Member Article

How Run 3D is Helping Athletes to Avoid Injuries

While there are many types of exercise enthusiast, and plenty of reasons for taking up physical fitness, everyone faces difficulties and the possibilities of physical damage. Sports injuries affect up to three-quarters of runners ever year, often as a result of incorrect or poor technique.

Run3D, a biomechanical engineering company with clinics in Oxford, London, Surrey, Essex, Hampshire and Dublin, has developed a new system that analyses and identifies patterns in running style, offering insight and solutions to complex injuries. The technology looks to benefit both beginners and experienced athletes, allowing for tweaks in performance and running method.

£83000 of Innovate UK funding was given to the project with the specific aim of developing a 3D prototype gait analysis system tailored to specific sports. It also was designed to offer real-time reporting and retraining of posture and style.

After two years of research and development, with funding allocated under the emerging and enabling technologies programme, the project was completed in December 2016. Finding Recovery Solutions for Sports Injuries

Run3D was developed by researchers from the University of Oxford and takes an evidence-based approach to musculoskeletal injuries. A range of injury risk-factors are assessed and measured before infrared technology is used to evaluate joint biomechanics and determine any abnormalities.

Unique to Run3D clinics, real-time gait analysis allows for quantifying of a person’s running technique as they move and determines whether gait retraining is necessary as part of the recovery process.

Other measurement tools are used to evaluate muscular strength, joint range of motion, muscular flexibility and structural alignment.

After all of these assessments are complete, a programme of rehabilitation is designed specifically for any given injury. This could include exercises to undertake at home, suggestions and recommendations for further treatment, footwear advice gait retraining and running technique guidance.

Expanding Across the UK

Thanks to Innovate UK’s investment, Run3D has been able to expand and provide its expertise to multiple clinics across the UK. The aim of the project was to deliver state-of-the-art technology to coaches, physicians and clinics nationwide and, as a result of Innovate UK’s additional funding, this has been realised.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert .