Running on a Treadmill Increases Injury Risk?
I’m sure you’re kind of sick of me talking about this, but I’m still having problems with plantar fasciitis. I was able to run several times last week with no problems, but when I tried to run on the treadmill at my local rec center on Monday, I started having increased pain almost immediately, forcing me to stop after just about two miles. I was a little bit puzzled about this setback since things had seemed to be going so well. Fortunately, I already had a physical therapy appointment scheduled for yesterday.
When I explained what had happened to my PT (Mark Plaatjes), it took him only a moment to come up with an answer. It seems that people’s running mechanics change quite a bit when running on a treadmill compared with running on the ground, including a change to the range of motion of the foot and the toe-off. For me, this means that while the shoe inserts he customized for me seemed to really help when I ran outside or on the indoor track, they were basically ineffective on the treadmill, which is why I started to have pain so quickly on Monday’s treadmill run. This was fairly surprising to me - I guess I had never really thought much about how different treadmill running was from regular running, beyond following the advice I usually see to set the treadmill at a slight incline to make up for the lack of wind resistance.
Because I’m kind of a geek about these things, I wanted to do a little bit more research into this, which I’ll share with you now.
According to Peak Performance, during a treadmill run, the function of your feet and legs changes from creating a propulsive force as you would on an ordinary run to simply repositioning your center of mass to keep yourself stable. Also, on the the treadmill, your stride rate is generally lower, your stride length is longer, and the length of time you spend on your support leg increases significantly when compared with running on the ground. These differences, plus increased foot drag which is exaggerated even more on an incline, seem to increase the risk of foot injuries, including plantar fasciitis.
So what’s the moral of the story? I guess a couple, at least for me:
- I shouldn’t run on the treadmill very often since it really seems to throw my biomechanics out of whack.
- When I run on the treadmill, I shouldn’t use an incline.
I hope everyone here in the northern hemisphere is enjoying the first days of spring!
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March 19th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
I would agree! Although I’m not sure about exaggerating the pain of plantar fasciitis, I developed something more along the lines of shin splits when I was doing treadmill running a couple of days in a row at a hotel gym. I hate treadmills so that gave me a good reason to avoid them!
March 31st, 2008 at 9:08 am
Treadmills are a required evil. Because they (usually) cost a lot of money, people think they must do you some good…
Also, people tend to run outside based on feel or perception - “That hill was a bit steep, I’ slow down a bit” is instinctive.
People don’t think in mph or kph but suddenly do when they are on a treadmill
April 10th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Ran across your site while trying to decide how I want to train for my next marathon since my last round didn’t quite turn out as expected.
What went awry? Developed a case of plantar fasciitis, as well as shin splints.
What was I doing more of than I have ever done in the past? Treadmill running. Due to winter conditions and the need to log runs in the wee hrs of the morning, I was hitting the gym for 6+ mile runs on the treadmill several times a week.
I’ll be avoiding the treadmill as much as possible for my next 1/2 & full marathon training.
April 10th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
@Julie - Sorry to hear about your injury problems. It is tough to train in the winter without using the treadmill though, at least if you live somewhere cold/icy/snowy or you’re trying to avoid running in the dark.
I guess the answer, if you have to train on a treadmill, is to be ultra-conscious of your form, which can be difficult. Like you, I’m trying to minimize my time on the treadmill.