Autorin: Cornelia Caviglia, Physiotherapeutin MSc, Sportphysiotherapeutin ESP, Medbase Zürich Löwenstrasse, Center for Medicine and Sport.
Osteopathy prepares the body, physiotherapy builds it up, and chiropractic helps when things get acutely stuck somewhere – these three manual therapies can be summed up in a nutshell. The most important differences briefly explained.
Autor: Dr. med. Patrik Noack
Specialist for General Internal Medicine SGIM and Sports Medicine SGSM
co-head of medicine
Medbase Center for Medicine and Sport in Abtwil
Running is a great sport – but it can also be unhealthy. Especially if you overdo it.
With every step, your feet absorb 2.5 times your body weight at the moment of impact. The amount of work the body can tolerate varies greatly from person to person. However, if the musculoskeletal system is gradually accustomed to the load, tendons, muscles, joints and bones can usually keep up well.
As long as the pain in the musculoskeletal system is only slight (two to three on a scale from zero to ten) and disappears quickly on its own, you can continue to train – but you should keep it in check. Because further excessive strain can lead to “over training injuries”. Therefore, recovery after training should be given the same priority as the training itself.
Over training injuries are usually due to overloading and rarely the result of accidents. These complaints can occur in untrained people after only a few training sessions, if the workload was higher than the musculoskeletal system tolerates.
However, over training injuries are more frequent in intense runners who do not listen to their own body enough and who are driven by ambition: But overachieving can cause physical problems.
Overloading is accompanied by various basic factors that also favor over training injuries. These include, for example, legs of varying lengths, malpositions such as knock-knees or bow legs, previous injuries, age-related signs of wear and tear and also unstable joints or ligaments.
The most common over training injuries are summarized in these tables:
If the first symptoms become apparent, patience is required. It is worth it, because if you get a overtaining injury there is a significantly longer recovery period.
The first thing to do is to reduce the amount of training for one to two weeks. Instead of running, sports that are less stressful for the musculoskeletal system are a good idea. Cycling, for example, is usually possible despite the discomfort of running.
Aquatraining is most gentle on muscles, joints, tendons and bones. If this works without pain, the next step would be training on a crosstrainer, followed by a stepper and treadmill before going outside again for a run.
You should only train properly when you feel well again and your confidence in your body has returned. Supporting bandages, well-fitted running shoes, insoles or other aids can be a good help. Kinesiotapes can also help, for example with muscle injuries or hardening.
If you want to prevent overtraining injuries, you should set yourself reasonable goals, plan and monitor your training well and ensure the necessary recovery.
Without special attention, runners usually lack the necessary core stability. If you don’t want an overtraining injury, you will therefore have to strengthen your core muscles, because they provide good stability. This is especially true for athletes who have had back problems in the past.
In 2002, an interesting study compared the back and abdominal muscles of runners with different levels of training. The result: there were no significant differences, regardless of whether someone regularly ran a lot or a few kilometres. Running training per se therefore has no effect on the core muscles.
Various tests show where the runner stands in terms of mobility and muscle length. Here, too, deficits must be remedied through targeted training.
For example, it has proven to be a good idea to alternate running training with cycling, swimming and cross-training on a regular basis. Training of leg axis stability and foot gymnastics round off the program. Muscular imbalances in the legs also promote complaints.
Autor: Franziska Zehnder, Head of Performance Diagnostics Sports and Movement Scientist MAS Nutrition and Health at Medbase Zürich Löwenstrasse, Sports Medical Center
An injury during the preparation or competition phase can severely disrupt the course of the season and lead to a significant reduction in physical performance. The longer the rest phase lasts, the more time must be invested in reconstruction. However, once the physical and psychological setback has been overcome, many positive aspects of the development can be gained.
Help us further develop this App by giving us your vote! (click on the link).
The 43rd edition of the Lucerne City Run should have taken place on Saturday in Lucerne. Corona thwarted the plan of a normal run with contact to the opponents, cheering from the edge of the course and the smell of bratwurst. Instead there was a virtual version with app, headphones and funny looks from the roadside.
viRACE is the app that made the virtual execution of the Lucerne City Run possible. The app served as a registration platform, timekeeper, speaker and results service for the race and was developed by running.COACH within a very short (but intense) time during the lockdown.
“For us as athletes and companies that are at home in the running industry, the daily reports of cancelled runs were a stab in the heart every time,” says Stefan Lombriser, Managing Director of running.COACH. “We then had the choice: wait or throw everything on the scales and press the accelerator. viRACE is now the result of the second option”.
In cooperation with Swiss Running, the app viRACE was then developed, to make it possible to hold the cancelled races, albeit in an unusual form.
