I, like many avid runners, suffer from recurring injuries. Mine happens to be my iliotibial band (or ITB).
By most estimates, more than half of all runners become injured every year. Some blame, particularly for ITB injuries, running on the one side of the road, a tight butt (not the good kind), or tight quads.
A new study from Harvard actually found that the way a person runs may affect whether he or she winds up hurt. The study found that heel strikers were 2x more likely to become injured than the forefoot strikers. Now, this may have more people turning to barefoot running to fix their strike, but the experts cautioned it wasn't a fix-all.
I've been thinking about trying barefoot running for some time, but not sure it is really right for me. I do want to see if fixing my strike would help my ITB issues. Any recommendations for changing your strike?