Chi Running: How It Has Helped Me After Major Knee Surgery

In the fall of 2002 I was playing in a men’s Sunday morning soccer game. While playing outside left fullback a ball was struck in my direction but was way over my head. I thought I could head it by jumping. No dice. The ball was so far over my head I would have needed a ladder. As I came down my leg was straight and my body was turning. My cleat did what it’s supposed to do and firmly grounded my left foot. Unfortunately the rest of my body turned and put a lot of pressure on my straight leg. An explosion of pain rippled up through my leg and I landed on my side writhing in agony.

To make a long story short an MRI revealed that I had blown the ACL, MCL and PCL. Plus a hamstring detached as well as the muscle bundle at the top of the fibula. I ended up having 6 hours or surgery to install cadaver ligaments and to reattach the muscles. The surgeon also had to sever my quadriceps to repair something behind it. I had to wait a month before starting the 7 months of PT to ensure that the reattached muscles were grafting back to the bone. In addition, the surgeon told me that the replacement MCL couldn’t be made as tight as factory-installed MCL so my leg has a slight instability even with the strengthening exercises I did and continue to do. I need to wear a custom-made ACL brace for tennis, refereeing soccer and skiing. But at least I can continue to do them!

Why am I telling this story? To talk a little about a running technique that I found during my rehab. I found that traditional running where the heel hits first put a lot of pressure on my repaired knee even with the brace. I happened to be at a party shortly after my rehab was completed and started talking to a fellow who was a fellow technique geek. He told me about the Pose method of running which uses a different running technique. When I read the book on it I happened to stumble on ChiRunning and Danny Dreyer’s book and DVD on this. http://www.chirunning.com/ I’m probably not doing ChiRunning justice in my description of the method involves having the landing leg staying under the body as opposed to reaching out and landing on the heel. My landing foot stays directly below my center of gravity. It also involves leaning my body forward so that it almost feels like I’m falling. My lower legs lift behind me almost as though I'm trying to kick myself in the rear.

I’m not guaranteeing I’m doing the ChiRunning 100% correct. But I can say that what I’m doing now has helped significantly reduce the pain in my leg while also lessening the pounding my body feels. It also seems to take less effort to run this way.

Inner Game of Tennis - 40th Anniversary: Some Thoughts

Tennis magazine recently ran an article on the 40th anniversary of The Inner Game of Tennis. While I’ve been a big fan of Inner Tennis I have to admit that I still struggle knowing exactly how to apply Gallwey's ideas or if I’m even interpreting them correctly. I recall that he tells stories in his book how he helped beginners learn how to play by not doing what traditional coaches do. I know he believes traditional coaching has players over-focus on the details of the mechanics. I recall Gallwey had the student watch him execute, say, a forehand several times then had them do it. Or he has the student swing in front of a mirror. While I think Gallwey’s approach is valid I also think there is time when it is appropriate to be aware of the mechanics and work on them until they become automatized.

Here is a recent personal example. I’ve noticed that the many of the pros hit the ball on their groundstrokes with their racket tilted slightly forward by several degrees at impact. This produces a somewhat flatter shot but still with topspin. So I started trying it by consciously setting my racket with a slight forward tilt. Eventually I didn’t have to think about doing it; it became automatic.

In his second book on inner tennis Gallwey even mentions the idea of not consciously choosing targets but letting the Self 2 figure out where to put the ball. I do apply this especially on certain shots. The one that comes to mind is when I’m on the ad court in doubles and the cross court opponent is coming to the net. One of my favorite shots is to hit a short crosscourt ball that just clears the net then dips sharply and lands in the outside alley. Yet I can’t describe exactly what I’m doing different with my stroke to make the ball to that. I just know that’s what I want to do and let the rest happen. If I think about how to make that stroke I’m more likely to miss. Maybe that’s an application of Inner Tennis.

The compromise I’ve developed is when I’m trying a new tweak to a technique I’ll focus on it until it becomes automatic. If I’m not working on any technique in particular I then focus on weight transfer, the point of impact and trying to watch the ball hit the strings from behind the racket (i.e. looking at the impact point through the strings). My tendency is to let the ball come in too close. One of these days I’ll get it right! ;-)