Spring Is In the Air! 

With days getting longer and the snow disappearing, the urge to get outside and start moving is overwhelming. Are you looking to get out and run? Maxine has been eagerly hitting the pavement with her daughter. 

Here are two tips she has for you to stay injury free while enjoying your run this spring: 

1. It is important to properly warm up before doing any run, especially your hips! Most of us spend hours seated during the day, between work, commuting, eating, watching TV, etc., and this can result in many problems often referred to as the “seated death”. One possible side effect to sitting is getting tight hip flexors and over stretched hip extensors, leaving you with a limited range of motion in your hip joint. Often our knees or low back end up compensating for our hip restrictions and this can lead to pain and injury. In order to reduce these risks, during your warm up you should activate your extensors, particularly your Gluteus Maximus, and loosen your hip flexors, particularly your Psoas Major. 

2. You should incorporate core strengthening and core stabilization on a daily bases in your workouts in order for you to begin running with more force and endurance, while protecting your back. I highly recommend the dead bug and bird dog as excellent core exercises