Franchise opportunity: The Running School’s approach to


teaching running technique could easily be brought in to gyms


alternatively they could be sent out to members as links from the health club’s newsletters.


ONE-OFF EVENTS Physiotherapist, author and eight-time marathon runner Paula Coates works at London’s Balance Performance Physiotherapy, which offers expert advice to everyone from novices through to Olympic athletes. She says it’s difficult for health clubs to offer specialised running programmes unless they have an experienced physiotherapist or podiatrist on board who can assess the biomechanics of the lower limb and spine. Teaming up with local clinics


or freelance physiotherapists and podiatrists could be an option, perhaps setting up occasional in-club clinics where members can have an assessment and learn about technique. Coates is available for clubs to hire, either to deliver lectures on running or give individual assessments and design goal- orientated programmes (paulacoates1@ googlemail.com).


march 2011 © cybertrek 2011


Another option for an in-club clinic


would be to host a visiting Feldenkrais teacher. The UK is some way behind the US and Europe in embracing Feldenkrais – a mind-body approach to movement developed by an Israeli doctor of physics and structural engineer, Moshé Feldenkrais, in the 1940s – but it offers an interesting opportunity for health club operators. According to long-established


practitioner, Vreni Booth, Feldenkrais looks at how the human skeleton functions in the fi eld of gravity. “To cope with an injury, Feldenkrais sought a different way of moving, so he studied how the bones are linked and how the skeleton works as a self-balancing structure. It also teaches moving with awareness,” she says. For example, back and knee pain


when running can be alleviated by bringing the hip joint into awareness and engaging it. “Pain means over-burdening one area because somewhere else isn’t doing anything,” says Booth. “It’s like drawing on a bank account and pushing


it into the red, when there is another account with a lot of money in it. My job as a Feldenkrais practitioner is to look at the discrepancies of over-charging one area and under-using another.” The goal of Feldenkrais is to make


the body move well, as it functioned as a child. Booth says she can work with any body, but not any mind, and it does require an open-minded person to make changes. However, those changes can then be profound. The Feldenkrais Guild UK has a list


of registered practitioners who could be approached about developing a programme or clinics.


OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS Running technique is rarely taught in PE lessons at schools, and even running clubs tend to focus on conditioning rather than technique, so there’s definitely a niche here for health clubs. Being helped to run well is an attractive proposition to put to members. After all, what members wouldn’t love to be able to run faster?


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 63


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