Are you jogging the right way? Check your foot

NEW YORK — Regular, easy running for fitness can be a boon to health and wellbeing, but experts say for safety, joggers especially must keep a spring in their step and an eye on how that foot falls.

Don't miss this on TODAY Health

AP

Age-proof your iPod -- turn it down

Nothing makes you feel like an 80-year-old like having to cup your ear and say, “Excuse me?” Hearing loss typically develops slowly, the result of prolonged exposure to thousands of high-decibels insults to your ear. How can you age-proof your music?

8 ways to slash fat without realizing it

'Like' TODAY Health? Become a fan on Facebook!

French diet's slimming Kate, but experts scoff

Kate Hudson drinking? Call the pregnancy police!

"Look out of the window and you'll see joggers with a slow and sticky rhythm, poor posture, and that heavy heel strike into the pavement," said Lee Saxby, a running coach who has worked with many an injured weekend warrior at his clinic in the West Hampstead section of London, England.
Saxby, author of a new ebook "Proprioception: Making Sense of Barefoot Running," said the three most important aspects of healthy running, whether fast or slow, are good posture, a bouncing, elastic rhythm and a forefoot landing.
"Human beings will naturally walk, sprint or run. Walking is a heel strike, running is a forefoot strike," he said. Jogging is not a slow run. Jogging is actually a different biomechanical behavior, a hybrid between a walk and a run. Distance runners never land on their heels."
What's often lost in jogging in heavily cushioned shoes, according to Saxby, is proprioception: the body's awareness of posture, movement and balance.

Story: 5 running mistakes you didn't know you make

"There's a natural pattern that's good for you, and an unnatural pattern that's bad for you," he explained.
Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, associate professor of family medicine at West Virginia University and a competitive runner for 30 years, said while human beings walk in a heel-to-toe pattern, running is really a series of short hops.

-