tight (fascia forms according to the forces we place upon it).

The good news is that we can modify some of these factors with better shoes, off the shelf or custom orthotic insoles and proper instruction as runners become self aware of the way they run. Visualizing this through videos taken with a phone is quite helpful, as it results in a more efficient stride, more even stride side to side, less under and over striding and a better expenditure of energy.

Apparently, researches of this phenomenon have studied arm movement and form and the NY Times recently reported on it.

Check out the article here

How Our Arms Help Us Run

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

How we hold our arms affects how we run, but probably not in ways that most of us would expect, according to a new study of upper body biomechanics. The ideal arm swing may be the one that you’re already using, the study concludes.

Distance running is, of course, physiologically costly, meaning that it requires large outlays of energy. Almost every aspect of the activity adds to that energy expenditure, like holding your body upright and metronomically swinging first one leg and then the other forward and toward the ground.

But scientists and some running-form coaches have speculated that pumping your arms, although requiring energy, reduces the overall metabolic cost of running by helping to balance the moving body, increase forward propulsion or, perhaps, provide a bit of bounce, helping to lift us off the ground with each stride. In this theory, swinging the arms makes it easier to run.

That idea, however logical it might sound, had not been proved. So for the new study, published last week in The Journal of Experimental Biology, researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder invited 13 experienced adult runners to pull on their favorite running shoes and visit the university’s locomotion lab.

During their first session, the runners were fitted with masks to track how much oxygen they took in and carbon dioxide they puffed out. Those measures establish energy usage. The runners stood quietly for seven minutes as the scientists determined their baseline numbers.

Here are some helpful tips on running more efficiently

1. Try not to hunch your shoulders as you run. Doing this will force you to over and under stride more and slow you down, while reducing your symmetry and running efficiency.

2. Keep your arms swinging at less than 90 degrees and allow them to swing freely.

3. Avoid having your arms cross the body as you run. This wastes energy and can result in stitches at the diaphragm.