3 Biggest Running Form Mistakes You're Making. And the ONE Fix for All of Them

"Thanks for this because I actually injured myself trying to have better running form. Now I just add some more exercises into my training and just run. And it's fun and relaxing again"

Then there's this one:

"Thank you for this! I keep seeing videos saying I'm [running] wrong and keep trying to correct myself. I'm a 37 year old plus sized mom of 3 with no running experience and I'm training for my first 5k. I have learned to take any win I can get"

But this one might be my favorite:

"I'm a beginner runner and I've definitely been guilty of over thinking form so I found this reassuring, thank you. I'm going to enjoy the run and keep working to improve the basics. After all, I've been enjoying my running thus far."

These comments are everywhere right now.

And honestly? They’re right.

Because the Running Form Police are out there…and the pressure to “fix” your stride can make running feel stressful, rigid, and way less fun.

But does that mean we throw every form cue into the wind and run like a wavy inflatable tube man in a used car lot?

NO.

Absolutely not.

And that’s exactly what I want to break down today.

I’m going to show you the three major running form mistakes I look for in every gait analysis with my PT patients and my 1:1 coaching runners:

• Overstriding

• The Proximal Mechanism (aka knees touching)

• Crossover (aka narrow step width)

  
  

And more importantly, I want to show you the ONE simple change I ask injured runners to make.

It's a change that quietly improves all of these patterns without obsessing over form.

(But you know me, I’ll give you a bonus fix at the end, too.)

But first, here’s the truth that surprises most runners:

Running form itself does NOT directly cause running injuries.

It's not a diagnosis.

It’s not a guarantee.

And it’s not the whole story.

Your form simply affects how different tissues are loaded, not whether you’ll get injured.

So let’s pull back the curtain.

Let’s simplify this, debunk the fear, and break down these 3 big form mistakes I see and what they look like, the signs to watch for, and the joints, tissues, and injuries they affect the most.

Lets hop in.

Running Form Mistake 1: OVERSTRIDING

Bad news: if you ever feel your running form is "off", it's probably because you're overstriding

(Me: I am this runner)

Good news: it's the MOST COMMON running form error. And one of the easiest to fix. (remember, I'm dropping the solution at the end of the blog post.)

What Overstriding Looks Like

Overstriding is when your foot lands too far in front of your body (beyond your center of mass) during your stride. This results in your lower leg angled forward, like your reaching out in front of you, rather than of vertical.

Clinically and practically, runners who overstride tend to show:

• Lots of vertical oscillation (you’re bouncing up and down more than you need to resulting in more force your joints have to absorb with every landing)

• A long step forward (your shin is angled out in front when your foot hits the ground)

• Big ranges of motion at the hip, knee, and ankle (your body and joints are absorbing a lot of force eccentrically with every step)

Quick tip: want to know how I keep my overstriding in check? I end up running on a treadmill mostly 1x a week and I use the giant screen on the front of the treadmill as a mirror. I can see in my semi-reflection whether I'm bouncing up and down a lot. Usually seeing that is a good reality check for me ;)

Signs You Might Be Overstriding

You don’t need to pay $500 for a lab to spot this. Here’s what you might notice on your own:

• You hear a loud slap or heavy landing sound when you run

• You feel like you’re reaching with each step

• You notice extra up-and-down bounce in your run

• You get tired quads or hamstrings early in your run

• Your cadence feels naturally on the lower side

What Overstriding Loads (and the Injuries It Can Contribute To)

Because your foot lands farther in front and you’re absorbing more force, overstriding tends to increase load on:

• Patellofemoral joint (hello runner's knee)

• Hamstrings (I'm looking at you, hamstring strainers)

• Tibial bone (ew, shin splints)

• IT band (no one likes ITB pain)

• Plantar structures (stiff ankles suck )

I know the temptation is to say "overstriding causes X injury", but again...running injuries are complex.

So when you look at that list, I want to think instead "oh, ok, because I constantly get hamstring strains during my speed workouts, I wonder if it's because I over exaggerate and lengthen my stride during speed intervals...putting excess load and strain on my hammie"

Because now you're on to something... ;)

Running Form Mistake 2: PROXIMAL MECHANISM

(AKA: “My knees look like they’re almost touching when I run… is that bad?”)

The proximal mechanism is one of the most common patterns I see in runners dealing with:

• patellofemoral pain (runner's knee)

• IT band irritation

• or even gluteal tendon issues (outside hip pain that's NOT ITB), especially in masters runners or women.

But before we go further, remember this:

This mechanical pattern is NOT an injury diagnosis. It’s simply a way your body moves and distributes load.

What It Looks Like

The easiest way to spot this pattern is by looking at one specific moment in your gait cycle: midstance, when you’re standing directly over your foot.

Here’s what I look for in a video:

• A “narrow knee window”. If you pause the video frame-by-frame and your knees almost touch at midstance, that’s usually a sign of:

  • More hip adduction (the thigh moving inward)

  • A bit of pelvic drop

  • Some hip internal rotation

• The combo of those three creates the classic “knees collapsing inward” visual.

  
  

This doesn’t mean your form is wrong.

It means certain tissues are more likely to be working harder since you're body is using this strategy to run. (aka I find myself doing this as a fatigue on a long run)

What It Means for Your Joints & Tissues

This pattern tends to increase load on:

Patellofemoral joint (kneecap pain)

As the thigh rotates inward, the patella tracks slightly more laterally, to the outside. That increases pressure and irritation especially during hills, long runs, or speed.

IT Band

When the hip adducts and the pelvis drops, the IT band gets more compressed against the femur especially along the outer knee. This is why you experience:

• ITB “tightness”

• Outer knee pain

• That familiar nagging ache that builds up during long runs

  
  

Gluteal Tendons (especially in masters runners)

More hip adduction = more compression through the lateral hip tendons. This can flare up glute ache, side-of-hip pain, or that “hurts when I sleep on that side” feeling.

