Most runners will experience pain while running, or have at least one injury throughout their career whether it be a traumatic injury or an overuse injury. While the statistics show injuries are fairly common amongst the running population, there are things you can do to help prevent injuries from occurring. Here are some common injuries, and preventative strategies to keep you running for longer.
Common orthopedic causes of pain
Shin Splints
Shin splints are caused from an overactivation of the posterior tibialis and soleus muscles, pulling on the periosteum in the lower leg. This often results in sharp pain in the front of the shin. Pain usually decreases initially during a run, then will slowly build up and persist far beyond cessation of the run.
IT Band Syndrome
Osteoarthritis
Plantar Fasciitis
Stress Fractures
Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome
Meniscus Injury
Common causes for injuries
Poor Form
Running form has a lot of components, and to ensure that you are running with good form, it is important to have your gait assessed by a professional. Some things to work on include: a step cadence of 175-180 steps per minute, landing on your mid-foot, not letting your knees collapse inwards or touch each other, and keeping hips level.
Overuse
Overuse or overtraining is a great way to cause an injury. Overuse injuries typically occur in tendons as they require a longer recovery than muscles. Tendons have less blood flow compared to muscles and will repair at a slower rate. A good running program will have 3-4 days of running per week, and have other cross training activities to help prevent overuse injuries.
Rapid increase in training levels
Rapid increases in training levels goes along with overuse. If a rapid increase in training occurs, the muscles and tendons don’t have enough time to recover, resulting in weaker tissue. When the tissue weakens, it takes less force or activity to cause injury and pain.
Muscle weakness
Muscle weakness can lead to pain in two different ways: stress on joints, and overuse injuries. If a muscle is weak, it will not be as good at protecting joints and absorbing forces. This can cause abnormal stresses on joints and result in pain. Muscle weakness can lead to overuse injuries when the body relies on non-contractile tissue (tendon and ligaments) to stabilize joints. In the case of IT band syndrome, the hip abductors are weak and rely heavily on the IT band to stabilize the knee.
Structural deficits
Everybody’s bones and joints develop differently, and sometimes structural deformities arise either from genetics, or traumatic injury to the area (fractures). If an abnormal joint is stressed improperly, there will be cartilage breakdown, and often pain. Sometimes, the structural deformity can occur in the strength of collagen in ligaments and tendons.
Strategies to manage and prevent injury
Slowly increase training loads
The goal for this is to allow for your muscles and tendons to adapt to the new training loads. Increase distance and speed too fast, and you will end up with an overuse injury. Initially, stressing volume over speed will help muscles and tendons adapt. Using intervals when training is a good way to increase speed once the weekly distance goal is achieved.
Diet and nutrition
Diet and nutrition play an important role in muscle recovery. While I could write an entire blog about nutrition for runners and injury prevention, a brief overview will have to do. As a runner, your body is expending excess calories to keep up with work demands. Your body uses fats, protein, and carbohydrates as a source of calories. Immediately after a run or workout, it is important to refuel with carbohydrates. This provides your body with easily digestible energy source. Protein is important to repair and build muscles and tendons, and fats will give you a long term energy source. When injured, the ratios of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates changes dramatically to allow your body to recover and repair damaged tissues. If you are deficient in one or more of these macronutrients, you are at a higher risk for injury not only to muscles, tendons, and joints, but also to your organs. High levels of alcohol consumption, tobacco use, and inflammatory foods can place you at a higher risk for injury and slow tissue healing. Diet and nutrition is complicated and depends on exercise demands. Consulting with a dietitian or nutritionist can help to achieve injury prevention and recovery goals.
Stretch after runs
A dynamic cool down including stretching and a slow return to normal heart rate can help to prevent injuries. When muscles are too tight, the opposing muscle will have to work a lot harder which can result in an overuse injury to the opposing muscle. Stretching can help to prevent muscles from becoming too tight.
Cross train
Cross training is any activity that can increase heart rate, or strengthen muscles. Proper running programs should include 2-4 days of cross training per week including multidirectional strengthening. It has been thought that strength training will inhibit a runner’s speed, however new research shows that strength training for endurance can be beneficial for injury prevention.
Warm up before runs
Warming up allows for an increase in core temperature as well as an increase in blood flow which helps to loosen the elastic component of muscles. A good warm up should be 15-20 minutes consisting of 5 minutes of walking, or slow jogging, and dynamic exercises.
Take rest breaks
Resting allows for muscles and tendons to repair themselves and build strength to tolerate higher training loads. Runners should be taking at least 1 day off a week with minimal demands on the body. A recreational runner should be taking 2-3 days off per week. Both recreational and the more serious runners should be interspersing their training programs with cross training workouts to ensure proper strengthening and stretching of the lower extremities.
Injury prevention is complicated and varies greatly depending on the person, and the person’s goals. While this list is a good starting point, it is not an exhaustive list of preventative strategies. It is always best to consult a professional with any questions about injury prevention.
Exercises to help prevent injury
Runners lunge
Hamstring stretch
Quad stretch
Side lying hip abduction
Side stepping with a resistance band
Squats
ITB foam roll
Planks
Multi directional lunges
We may do everything in our power to not get injured, but injuries do happen. Although unfortunate, an injury isn’t the end of the world, and working with a skilled team of medical providers can help you to return to running in a safe and effective way.
Comments