The Importance of Running Cadence

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The Importance of Running Cadence | Week 73 | Movement Fix Monday

Did you know that increasing your running step rate by 5-10% will reduce the amount of energy absorbed at your knee by 20%? Chris Johnson calls this the 5 will get you 20 rule.

Step rate aka cadence is very important when it comes to running. The reason step rate is so important is because it allows you to change the length of the stride someone uses when they run. Changing the stride length allows you to change how much certain areas of the body get loaded when running.

Why not just tell someone to take shorter steps? It is unfortunately not that easy and is much easier to increase step rate instead, which is why that is what is cued.

I used to think that when someone had an issue with running I had to do soft tissue work, like rolling out, ART, graston, etc. to help them. I am not saying those aren’t effective, but if we are neglecting altering step rate and other variables of the person’s actual run, then we are going to be rolling out for a loooong time.

Chris and his colleagues have put a lot of time and effort into using the huge amounts of research that is out there on running (click here to see a bunch of it on their site) to help runners, trainers, coaches, and clinicians make actionable decisions for their athletes and collect meaningful data points.

They have done this by creating the app RunCadence. This app allows you to easily measure someone’s cadence and cue them to change it to change their behavior.

You can of course go old school and count someone’s step rate and use a metronome to change it, but the app certainly offers ease of use, accuracy, and reliability.

Anyways, I don’t want this post and video to seem too sales-y. Chris and I wanted to make this video because of how big of an impact cadence alterations can have on people and it just so happens he has an app that does a great job at it.

Thanks for reading!

-Ryan

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