By Glenn Venturini MS, MPT

An in-season injury can be devastating for a runner, especially if the athlete is told they can’t run during the early stages of the rehabilitation process. Some types of injuries do not allow athletes to run or perform other types of cardiovascular training because of pain, decreased weight bearing on the injured leg, casts or surgery. As a result, the runner begins to lose conditioning and falls behind the pack. Deep water running is an underutilized training exercise when an injury prevents land training. Additionally, many times the cardiovascular conditioning exercises performed in the water are not achieving maximum benefit for the athlete. This article will explain how to train in deep water. Remember to first check with your medical professional to determine if deep water running is appropriate.
Previous practices in rehabilitation have focused on biking, cross country skiing, swimming, elliptical machines, stair climbing and other forms of low impact training to help maintain conditioning if the athlete is injured. While these types of cardiovascular exercises are good ways to attempt to maintain some level of conditioning during rehabilitation, they are not the same as deep water running and the athlete may find themselves in a de-conditioned state when they return to practice. In order to maintain or improve your "running shape" you must run. The specificity of training principle indicates athletes must train the way they compete to maximize conditioning for competition; Lance Armstrong trains by cycling, Alan Webb trains by running, Ian Thorpe trains by swimming. In simple terms, the way you choose to train (running, biking or swimming) produces specific changes in your muscles for the chosen activity. If your physician tells you land running is on hold, ask them about deep water running.
Deep water running has been used by many injured world class runners and other athletes who participate in sports that require running. The benefits of deep water running include; decreased stress to the injury site, enhancement of cardiovascular and peripheral (legs and arms) fitness level, ability to perform resistive exercises in the water to strengthen the injured area and an opportunity to improve running form or economy. Some examples of training in deep water include duplicating some land workouts. For example, let’s say the cross country coach had planned for 6 repeat 800’s to be run in 3 minutes with a 3 minute slow jog recovery. You would run in the water for the same amount of time and perform the same recovery. If the coach calls for a long steady run of 30-45 minutes you can do the same in the water.
Deep water running is challenging because every movement pushes against the resistance of water. Because there is no foot impact you could train hard in the water 2 days in a row. Match your effort of land training to deep water running. Fatigue will be overwhelming if you attempt to match land running speed with deep water running speed of movement. Your coach, athletic trainer and /or physical therapist together can put together a custom program for you to continue training and rehab the injury at the same time.
Some things to remember about deep water running:
1.A lifeguard should be present,
2.Wear a flotation device, such as the Aqua Jogger,
3. Run in deep water so your feet do not touch the bottom,
4. Run in place with high knees, do not bike pedal in the water,
5. Lean slightly forward while running,
6. Keep hands in a thumbs up position with open palms and,
7. Run as many days in the water as you would have on land if you were training with your team.
Give yourself time to adjust to deep water running, when you return to practice you may find your self in front of, instead of behind the pack!

719B South Chester Rd
Swarthmore, Pa. 19081-2710
610-543-4605
Glenn Venturini, PT
Craig Fava, PT