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The past year and a half I’ve suffered from some injuries that have sometimes prevented me from doing one of my favorite activities: running.
I tore my hamstring in high school (I actually self-diagnosed this; I never went to a doctor or physical therapist, but all of the signs were there) going into a front split in dance class. I hadn’t warmed up properly and when we went into stretches I just slid down like normal, and when I did the sound I heard can be likened to letting the air out of an empty plastic water bottle, twisting it and then popping the cap off. Since I was young I healed without many issues and it didn’t really bother me until I got really into running long distances. I got through several half marathons but over the last couple of years it was sort of debilitating. I hurt to step up onto a curb, sit in a chair very long, or sprint.
I ended up biting the bullet and going to physical therapy. I went in the hopes that the therapist would perform the Graston technique on me, which I had read about. Since the spot in my hamstring was so high, it was sort of difficult to get to (it was literally a pain in my butt) so it was sort of awkward reaching it but the therapist worked with me and we were able to do a few minutes of Graston before each therapy session.
One of the things that helped me in PT was working with resistance bands and dynamic mobility. I was 6 weeks away from my 9th half marathon during the time I was in PT and saw a big improvement before the race. Many of the techniques I learned I continue to do as prevention from other injuries and it’s helped big time.
The first part of the routine is muscle activation using mini resistance bands. Muscle activation is a crucial part of any warm-up routine because it (like the name implies) activates your muscles to prepare them for use. Research has shown that static stretches don’t do much to warm up our muscles- imagine pulling a cold rubber band apart: it would probably snap. Using the resistance band allows you to work against some resistance but not a lot of weight so you’re still in a warm-up zone and your muscles are gearing up for more movement. The other part to the warm up is some dynamic stretching. Dynamic stretching, rather than static stretching, allows your muscles to loosen and slowly gain mobility and range of motion to prepare you for exercise.
So here it is:
In the video, the first exercise is a basic lateral walk. The band situated around the ankles is the best place for glute activation because your entire lower half has to be engaged to keep proper form. There is a soft bend in the knees also to avoid rigidity, and again to further activate the glutes. The second exercise is my version of a monster walk. I like to swing my foot in a half-circle shape because this puts more activation on the hip flexors since they’re engaging each time you bring your leg forward rather than a static tension. The goal of the banded exercises is mainly to activate the glutes and hip flexors.
The dynamic stretches start in the form of leg swings in the third exercise. I put them after the banded exercises in the warm up originally because after the banded exercises, my legs are already burning! This was my way to shake them out and increase mobility in my hip flexors and hamstrings. I always finish with a hamstring mobility exercise, where I squat as low as I can with my hands on the ground and, keeping my hands down, extend my knees to straighten my legs as much as I can. This will allow mobility in your upper hamstrings and give you a good calf stretch also.
These exercises have kept me injury free and I’ve been able to also increase my running speeds gradually. I also always add in a static stretch and foam roll at some point in the day, usually before bed because after my runs I’m onto the next part of my day and am limited on time!
Happy running!
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