This article is a complete guide to running style analysis. You will learn about the basic types of running styles, elaborations and typical injuries resulting from your running style. In addition, the guide goes over what you should be aware of when testing your running style on a treadmill. Last but not least, you get a thorough example of an overpronating runner in bare feet and in neutral soft running shoes.
The article is based on a visit to one of Denmark’s leading physiotherapists in the field of running style and running injuries, Christian Neergaard. He runs the physiotherapy clinic Sundsport.dk,has a master’s degree in sports and teaches running style and biomechanics at the physiotherapy program. In addition, Christian has run 10 km in less than 32 minutes.
Running cycle and analysis of running injuries
A running cycle consists of 4 phases for each leg:
- Stance phase (typically 40%)
- Float phase (typically 15%)
- Swing phase (typically 30%)
- Float phase (typically 15%)
You can see the 4 phases in the figure below, which is kindly borrowed from Sundsport.dk.
Characteristics of the swing phase
Running differs from walking in many ways. One of the primary differences is that running involves a swing phase that is not present in walking.
The higher the pace a runner has, the longer the swing phase will typically last.
The load increases when landing the longer your swing phase is. There have been very different measurements of the load the body is exposed to when landing, but 2.5x body weight is not completely wrong.
Running style analysis: knee injuries – a look at hip, knee and adduction tendencies
A skilled physiotherapist will spend a considerable amount of time analyzing your swing phase, which is often overlooked. There is generally an incredible amount of focus on the ankle joint, while there are gems to be found in many other places in a thorough running style analysis.
In the running style analysis, a physiotherapist will assess the tendency for adduction in the hip joint, which is assessed in the stance phase and in the swing phase.
Adduction is a term used to describe where your foot lands during stance and how your knee and shin swing radius moves. The degree of adduction can be measured as the angle between the vertical part of your hip and the angle from the outside of the hip to the knee joint.
Below you will find 2 images that illustrate adduction in two different versions. The first one shows approximately 10 degrees of adduction, which is not abnormal. The last image shows a 20 degree adduction.
A strong adduction will put extra and unnecessary pressure and stress on the knee joint. If you have a tendency to strong adduction, your risk of injury to the knee joint will be significantly increased.
The 2 videos below can be used in an adduction analysis. In the example, there are no tendencies towards unnatural adduction.
The stance phase – the most used part of running style analysis
The stance phase consists of 3 phases:
- Slope landing
- Midtstand
- Set aside
It can also be expanded to include 5 phases:
- Slope landing
- Full foot contact
- Midstand
- Heel lift
- Toe lift
Body shock absorbers
Your body has a number of shock absorbers that phase out the approximately 2.5x body weight you land with. Without your natural shock absorption, your risk of injury would be considerably greater. You have the following natural shock absorbers in your body that are used during running:
- Heel structure
- Heel fat pad
- Pronation movement
- Eccentric muscle work
- The pelvic ring’s springiness
- Columnar curvatures (curves in the spine that reduce shock through the body)
- Motor control
In addition to natural shock absorption, running shoes also have shock absorption in the midsole to a greater or lesser extent.
Types of running style and pronation progression during stance phase
I won’t go into detail about the different types of running styles in this article. You will find a in-depth article about running styles and how to find your running style with basic methods.
The running style analysis is a subcomponent of a complete analysis
A running style analysis is a subcomponent of the specific physiotherapeutic examination. The running style analysis shows dynamic and biomechanical conditions that we cannot see when the body is moving quickly. Therefore, running style analyses on treadmills are often performed in slow motion and ultra slow motion.
There are several different methods for determining a running style. One is to evaluate old running shoes and another is video-based running style analysis. There are a number of disadvantages and uncertainties in looking at old running shoes, but it can be included in the overall running style analysis to assess trends, which can be looked at in more detail in the running style analysis on a treadmill. If you are told in a store that your shoes are worn on the outside of the heel and they say you are a neutral runner, then you should run away screaming.
Pronation process during stance phase
Christian Neergaard introduced me to the figure below, which illustrates different types of overpronation in the ankle joint (find Christian’s article about pronation during stance phase here). The y-axis indicates how strong the pronation/supination is, while the x-axis is time. KF = landing and AF = take-off.
In running style analysis, different concepts are used for when you have overpronation and when you have neutral pronation.
- A neutral pronation (neutral running style) is said to be when your ankle joint falls 5-8 degrees inward,
- Overpronation is said to be when your ankle joint rolls +12 degrees inward.
It is important to understand that a neutral running style thus includes a natural pronation. Note that the ratings of 5-8 degrees and +12 degrees are what the norm says. Different researchers have different definitions of when a running style is said to be neutral and when it is categorized as overpronation.
In addition, mild, moderate, and severe overpronation are used interchangeably, which further adds to the confusion.
Elaborating types of overpronation
Typically, people know whether they have a neutral or overpronating running style. However, few have a detailed explanation of how their overpronation occurs.
As you saw in the figure about pronation progression during stance phase, there are different types of overpronation. To simplify the example, it is assumed that all runners land on their heels.
