Road v's treadmill
What is easier on your achilles when running - outside running or the treadmill?
If you are a runner - chances are you have experienced tight calves and legs. When this continues and you keep overloading your muscles the achilles tendon can react and for many runners it has been an issue they have had to manage.
So on the path back from injury - what is best? Outside running or Treadmill?
A study done in 2016 by Willy et al - went about trying to answer this question.
The results showed that treadmill running resulted in 12.5% increase in peak achilles tendon force, 15.6% greater loading rate of the achilles tendon force and 14.2% greater estimated cumulative achilles tendon force per km compared to overground running.
So what does this mean to you.
2 things really - firstly - if your achilles has been an issue and you are still wanting to run, then running outside is possibly the better option.
Secondly, if you normally run outside and then suddenly change to running on a treadmill - you may want to manage your load (distance and intensity) otherwise you might find yourself with an increased chance of a grumbly achilles.
Thanks goes out to an article put out by the Royal College of Chiropractic Sports Sciences that drew my attention to this interesting study.
We look forward to bring more content and info your way - until then - Move Better.
