Review of "Anatomy for Runners" by Jay Dicharry Item 16 - Finish 30 20 books

(Source)

The classic wisdom is that every runner gets an injury at some point, the ones who never hurt themselves just stopped running. Before I switched to minimalist footwear I'd had a few instances of tendonitis and bursitis, after making the switch I had no injuries for a long time. That caught up with me eventually, this last year I've hobbled along between minor pains, most of which didn't last very long and that I just put down to getting old.

That was all fine until about six months ago when I noticed that I would get a pain in my knee and hip after I finished longer runs. The pain wasn't constant but would show up again every time and would stick around longer than I liked. My doctor, who is also a runner, diagnosed it as being an issue with my form and suggested going to a sports medicine doctor to have an assessment. When I explained that my budget ran more towards Excedrin than experts he recommended this book as an alternative.

Much like my own doctor, Dicharry tends to focus on form. It makes sense, if you aren't running correctly you are going to hurt yourself. The problem I had with this is that he tends to repeat a lot of the same information, alluding to advice that he will give later. The advice is there and is useful, but when you diagnose what your actual issue is, it's hard to not just rush straight to the solution. The result is that with so much repetition that solution can often get confused.

It really is a great resource, but I would never recommend reading it straight through. Better to find your particular problem and then read the exercises he suggests to help with it. If you are intent on reading straight through as I was, go the Marshall McLuhan route and read every other page, at least until you get to the exercises. You likely won't miss any information and you will save yourself the time.