UKC

Had a search and previous threads about a running coach seemed to more focus on increasing distance, or speed via say a running club.

I am more interested in someone who could improve my style, to prevent a few very minor niggles etc.

Does such a thing exist? Are they expensive?

I'm sure such a thing does exist. 

I have also been reading about this due to a few niggles. General conclusion I have come to is to not slouch and not over stride. So lead with the hips and make sure your feet land under you. 

Someone made an interesting suggestion about checking your form by running barefoot on hard surfaces, as you’ll feel it pretty quick if your biomechanics are crap. 

Not tried it or looked into it but it makes intuitive sense to me that if you are pain free without any artificial cushioning then your form is probably decent. Although I can’t say I’m rushing out to give it a go

That would probably be me - I harp on about it a lot.

It's not the be all and end all of technique by any manner of means, but it does ensure you're not hitting the ground harder than you should, landing with a straight knee, landing on your heel, pushing off too hard or rotating your foot whilst in contact with the ground, as any of these will result in bruising/abrasion of the skin, which is much more noticeable than the slow wear and tear in your joints and soft tissues.

So it does quickly tidy up a lot of things that cause inefficiency in distance running and injury niggles IMO.

Reading Born To Run convinced me to give it a go.

Google running reborn, running rewired, pose running, chi running. There’s loads out there. However there is close to zero scientific evidence that changing your form helps with either efficiency or injuries, and may make things worse - certainly in the short term. Nevertheless I’m trying not to slouch too much and increase my cadence a bit. 

Running Reborn is a bit steep for what it is - there’s just a lot of repetition in 1-5 minute videos and lots of big claims. A physio appointment (or two) would have been a lot more useful for me. Never mind the constant mentioning of having cadence of 180, free energy and enabling fascia system. 
 

IMHO it’s a good start to film yourself at slow and fast paces, work on weaknesses (strength training) and do strides regularly.
 

Yoga might not be a bad idea but I just got into habit of doing it and it’s my fake commute before work. 

There’s a book by Shane Benzie that’s quite interesting and he does coaching/ workshops too.

To summarise the book it’s basically 1. Stand up tall  2. Head up and look straight ahead 3. Land mid foot 4. Add a bit of bounce 5. Lean forward 6. cadence around 170-180

Hi,

Mine wasn’t expensive at all. Local physio filmed me running on a treadmill and outside.

Then checked out the results with a simple bit of software that put grid lines on screen to check alignments. Cost the same as a normal physio session. It was to address one specific injury but they were looking for imbalances, problems with technique.

I’m sure most physios based in a Gym would offer this nowadays?

This is definitely something a physio could do, either during an appointment or many clubs have a couple of physios on the strength who might be willing to jog along behind and give you some pointers.

I disagree with the idea of running barefoot. As an example I heel-strike (like 75% of runners in shoes), which is largely impossible barefoot. A session of barefoot running would therefore be in a totally different gait than normal, providing no useful information.

Join a local running club that is affiliated to UKA. They will have trained coaches who will do exactly what you are after. 
 

Our club is £40 a year. Which has many other additional benefits. 

I was given one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/Lumo-Run-Running-Runner-iPhone/dp/B01K22SOYE

It measures the cadence, bounce, hip rotation and a dozen other things. Then it suggests some exercises to fix whatever it finds. In theory its a good idea. In practice, unless you're running on a track and can review and make alterations every few laps, it is only of academic interest, mostly. 

For example when I lift off, I go too high. Energy is wasted propelling me upwards, rather than forwards. Which sounds reasonable. Trying to fix it didnt seem to have much success. I'm still fat and slow.

The company above have gone bust. Which is a shame. I lost the widget out on a run, so I wasn't outraged when they went away. I believe that there are similar products from different vendors. It may be of use to tell a physio, ' I get a bad back as my hips tilt 15 degrees and my cadence is loo low."  It may just be more stats to track and analyze, instead of actually going out and running.

If you want to understand what good form is and why, as well as have simple tests that show where you might have weaknesses plus how to address them, then I'd highly recommend Run Like an Athlete by Jay Dicharry. In the States the same book is called Anatomy for Runners: Unlocking Your Athletic Potential for Health, Speed, and Injury Prevention which I'm mentioning as you can get it as an ebook. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19759908-run-like-an-athlete.

In non-Covid times there were some running shops that offered gate analysis, either outside on the pavement or with a treadmill and video camera. 

https://www.run3d.co.uk/

Probably not the cheapest option but could look at gait analysis?

A try and locate a good sports shoe shop with running machine and expert advice, they will look at your gait and suggest the right shoe. I was impressed when I did it.

Another thing a physio may be interested in is the wear pattern on a fairly well used pair of shoes, so don't throw out your old ones just yet!

You can often see in the shoe if you pronate, supinate or especially if you twist your foot during the time it is on the ground.

It certainly makes intuitive sense and I imagine would be an interesting experiment regardless of the outcome. I might well give it a go, thanks for mentioning it 

Someone like Phil Williams could help you: 

https://greatnorthernphysiotherapy.co.uk/team/phil-williams/

He is an old club mate of mine and I wouldn't recommend if I didn't know he was good.

There are lot of people out there with coaching qualifications who will give bad advice (I'm qualified, but I know the limits of my knowledge and would ever give basic advice and always defer to someone like Phil). There are also lots of physiotherapists that haven't got the first clue about running.

That really depends on what the OP is looking for. 
 

Basic pointers on form from someone watching you running. Head, shoulders, arms, hips, knees and ankles, along with cadence and not over-striding. Together with a program of running specific strength training. Lots of running easy and breathing.

Are all extremely simple improvements, don’t require any specialist knowledge, won’t damage you structurally or change anything radically, and are easy to spot and implement. 
 

If the OP has done all that, then it’s time to get more specialised. But I’d suggest 90% of people would make massive improvements with some very simple pointers. 

Are you near Norwich? You could contact James Dunne. He has the type of service you are requesting. There is probably an online version, but in person is probably a good idea. The right person, who can give you the cues you need to change is a rare thing. A physio at Loughborough Uni was spot on for me (Clare Lickess) although she went on to concentrate on one of the teams so that was sometime ago. 

this sort of thing is definitely available.

these folks operate in my area: https://improvemyrunning.com/about-2/

I'v nothing to gain from promoting them, but I know that they made the difference for my partner: no longer getting injuries on mulit-day & long distance runs...

that looks really useful, and relatively near so i might give it a proper look when the re-open properly.

Massive second for Shane Benzie at Running reborn. I was about to give up running after consultants and physios failed he sorted it!, I have friends and family that have used him to.

Thoroughly recommend running Reborn

Happy running