- The black line indicates a good, healthy and natural overpronation. The runner does not immediately need extra pronation support. The runner is able, during the stance phase, to resupinate so that the take-off occurs with a slight supination. This is the most efficient and optimal take-off position.
- The blue line is a runner who has a strong overpronation when landing, which should be corrected. This can be done by finding running shoes with a hard wedge on the inside of the heel or inserts. The runner is good at resupinating during the stance phase and therefore gets an effective push-off.
- The green line indicates a runner with overpronation who stays in overpronation a little too long.
- The red line indicates a runner with severe overpronation who does not resupine sufficiently. In addition, the runner lands in an overpronation where the normal runner would land fairly neutrally, as the runner has the swing phase and the glide phase to resupine.
Example of running style analysis on a treadmill in bare feet
Before you get started, you will be given a rough sketch. The purpose is to later evaluate angles.
In the picture below, where I was supposed to be standing normally, you can see a clear tendency for the right foot to point more outwards. This may contribute to increased overpronation in the right ankle joint.
Lines were also drawn on the hocks to assess how much the knees would fall inward.
In addition, dots were drawn on the back to assess whether the hip would drop to the sides during running. If the hip drops a lot (this is commonly referred to as dropping the hip), you will have an increased risk of adduction in the hip joint (see earlier discussion here in the article).
The dots on the spine are used to assess whether the upper body is kept stable during running.
I started running. Filming was done from a number of different angles to assess the running style as best as possible. The most classic part of the running style analysis on a treadmill is shown in the video below.
The video takes place in slow motion and shows these clear trends:
- Overpronation
- Stronger pronation in the right due to the natural outward pointing foot position
- Overpronation occurs calmly
- The overpronation occurs relatively strongly in the forefoot and I therefore cannot resupinate correctly.
The video below is with a slightly smaller zoom. The trends are the same.
The next step in the running style analysis is to look at the knee joint. Does it fall inward a lot? You can see that from the video analysis below. There is no particular fall in the knee.
An often overlooked part of the running style analysis is the assessment of the loss in the hip. This can be assessed by the video below. What you need to assess is whether the hip (the two dots) is held fairly evenly horizontally. In the video there is not much tendency for me to lose the hip. The muscles hold the hip nicely in place.
After analyzing the running style from behind, your physiotherapist typically takes a look from the side.
This primarily assesses the first part of the stance phase – the initial landing. As you can see from the video, I land on my heel/midfoot. Typically, in bare feet, you would land around the midfoot being a little further forward.
If you stop the video midway, you can see how the landing takes place slightly in front of my center of gravity, which puts pressure on my ankle, knee, and hip joints.
In addition, how the body moves during running is assessed. Here, special focus is placed on the vertical movement – that is, how much you move up and down. The more vertical movement, the more force you land with each time you put your foot on the ground. This will in most cases increase the risk of injury.
This video below is simply a zoom in of the video above and delivered in ultraslow.
Fyssen’s overall assessment of my running style
- Overpronation in the right and left
- The feet are slightly turned out – right more than left
- The right ankle joint has a stronger overpronation than the left, which can lead to overuse injuries. This can be remedied with inserts that provide a more symmetrical gait. Read more about inserts in running shoes, or go to Christian’s page about posts.
- Knee joint looks fine
- The hip joint looks fine.
Example of running style analysis on a treadmill in neutral and soft running shoes for runners with a tendency to overpronate
Once your running style has been analyzed barefoot, you will be put on the treadmill again. This time in running shoes. The aim is to find a pair of running shoes that can compensate for your weaknesses.
For fun we tried to let me run in a pair of Saucony Kinvara 5 running shoes, which are a neutral and very soft running shoe (so not exactly a running shoe that should help a runner with overpronation).
You can see 2 videos below. One in slow motion, the other in super slow motion.
As you can probably see, the Saucony Kinvara running shoe doesn’t help me in any way.
In fact, the running shoe exacerbates my overpronation. In the Kinvara, I fall more inward than when I ran barefoot. In addition, the pronation occurs faster and I don’t get to resupinate before taking off.
The knee joint does not appear to be deteriorating at first glance. See the picture below and compare it to the picture without running shoes.
All in all, a bad shoe for me (and probably a bad choice of running shoe for pretty much all runners with a tendency to overpronate).
Immediately, it is the softness of the shoe that increases overpronation, because there is more “bounce” and I therefore have more opportunity to fall inward, where in bare feet I land a little harder.
The running style is also assessed from the side, where it is clear that the insertion occurs in roughly the same place, which is due to the low 4 mm drop in the Saucony Kinvara shoe.
Your running style can change over time + complete running style analysis
Did you know that your running style can change over time? However, this rarely happens. Watch the video, where the entire topic of running style analysis is discussed. You will get many details that you may not have known before.
Conclusion on the running style analysis
I need running shoes with a good and very stable pronation wedge on the inside. The pronation wedge should preferably go from the heel all the way forward into the forefoot so that I can resupinate sufficiently. You can read all reviews of running shoes here,where you will find running shoes for all types of running styles.
A big thank you goes out to Christian Neergaardto collaborate on this project. First I received 4 hours of theory in running style, running cycles and biomechanics, after which we analyzed a number of different types of running styles.
About the Author:
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