Pose Method For Speedy Injury-Free Running

Rustyboy · LA, CA Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 225

Runners with knee problems may be interested in the “Pose” technique. It was developed by a Russian sports trainer who advises runners to use short steps at a high rate of turnover, and landing with bent knee and weight over the ball of the foot. Sort of running like a cat. There are differences over whether it works, but the famed sports doctor Tim Noakes evaluated it in the lab and found that it significantly reduced the stress on the knee joint. He worried, however, that the stress was transferred to the Achilles tendon.

In more detail, here is what you do: The runner leans forward while keeping the head, shoulders, buttocks and foot (the one on the ground) in a straight line. The knee is slightly bent with weight on the ball of the foot. In fact you land on the ball instead of the heel as usual (like sprinters do). The idea is that forward motion is just a matter of falling forward.

If you really get into it, you can read the book:
Dr. Nicholas Romanov's Pose Method of Running
Publisher: Pose Tech Corp; Illustrate edition (December 16, 2002)
ISBN: 0972553703

A personal note: I have achilles problems and found that trying to do this made the worse; What I did take out of it was that shorter faster steps reduces overall stress.