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Six Running Form Fixes Physios Say Prevent The Most Injuries
Cadence, cross-over and the hip drop nobody notices until it hurts — the cues that show up again and again in gait clinics.
Running gait analysis has a credibility problem, partly because it has been sold as a way to buy the correct shoe. But in a physiotherapy clinic, watching someone run remains one of the more useful ten minutes available.
Six patterns come up over and over. None of them require rebuilding your stride.
1. Raise your cadence slightly
Most recreational runners land at 155 to 170 steps per minute. Nudging that up by 5 to 10 percent shortens the stride, moves the foot strike closer to under the hips, and reliably lowers peak load at the knee.
“It's the single highest-yield change I can make in one session,” says Bex Nowak, MSc. “And the runner doesn't have to think about their feet at all — just take slightly quicker steps.”
2. Stop crossing the midline
If your feet land on an imaginary tightrope, the hip has to work through a much larger frontal-plane range. Over thousands of strides that shows up as IT band pain or lateral knee pain.
The cue that works: imagine running with each foot on its own rail, about hip width apart.
3. Watch for hip drop
When the pelvis dips on the swing-leg side, the standing hip's abductors are under-doing their job. It is invisible from the inside and obvious on video from behind.
Single-leg work — step-downs, side planks with a leg lift, and slow single-leg Romanian deadlifts — fixes this faster than any running cue.
4. Quieten the landing
Loud running is usually braking. Ask for a softer footfall and most runners automatically shorten their stride and increase cadence without being told to.
It is a crude cue and it works better than the precise ones.
5. Let the arms swing back
Arms that pump across the chest force rotation the trunk has to absorb. Driving the elbow backwards instead keeps the movement in the sagittal plane and, oddly, makes hills feel easier.
6. Then look at your training load
Form fixes redistribute stress. They do not create capacity. “If someone has gone from 20 to 45 kilometres a week in a month, I'm not interested in their cadence yet,” says Dr Raman. “I'm interested in their calendar.”
The 10 percent rule is a blunt instrument, but a blunt instrument beats none.
This article is general information reviewed for accuracy, not personal medical advice. Speak to a qualified clinician about your own health. WomenWelly is reader-supported and free to read; we buy the products we test.
Nadia Okonjo
Senior Fitness Editor
Nadia Okonjo is WomenWelly's senior fitness editor. A strength coach for nine years before she moved into journalism, she writes about training programming, barbell technique and the gap between what gets posted online and what a coach would actually put in a client's plan. She competes in masters powerlifting and has the deadlift calluses to prove it.
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