Achilles tendonitis, plantar fascitis, patellar tendonitis, IT Band syndrome, p-femoral syndrome, SI Joint dislocation, stress fractures, torn Meniscus, and Piriformis pain. No, this is not a list of poorly made horror films in the last decade. Instead, it’s a list of common maladies that plague runners everywhere. Any of them sound familiar? For me, there were some items on this list that I can personally attest to after completing ACL reconstruction in 00’. Thanks to Paula and Lloyd Eldredge’s referral to Dr. Nicholas Romanov, I was led onto the POSE Method© in early 2001. I had a choice. I could either run with extreme pain compounded with extremely slow running or opening my mind to new ideas with regards to this sport. Well, this swimmer cracked open her mind and let the principles of the POSE Method flow in.

Thanks to Dr. Eisenman’s approval at of the University of Utah, I was able to complete my coaching certification through Dr. Romanov. The principles were relatively simple. They involve increasing efficiency through improving muscle elasticity, decreasing ground reaction time (not to be confused with ground reaction force), involving core strength, and decreasing vertical oscillation (up and down movement common in some runners). These ideas seemed foreign to most “running experts” I had spoken to previously. Most coaches would take one look at my six foot frame and repeatedly suggest that improving stride length would be my ticket to faster running. Unfortunately, increasing my stride length only seemed to further aggravate my already existing pains and didn’t improve my speed. From what little I remembered from my early college Physics class, I remembered one equation; SPEED = STRIDE LENGTH X STRIDE FREQUENCY. Since changing the stride length didn’t improve much of anything, the main focus was stride frequency. Once frequency was introduced, it was necessary to also involve technique work that would minimize and even eliminate pains and injuries. It is logical to conclude that if someone were to improve technique and eliminate pain that they would also run faster. For me and many clients since then, this was indeed the case.

In a society that seems to crave “quick fixes”, the POSE Method© showed me huge improvements in speed immediately. Sound enticing? Read on. One must first adopt strong posture. This means finding a somewhat neutral spine when running. This will enable you to more efficiently recruit your hip flexors and hamstrings when in motion. From that point, the runner is asked to change their strike zone from ahead of their general center of mass (GCM) to under it. This somewhat mimics a swinging gate. By doing this, one minimizes both vertical oscillation and stopping force (the result of the foot landing in front of your GCM). Once you have tried this, you may notice that your foot strike zone has also changed. This is where runners need to be careful. It has often been a criticism of some people who have not looked into the POSE Method© thoroughly that Dr. Romanov was suggesting that people run on their toes. This is a misrepresentation. Dr. Romanov suggests a mid-foot strike zone. Running on one’s toes begins to cause various problems relative to the Achilles tendon as well as the tendons on the bottom of the foot. The mid-foot refers to the base of the ball of the foot (BOF).

Now, the next thing to remember is that old habits die hard. One must remember that changing one’s running form may result in fatigue of underused muscle groups. By implementing just a few drills into your running program each day you exercise, you can make the transition a bit smoother. Each day you grow stronger, muscle elasticity will improve. Before long, your times will be dropping and your pains diminishing.

Shannon Mulder is a level 1 USAT triathlon coach. Shannon can be contacted at 801-865-6269.

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