Running Writings

Your cadence is the number of steps you take per minute while running. Simple measurement, right? But there are many questions surrounding it, including how it differs across runners, how it changes as you run faster, whether a higher cadence is more efficient, whether a lower cadence causes injury, and whether you should aim for a specific number.

It almost goes without saying that there is an enormous amount of erroneous information circulating around when it comes to cadence, to such an extent that—with a few exceptions—I’m mostly going to avoid trying to refute everything wrong about cadence you may have seen elsewhere, and instead focus on the (correct) biomechanics of cadence in running.

Cadence is squarely in my scientific wheelhouse; I spent most of my time during my PhD collecting and analyzing biomechanical data. One of the chapters of my dissertation is even focused on the merits of cadence (and other gait metrics) as a predictor of biomechanical loading. So, buckle up—we’ll be covering everything you need to know about cadence.

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In my article on biomechanical training load, I covered the basics behind how biomechanical loading is related to the development of running injuries.

The basic idea is pretty straightforward: every time you take a step, your tendons, bones, and joints experience a loading cycle: a build-up and release of mechanical force.

Each loading cycle does a tiny amount of damage, depending on the magnitude of the force and the structural integrity of the tissue. If this damage accumulates faster than your body can repair it, the result is an overuse injury.

In this article, we’re going to take a deeper dive into exactly how this process of tissue damage works. Our goal is to build up an understanding of cumulative damage: a way of quantifying “how much damage” you’ve done to a specific piece of tissue.

We’ll use the recurring example of damage done to the Achilles tendon, since it’s a common injury and a relatively straightforward tissue in terms of understanding both its biomechanical loading and its tissue properties.

So, what is the actual mechanical process behind tissue damage in running? Let’s dive in and find out.

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