Arm swing and upper body rotation for runners..and the Popeye arm

Upper body rotation is obviously important in sports such as baseball, discus etc. While it’s importance in sports such as running are less obvious, all of these sports suffer from the inability to find equal rotation in both sides.

Understanding rotation during running is best understood through realising the way joints rotate when we walk. 

When we walk, the process of walking sees joints opening and closing in the feet, which (should) see the lower leg also rotating internally and externally. Following this up sees the upper leg doing similar movements a little faster, and the hip then moves in various planes as the leg moves back and forth.

As the joints through the body move, they pull on the muscles to load them like an elastic band, then pulling them back towards neutral, and to rotate in the opposite direction.

The main problems I see with runners being able to do this normal process is:

• Rotating more on one side than the other
• Lack of rotation in one joint causing others to rotate more
• Over rotating through the upper body to achieve balance due to lack of rotation lower down
  
  

Causes of these issues are very wide, but one thing is certain.

Telling a runner not to do it won’t fix it.

This is usually (there are always anomalies) a biomechanical/structural issue, not a running technique problem. In my practice I’ve seen causes indicated all over the body, from changes in foot structure, to protecting old shoulder injures and lack of shoulder blade movement. 

Can coaching running technique help?

Thats not to say we can’t help this along through coaching and cueing. The runner who rotates more to one side will usually see more movement in one arm across the body. Along with a strategy to address the underlying issue, cueing the runner away from what I call the Popeye arm (link video), is important in allowing structural changes to cross over into running changes.

If this is you, you’ll soon notice that the trying your hardest to avoid doing this, lasts less than the first chorus on your play list.

Weak core?

I’m not sure what this really even means, and this isn’t my first rodeo. Yet daily, someone comes into my practice telling me that they have been told that their current issue is dues to a weak core.

In terms of rotation issues, if we get to the crux of what these therapists are trying to explain (much less eloquently) is that the “core” lacks strength to control rotation. If we understand that muscles react to the movement of joints (ie., the hip rotates internally, so the external rotators pull it back in place), then we can get past this idea of “core strength” and bring it back to a structural issue, often the result of repeated patterns performed poorly. If one side stays rotated structurally, then strengthening the core won’t fix this.

We need to allow the body to be in a position where muscles have a job to do, ie. pull the body back into rotation.

As mentioned, there is a large array of causes behind this. We can solve this through releasing muscles that are tight, and strengthening the muscles that are weak, but there needs to be a purpose in mind.

This is where general stretching fails.

Stretch whats short, strengthen whats long.

These muscles that are stuck in rotation, keeping one side there, need to be released. As a result of not having a job to do for some time, strengthening the opposing side will begin to help pull back around. Ideally, in order to completely solve this riddle, we also need to address the cause of this one sided rotation, but keep in mind, this is where general stretching can completely unravel things. Continuing to stretch muscles that are already long, can further exacerbate our running issues. With everything, have a purpose behind your training, stretching and whatever strategies you apply to improve your running.

Would you like the complete package to fixing your running issues for good?

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