Upper back question!

[kacie tri-ing]

Hello!

Yesterday, I ran ten very hilly miles. Today my body feels fantastic.....except for my upper back. It has been driving me crazy! I do strength training twice a week at the gym and focus on my arms and shoulders (for swimming)....but this is driving me crazy! Ideas? Help? Ouch!

[Kimmyt]

When I run hills I tend to lean forward a little. If the route is very hilly I can unknowingly clench my hands, and as a result, my back and neck can get very tense.

Perhaps this is the problem? Maybe when you ran your 10 very hilly miles you were really tense. Have you been running hills alot prior?

[Wahine]

The lean forward in running can irritate upper and lower backs if you're not used to it or if you're increasing hill mileage too quickly. And as Kimmyt said... if you're tight in your shoulders, scrunching up shoulder blades, holding the elbows high and out to the side... all of these will fatigue and irritate the upper back muscles.

[kacie tri-ing]

Thanks! I normally run on plenty of hills where I live in Atlanta, but I have been working (and thus training) in very flat south Georgia for the past month. I went home to do that run (on a loop that I normally run), and clearly my body has gotten used to the flat running farther south

I went swimming tonight though, and I feel much better. I think that it helped loosen me up some. I am going to have to be careful about my posture when I go back home in three weeks! My legs didn't really hurt from the hills, but apparently my posture did!

Thanks!

[han-grrl]

I was going to say - watch posture - especially shrugging..

also keep in mind while running your shoulders are working hard to keep your arms up in the air.

[OakLeaf]

Before I learned Chi Running, I used to absorb a lot of impact in my upper spine and shoulders. I know it was impact related because it never bothered me when I ran on the beach, but the harder the surface I ran on, the worse it got. Once I learned how to use my core, rotate my pelvis and adopt a neutral posture while running, the shoulder tightness disappeared.

[kacie tri-ing]

Thanks! Do you have any resources about Chi running?

[OakLeaf]

Sorry, missed your post before.

There's a lot of information on the Chi Running website. I first learned the method at a workshop so I honestly can't say how easy or hard it might be to learn from the book or DVD. If you have a background in T'ai Chi, Pilates or yoga it would probably make it easier to learn.