Running Cadence Part II
For those of you who have read part I, you may remember that I said don’t go changing your cadence until we get to the second part of this post. It was not my intention to leave you hanging this long, but here we are. What can I say, life happens and I’ll try not to do it again, but I’m not making any promises. Now that we got that out of the way, I want to talk about why I said not to go changing your cadence until we had this full discussion on the topic. So if you read and remember part I, I mentioned that in this post I’m going to discuss: the downsides to increasing cadence, what is an ideal cadence, how long does it take to make a lasting change with your running cadence, and finally how much cadence is needed to decrease injury. If you haven’t read part I, you should go do that now so you have a better understanding of this discussion. You can click here to go to that post.
There are many ways increasing cadence can reduce injury risk, so what are the problems with increased cadence?
I know, this is a great question, I spent a whole lot of time in part I discussing all the benefits of running with a higher cadence, so you’re probably wondering what the down sides are. One of the main down sides for me is that it’s a conscious attempt to change a fairly automatic subconscious motor pattern. For runner’s who have many years of experience, the action of running is automatic and they don’t have to think about all the mechanics involved to make their body move forward. In fact, their bodies can repeat this same pattern with very limited variability in mechanics between steps for miles. Similarly, people with many years of running experience can even run a certain pace without really needing to think about it or without wearing fancy technology to tell them how fast they’re running. So, why is this a problem? When we try to consciously change a subconscious movement pattern, some times, the body responds with compensatory movement strategies. This could mean, the body may propel itself with different muscles, or joints may be loaded differently than they were previously. A handful of the runners I have treated in the clinic come in with injuries that are the result of consciously trying to alter their gait. Many times, they read some article that told them a better way to run and they drastically changed what’s already working for them. The best way I’ve found to alter any less than desirable gait mechanics is with subtle changes and frequently repeated movement retraining activities.
Along those same lines, depending on your current movement strategy, an increase in cadence may result in different muscle recruitment and different force transmission through the joints. For example, a large change in cadence may transition someone from a person who strikes the ground with a fairly straight knee to someone who strikes the ground with some knee flexion, therefore placing more load on their quadriceps muscles. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but the body will have to adapt to the higher load being placed on the quadriceps muscle and soreness and pain may occur. Similarly, the decrease in stride length may result in less ankle dorsiflexion and less foot supination, making the foot less rigid and stable during heel strike. This would mean the muscles around the joint would have to work harder in order to prevent the foot from being forced into excessive pronation (rolling towards the inside of the foot).
What is an ideal cadence?
There is a lot of debate around this topic. Before we get into what is considered the ideal running cadence, we need to consider the effect cadence has on our running efficiency. Obviously, if our stride is too long, we are not going to be able to run quickly enough and we will be burning excess energy to run at this pace. On the other end of the spectrum, if we just take as many steps as we can per minute, we are going to be taking an excessive number of steps and not delivering enough force to the ground to propel us forward. In essence, if our cadence is too low or too high, we are going to be inefficient.
Many current research studies have cited 180 steps per minute as the optimal cadence when we are discussing elite distance runners1. The reason researchers found this number to be the ideal cadence is, runners consumed the least amount of oxygen when running at 180 steps per minute. This means this was the step frequency when running economy was the best. Most of the research studies I read noted this was the ideal cadence solely based on running economy, they did not discuss other aspects of gait mechanics.
How long does it take to change your running cadence?
There is some variability in research studies when looking at how long it takes runners to change their cadence. One study I read found they were able to increase step frequency by 14 steps per minute after a 10 day training program.1 The program was performed by having the runners run on a treadmill using a metronome that was set at 180 beats per minute. They also wore a device called the foot switch which recorded each time the heel struck the ground. This device gave researchers accurate real time data to determine the runner’s cadence. If a runner’s cadence was found to be too low, they were given a verbal reminder to increase their cadence.
The really neat part about this study is researchers found that after this 10 day retraining program, the new cadence became the runners’ preferred cadence, which would indicate successful retraining. This means the runners had successfully incorporated this new cadence into their automatic subconscious movement pattern. Although this study had it limitations having just a small group of runners, all of which were female and experienced runners, they did find a 10 day retraining program was sufficient to alter cadence. This suggests that these changes can be made in a short period of time with very simple retraining techniques.
How much change in cadence is needed to decrease injury?
So, this is the million dollar question and where the rubber meets the road. Sure, I am very excited about a technique that can improve performance, but as a rehabilitation specialist, what I really want to know is which cadence is going to prevent injury. As far as what I’ve seen research wise, there is no definitive answer to this question. However, what I can say about running at a higher cadence is that it elicits changes in running mechanics that decrease the stress on the knees and dampen the force when the foot initially strikes the ground. As far as determining an ideal cadence to prevent injury, I’m not sure there is one specific number a runner should strive for, but more likely a range. When looking at research studies that evaluated running cadence, researchers found that trained runners automatically selected a cadence that was within 3% of their optimal cadence. This means, as an experienced runner, you may already be running at a cadence that is close to your optimal and may just need a modest increase. You likely won’t have to make big changes to your gait to achieve a desired change.
What should my cadence be?
This is a perfect question to answer before we wrap this blog entry up. In looking at multiple research studies, many authors suggest an ideal cadence is somewhere between 170 and 180 steps per minute. If you’re the type of person who likes numbers this will give you a range to work with. However, please understand that each person is different and your cadence may vary from your running partner’s cadence and that’s ok. I think if we lay out some simple guidelines you can problem solve which cadence works for you. Here are my considerations when trying to find your ideal cadence: (1) try to determine if the cadence feels comfortable to you. Do you feel as efficient running at a higher cadence as you do at your own self selected cadence? Is your heart rate about the same as it normally is when running at this speed with your original cadence? (2) try to determine if anything feels abnormal or causes you pain. (3) video yourself and see if your gait mechanics look good in the video. If a change in cadence drastically alters your gait and causes you to make gait compensations it’s probably not right for you.
In wrapping up, I hope you found these two blog posts helpful. Cadence is a complex topic and I think a lot more research will be coming out in the next few years trying to nail down if there is an ideal cadence for performance and injury prevention. I will do my best to monitor this research and keep you informed about any new studies on this topic. Current research suggests that elite distance runners run with a cadence of around 180 steps per minute so this may be a good goal and starting point if you are trying to improve your running efficiency and possibly decrease your chance of injury. Remember, every one is different and if you can’t get your body to run around 180 steps per minute without compensating or causing discomfort, don’t do it. Finally, whenever you have doubts that changing your gait is beneficial, consult a professional, especially one who will evaluate your gait and identify any abnormal movements or compensatory strategies. I offer this service and am always happy to help you on your journey. As always, thank you for reading and I hope you found this helpful. If you have any questions or comments, you can reach me by email at: therunnersdoc@gmail.com. I’ll catch you in the next post!
Resources
Quinn, Timothy J., et al. "Step frequency training improves running economy in well-trained female runners." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 35.9 (2021): 2511-2517
