The Monday Shakeout: The Science of Running with... Backpacks?
By Matt Klein
We have written a lot of DPTs here at Doctors of Running. One that stood out as a bit unique was this discussion on backpacks and running a few years ago by our founder Matt Klein.
Despite run commuting during many parts of my life, I have never invested in a serious running pack. I used a scrappy school packback that I added extra elastic to in order to lock down the front straps better when I was working at running stores in Portland, Oregon. When I commuted to clinic during my residency training, I used a cheap Nike commuter pack that bounced around and had little place for storage. The challenge with doing this is there was some extra adaptation time required. I now know why and there are a couple things to consider when running with a pack.
Having something around the chest/thoracic area requires some degree of compression to keep things from moving too much. That compression means less room for rib expansion and thus increased work from respiratory muscles (Faghy & Brown, 2016). I did not know this at first but found that initially running with a serious pack (run commuting) made me feel more winded. When I stopped doing this, usually when I returned to school or changed jobs that were farther than I could realistically run to, I always noticed that it was easier to breathe. There is evidence out there that working on improving respiratory muscle performance can actually improve performance in those running with packs. One way I have done this recently is using the POWERbreathe device, but any resistive breathing training device will work. These are small portable devices that can be used anywhere. I have found great success using these with ultra marathoners dealing with neck and thoracic pain due to carrying packs. The packs put a great deal of pressure in this area and some people require a little extra training to be able to handle this.
Carrying a pack inventively means carrying more weight. This changes mechanics while running and can increase stresses in certain areas, particularly the hips and ankles (Huang et al., 2020; Malcolm et al., 2017; Scheer et al., 2018). Carrying weight outside of your body immediately changes the center of mass. Until you are used to this, it can throw off balance and stability (Huang et al., 2020). This is not a major problem on road, but on trail it can be where footing is challenging. This can also be improved or exacerbated by.how secure the pack is, which is another reason to make sure the straps are locked in and everything stays in place. If the pack is not secure, this can not only throw off balance, but can increase stress into and strain the shoulder musculature (Huang et al., 2020). So for those new to packs and planning to use them on trails, I would suggest using them on the road first to acclimate and dial in the fit. The second part of the change in weight means more stress on the ankles and hip particularly with hills. The increased weight will require more calf and hip elasticity and strength, which is something to be aware of if training in steep or rolling areas. Those with Achilles issues should adequately prepare their calf muscles and Achilles tendon with strength (especially eccentric) and mobility work to ensure that you prepare your tissues for the new work they will experience.
Finally, carrying more weight means you probably won't run as fast initially. There is plenty of evidence to suggest initial decreases in running economy when using a pack (Malcolm et al., 2017; Scheer et al., 2018). This is a great reason to keep whatever pack you use light and whatever you carry with you to a minimum. The benefit of this is that using a pack can act as a form of additional training. Anecdotally, the times I have consistently run with a pack have always preceded massive breakthroughs in performance for my road/track racing. Like any training tool, one must allow time to adapt and not overtrain to seem some benefit. The biggest reason for a pack however is for storage. There are many distances/events that require far more than a couple gels and water bottles, and a running pack is perfect in that it has the versatility to carry a great deal or a little. Regardless of the pack you choose, always use the smallest and least amount you need during racing as that will have the least impact on your running economy and body.
References
Faghy,
M. A., & Brown, P. I. (2016). Training the inspiratory muscles
improves running performance when carrying a 25 kg thoracic load in a
backpack. European Journal of Sport Science, 16(5), 585-594.
Huang,
L., Yang, Z., Wang, R., & Xie, L. (2020). Physiological and
biomechanical effects on the human musculoskeletal system while carrying
a suspended-load backpack. Journal of Biomechanics, 108, 109894.
Malcolm,
P., Panizzolo, F. A., Speeckaert, J., Kim, J., Su, H., Lee, G., ...
& Walsh, C. J. (2017). Effect of slope and speed on kinetics of
jogging with a backpack. In Proc. 41st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics (ASB).
Scheer, V., Cramer, L., & Heitkamp, H. C. (2018). Running economy and energy cost of running with backpacks. The Journal of sports medicine and physical fitness, 59(4), 555-560.
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