After many small and medium-sized test runs, last Saturday’s Lucerne city run was the first big stress test for the brand new app. A total of 904 registered participants successfully completed the run.
The top 3 of the four categories offered are as follows:
1.5 km Saturday
1. Cedric Meyer, 00:04:25
2. Martin Winiger, 00:04:40
3. Kylie Jenner, 00:04:49
3.8 km Saturday
1. Janis Gächter, 00:11:48
2. Raphi Kunz, 00:13:03
3. David von Arx, 00:13:21
7 km Saturday
1. Jorge Garcia, 00:24:02
2. Elias Raemy, 00:24:45
3. Flavio Rieder, 00:25:00
1.5 km Sunday
1. Paul Jacquot, 00:05:13
2. Philipp Joller, 00:05:28
3. Selina Sidler, 00:05:40
A great summary of the experience was published published in the local paper.
If you enjoyed participating in the virtual Lucerne City Run, we would be pleased if you would continue to take part in virtual competitions in the future. The app is constantly being developed and new functions are coming.
If you would like to support us in the further development of viRACE, you can Vote for us by following this Link until Tuesday evening. Thanks very much for your support.
Exercise and fitness are a major factor in good health. That’s why SWICA supports its customers who have COMPLETA PRAEVENTA or OPTIMA supplementary insurance by making contributions of up to 600 francs towards their silver or gold six- or twelve-month subscriptions to running.COACH.
running.COACH is a SWICA-recognised partner, offering runners a comprehensive training platform with interactive coaching and training plans. Whether you want to improve your running style or get fit for the next marathon, running.COACH can help you along the way.
1. Check whether you have COMPLETA PRAEVENTA or OPTIMA supplementary insurance from SWICA.
2. Log in to www.runningcoach.me or register; buy a silver or gold subscription or renew your existing subscription.
3. Send the subscription confirmation to SWICA
You will then be sent a confirmation email with a subscription confirmation attached. Send this to SWICA. You should receive your refund within a few days. If you have any questions, please send an email to: info@runningcoach.me.
Optimum performance can only be achieved when a runner recovers sufficiently after training. Carbohydrates, protein and fluid play an important role in this.
What the petrol tank is to the car, the carbohydrates are to the muscles, which are stored in the muscles and liver in the form of glycogen. Intensive and/or long training drains these energy reserves in the muscles and liver. Anyone who trains loosely for up to five hours a week therefore does not need to worry too much about nutrition after training, as long as they eat a balanced diet.
The situation is different for runners who train more than five hours a week and some of which are high intensity. In order to regain performance, it is important to replenish the carbohydrate stores after training, preferably with starch supplements such as rice, pasta, potatoes or muesli. Exercise causes a slight stress and inflammatory reaction in the body. Carbohydrates counteract this. They are also important for the immune system.
The first meal after training should contain not only carbohydrates but also protein. If the protein intake in the diet is insufficient, both the repair processes and the muscle building suffer. This can last up to 24 hours after training.
It is therefore not enough to supply the body with protein only immediately after training. Rather, it is important that each meal contains 20 to 25 grams of protein – whereby not all proteins are the same. This is because animal proteins (in fish, eggs, meat or dairy products) are generally more digestible by the body and therefore of higher quality than vegetable proteins.
If you want to cover your protein requirements purely from plants, you must consume 30 to 40 grams of protein per meal to achieve the same value of 20 to 25 grams of animal protein. It is best to combine different vegetable foods with each other to increase their value, for example soy with rice and lentils or potatoes with beans and nuts. Such combinations offer a greater variety of “essential amino acids”, i.e. the protein building blocks that the body cannot produce itself, but which are essential for the muscle.
If you don’t have a proper meal immediately after running, you can take protein and carbohydrates with a banana milkshake or chocolate milk, for example. Such drinks also help to compensate for the loss of fluid through sweating.
Fluid replacement is the third important point that runners should consider after training. An additional requirement of five to eight deciliter per hour of training is expected. Exactly how much fluid is needed varies greatly from individual to individual. The easiest thing to do is to pay attention to your urine: if the fluid intake is correct, it is about the color of white wine.
With sweat, the body loses not only fluid but also salt. A salty snack or a salty meal makes up for this.
Anyone who trains to lose weight must be careful not to treat himself to more than necessary after training as a reward. A simple rule of thumb is to fill 1/4 of your plate with carbohydrates, 1/4 with the protein component and the remaining half with vegetables and/or salad. In order not to consume additional calories, it makes sense to complete the workout shortly before the daily main meal and to avoid a regeneration snack.
Runners who tend to be underweight are best advised to increase the proportion of carbohydrates and reduce that of vegetables. Some olive or rapeseed oil and a few nuts can provide additional calories.
