Even Coaches Struggle to Analyze Running Mechanics

Observation alone is not enough to determine running efficiency

Zachary Walston, PT, DPT, OCS
In Fitness And In Health
2 min readJan 14, 2021

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Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash

Can we gauge how efficient a runner is simply by observing their mechanics? What about running coaches? This recent study sought to answer the question.

As most couches and clinicians do not possess specialized equipment to assess a person’s running economy, visual assessment is often relied upon. Endurance coaches from high school to the international level (N = 121) viewed running videos and ranked runners on a scale from 1 (most economical) to 5 (least economical). Coaches also completed a demographic questionnaire and listed running style biomechanical observations they used in determining each ranking.

On average, the coaches had 8 years of coaching (range 1–41) and 12 years of running (range 1–50) experience. The study evaluated the ability of these distance-running coaches to correctly rank distance runners on running economy through video observation during treadmill running.

Findings from this investigation revealed 35%, 47%, 12%, and 6% of coaches could identify zero, one, two, or three of the runners in the correct order, respectively. Furthermore, none of the analyzed coaching characteristics — coaching level, years of experience, certifications, or competition level…

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