A Key Myth to Debunk

This is NOT about weak glutes. Studies have shown:

• Runners with more hip adduction don’t necessarily have weaker glutes.

• Hip strengthening alone does not reliably change this running pattern.

  
  

So what’s actually going on?

The Real Story: It’s a Motor Control Strategy

This pattern happens because of how your brain organizes movement, not because something is weak or broken.

And here’s the kicker:

Hip adduction tends to increase with longer step lengths.

(Yes… this ties right back to overstriding.)

When your foot stays on the ground longer and travels farther ahead of your body, your hip has more time and distance to drift inward.

That means:

• Your thigh rotates more

• The pelvis dips more

• The knee moves inward

• More load hits your knee joint, IT band, and gluteal tendons

  
  

It’s not always “bad” UNLESS it's contributing to your injury.

Until then, it's a load-distribution pattern that sometimes overwhelms certain tissues.

So what’s the goal?

Not to “fix your hip drop.”

Not to “activate your glute med.”

Not to force your knees apart.

The goal is simply to shift how load is distributed so irritated tissues get the chance to calm down and you can keep running.

And guess what?

This often takes one simple cue that we’ll get into at the end of this blog.

(And don’t worry, no “perfect runner form” nonsense. Just one practical, evidence-based change.)

Running Form Mistake 3: CROSS OVER GAIT

(AKA: “Why do my feet land on a tightrope when I run?”)

If you’ve ever watched yourself run and thought, “Whoa… my feet are landing almost on top of each other,”

... what you're seeing is the cross-over pattern, a very common running mechanic, especially in runners who take longer strides or run with a forefoot strike.

(oh hey, overstriding....is that you again?)

What It Looks Like

Clinically, here’s how I identify a cross-over pattern:

• Imagine dropping a vertical line straight down from the center of your pelvis.

• If your foot lands medially (inside) of that line, meaning your ankle crosses the midline, that’s a classic cross-over mechanic.

  
  

And here’s a quick way you can feel the tension this running-style creates on various parts of your body like your hip, knee, and ankle:

Try this: Stand up. Cross one leg over the other. Now squat while keeping both feet flat. Feel that tension?

That’s the same “loaded” sensation your tissues feel with a narrow step width during running.

Why It Happens

Most runners don’t try to run on a tightrope. It again comes from a mix stride mechanics but also that mind-muscle-body awareness and control.

Specifically:

• Overstriding

• Running with a long step length

• Sometimes a forefoot strike

  
  

When you take a bigger step out in front of you, your foot has no choice but to land closer to (or across) your body’s midline.

And here’s the big connection:

Longer stride length naturally decreases step width.

Which means… yes, cross-over often shows up together with overstriding.

The Tissues That Work Harder

Cross-over mechanics increase loading through a handful of very specific lower leg structures. That's why I assess for it especially when I have a runner with:

Inner Knee Pain / Medial Tibiofemoral Joint (Compression)

The inward landing increases compressive forces along the inside of the knee.

IT Band Pain (Tension + Compression at the Knee)

More inward travel of the leg increases tension along the ITB and irritation to the structures beneath it near the outer knee.

Posterior Tibialis Injury (Tension)

This is the muscle that controls your arch and foot stability. Cross-over mechanics demand a LOT of work from it and over time, this can irritate the tendon along the inside of the shin or ankle.

4th & 5th Metatarsal Injury (Compression)

Landing narrowly increases pressure along the outside of the foot raising risk for stress reactions or stress fractures in the midfoot.

Distal Fibula (Compression / Bone Stress)

This one surprises a lot of runners.

A narrow foot strike increases calcaneal eversion (the heel rolling outward), which causes the calcaneus to “bump” into the distal fibula.

That repeated contact?

More bending forces.

More stress.

Higher likelihood of a distal fibular stress injury.

WRAPPING UP: THE FINAL SOLUTION REVEALED

The quick solution that fixes almost all of 3 biggest and most common running form mistakes?

Increasing your cadence.

But hold on! There's a catch. Because I know for some of you, immediately your brain is going to jump to "but I can't run at 180 steps per minute!"

And you don't have to.

Because 180 cadence is DEAD.

That magic number?

Not actually magic.

A study of 120 healthy runners showed cadences ranging from 164–186 spm. All totally normal.

So the good news for you: increasing your CURRENT cadence by 10-15% is sufficient!

We don't need to obsess over the numbers. Often, we need to take them into consideration, but we really need examine the qualitative pattern:

Are you landing far ahead of your center of mass?

Is there excessive bounce?

Are your tissues and joints absorbing more force than they need to?

Slightly increasing your cadence fixes all of these issues without the stress of "I'm not hitting this exact number!"

Any kind of running form adjustment should NOT be a cookie cutter solution. Yes, a common solution like increasing is good, but the nuance, the specificity comes with increasing it already based on YOUR personal cadence.

So What’s the Bonus Fix?

I like to use this one with my runners who are struggling to fix their cross over gait.

They've tried increasing their cadence, but they something a little more to address that mind-body awareness and connection so I give them:

• A verbal cue like “run on railroad tracks instead of a tightrope”

• A visual cue (i.e running a chalk line down the center of the treadmill belt) to prompt them for a slightly wider step width

Again, I'm all about small, simple changes. NOT a total gait overhaul.

We never want to force your running form.

Because often, that's how new running injuries happen.

We also want to adapt and make small changes that make sense for YOU.

THAT is what Daring to Train Differently is all about.

So grateful for each and everyone of you running fit fam. And until next time...

Dare to Train Differently,

Marie Whitt, PT, DPT // @dr.whitt.fit