No matter what level of sport and no matter how much time you have, a targeted
The impact of the coronavirus has extended far beyond those who have become infected and has changed how everyone lives their day to day life. In these unfamiliar times, amid a global pandemic, it is important to remember that we will get through this and amazing things can still be accomplished. running.COACH teamed up with orienteering world champion Matthias Kyburz setting out to prove this by breaking the 50 kilometer treadmill world on Thursday April 16th record while helping raise money to for the COVID-19 crisis.
viRACE is an app that enables runners to take part in a running competition in real time without having to be physically present. On this page, we would like to describe the advantages viRACE brings to organizers.
Everyday life is anything but ordinary now. The necessary official measures regarding social distancing force us to drop deeply ingrained routines and stay at home whenever possible. However, regular exercise and athletic activities are still recommended by experts. From experience we know how difficult it is to maintain a structured training without a competition goal. In cooperation with Swiss Running we have therefore developed ViRace. The app should enable the participation in cancelled competitions without having to be on site and with virtual instead of direct contact to the competitors.
Schools will remain closed for a few more weeks. However, lessons must continue. Physical education and sports are an important part of the curriculum and this must continue during the closure as well. As a teacher, it can be challenging to still achieve the learning goals. We would like to do our best to support teachers with this challenging time.
In this blog post we describe how you can use running.COACH for your lessons.
Have you already registered with us? If not, then read the following blog post and follow the instructions.
https://blog.runningcoach.me/en/2020/03/24/use-running-coach-free-of-charge-for-physical-education/
After your registration you will receive access to our coach backend and a voucher code for your students. All students must register themselves per 1). Browser https://runningcoach.me/ or 2.) via Mobile APP and can use the promo code.
The code can also be redeemed after you have already registered:
1) The voucher code can also be redeemed after registration at the subscription purchase page.
2.) The code can also be redeemed in the APP later under Settings/My subscription/Voucher.
As soon as the code is redeemed, the voucher will be assigned to you as an ‘athlete’ and you will have a coach-athlete connection.
At the beginning it is important to know what running.COACH can offer to every single runner and which settings are important. You can read more about this on this blog post.
A running.COACH training plan is very personal and individually tailored to each person. An advantage of this characteristic for whole class is that everyone is challenged according to his/her own possibilities. This means that everyone receives training guidelines which are optimal for his/her own performance level.
However, the teacher can and should set training goals and give tasks.
Possible tasks:
1.) We want to take part in a 5km run together on 1 May 2020. All of us are training for this. to set this up students will enter details as follows:
-> my account -> Parameters -> 4). My goal
Goal: “Participation in competitions”
Competition in the database: 1.5.20 Virtual Race May 2020 – 5 km (highest priority) *
In order to determine the current performance level, all of them will do their own test run over 3km until next Tuesday: Add a separate target competition “Test Run”. Distance 3km, altitude up 0m, altitude down 0m. Priority low (fun race)
Everyone completes three** training sessions per week
Try to spread the training days as well as possible over the week.
-> For training settings point 7). Training days
*running.COACH running calendar: In the calendar you can find countless running competitions all over the world. At the moment many of them are cancelled. We have now added a virtual race on the first day for the next 4 months with 5 distances from 5km to marathon. So you can agree on a final race and train based on it.
** Note: Alternatively you can also do your training on a bike. Please note the duration for the alternative sports in the training description.
2.) Besides running training, do the exercises suggested in addition to running training. You will find them at the end of the training description.
E.g. strengthening exercises. You will surely find many exercises which you do not know yet. You can also find more exercises on the Youtube channel of running.COACH. E.g. this series of strengthening exercises by Paula Radcliffe, multi time world champion and former marathon world record holder. Every time you do exercises, you can also add them to the running.COACH plan as additional training.
3.) Running is much more than just putting one step before the other. To run as energy efficient as possible, a good running technique is also important. An optimal running technique has to be learned. At running.COACH there are also exercise guidelines for certain training sessions. You can also find additional exercises on the Youtube Channel, presented by Judith Wyder, orienteering world champion and trail running star.
Students are now conducting the training according to plan. The easiest way to run is with the APP. For all who have a GPS sports watch, you can log your training with it. The Mobile APP is basically sufficient. But the web version offers more functions and an even better overview of the whole training.
You as a teacher can now also check if the training has been done at all by the students.
Here at running.COACH Blog we have hundreds of articles on all kinds of running topics and endurance sports in general. Why not pick out interesting articles and make them available for reading
Maybe you have some additional ideas? You can also use the comment function here!
We are happy we can support you during this time!
The running.COACH Team