Running/Skipping/Jumpin on toes?

[Honken]

I've heard a lot about ankle and knee injuries/tears from running, skipping and jumping. Now I have a question:

Would doing theese different things on your toes help when it comes to preventing injuries? What about shin splints?

In Muay Thai, when we run, we run on our toes. This is because in the ring you stand on your toes all the time (for better mobility and speed). But this I mean that the heel never touches the ground (or if so then very lightly). Runners in general often land with their heel first.

[Bentinho]

imho, i think doing things that strengthen (and stretch) the whole lower leg structure will help to prevent injuries. usually when i see ankle injuries, people wouldve been hurt much much less if their ankles werent so weak or inflexible. shin splints usually seem to be a volume issue, simply you're doing more (running, jumping, etc) than you're used to.

[Honken]

Ok, thanks :tongue:.

[Tao]

When I leave from a party I always secretly run back home on my toes at night, it's great and I feel it in my legs afterwards.

[NightHunter]

Distance runners run heel-toe. Sprinters usually stay on their toes to take advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle when their feet hit the ground and load the calf muscles.

Runners develop overuse injuries, these are either wear and tear from repeated impacts(more common in distance runners) or from muscle imbalances. They also are subject to acute trauma, such as a tear or strain, of a muscle, tendon, or ligament(these are more common in sprinters).

There's not too much to do about acute trauma except to keep yourself in good health and always remain cautious in training.

For overuse injuries, you have to make sure you address any muscle imbalances that may develop in your training, and be careful about constant stress on your body(repetitive impacts). Scheduling one rest week out of every month, performing pre-hab work in your workouts, and proper rest and recovery techniques will help with this.

These are all general points. If you want specifics, just ask and I'll provide more details.

[Honken]

Well, I don't go to a gym. I have a pair of dumbells but they ain't very heavy (30 pounds or so). All my workouts when I'm not training consists of either running, shadowboxing, jumping rope and bodyweight excercises (chins, pushups, handstand pushups, hyperextentions from my bed, various ab excercises, squats, lunges and calf raises).

What imbalances are common? Calf/Tibialis? How do I excercise my tibialis? Toe-raises doesen't really do much of an impact... IMO.

[NightHunter]

Yes, generally people end up overdeveloping the calves and getting shin splints.

Here (http://www.trickstutorials.com/forum/showpost.php?p=356678&postcount=5) is a post I made recently about shin splints. It's in response to someone who already has them, but it's still relevant.

I'd suggest investing in a set of free weights since you don't have any.

[Honken]

Thanks. Guess that can be done with some elastic bands or whatever. Think I have some lying around the place hehe.

Time to digg.

[Ashtar]

Run both ways. Running on toes is really good, and I think that's how people sprint when you get to the olympic level anyway (could be wrong though).

If you start feeling pain from running on toes (and by toes, I mean the balls of the feet, not sure why people call it toes), then let your heel start to strike to absorb some of the force, or vice versa.

[chillywilly]

Run both ways. Running on toes is really good, and I think that's how people sprint when you get to the olympic level anyway (could be wrong though).

Thats how you sprint on any level.

[NightHunter]

If you start feeling pain from running on toes (and by toes, I mean the balls of the feet, not sure why people call it toes), then let your heel start to strike to absorb some of the force, or vice versa.

This won't do anything to help the problem. An imbalance will develop either way. If you run only on the balls of your feet without any compensatory work, you'll just be more likely to have achilles tendon problems than a heel-toe runner.

The problem is that no matter how you run you're always accelerating off the rear foot with by contracting your calf muscles(among others) and at no point in running are you contracting the antagonistic muscles(Tibialis) against any significant load. This is why it is imperative to maintain good flexibility in the calves through warmup and cooldown stretching, and strengthening the tibialis through your workouts.