What Can You Do to Prevent Running Injuries?
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What Can You Do to Prevent Running Injuries?
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What Can You Do to Prevent Running Injuries?

Stick to Your Mileage Goals by Staying One Step Ahead of Pain & Discomfort

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To someone used to running every single day, week after week, month after month, there's nothing more annoying than an injury. We recreational runners, as a group, tend to have a hard time sitting still, resting, recuperating, or doing anything else that’s required once an overuse injury shows up.

What’s worse, when the weather gets nice, the fun runs and races pop up and we're extremely likely to disregard the doctor's orders and do something foolish. We will run right back into the fray even if we haven’t been disciplined in the weeks and months leading up to an event.

Recent research published in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy found that at least a third of recreational runners sustain an injury over the course of a year. The most commonly affected areas are the knees, Achilles tendons, and calves.

“Athletes, especially runners, often have a ‘no pain, no gain’ mentality when it comes to training and competing, says Julie Yunaska, health coach, fitness trainer, and owner of Epoch Health and Fitness. “The eye is on the prize (finishing the run or race) rather than the experience, and injuries can sometimes occur as a result.” Yunaska challenges her runner clients to detect and react to the sensation of discomfort, and rather than push through it or give up she asks them to think about what might be causing the pain and what could be done differently to lessen the discomfort: Slow down? Speed up? Change stride length? Change terrain?

Her clients then make a change and reassess.

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“This requires a certain degree of mindfulness and body awareness with training but can play a significant role in preventing chronic injury and muscular compensation that can potentially sideline athletes,” says Yunaska.


Be Mindful of Your Body


For runners who are willing to “slow down” enough to put injury-prevention front-and-center, the good news is, we’re a predictable bunch. Most of our injuries are overuse injuries. And overuse injuries come with a few telltale signs, according to Yunaska. They are as follows:

  • Pain (of course)
  • Tenderness to touch at the site of concern
  • Decreased mobility of a joint
  • Numbness or tingling in a certain area of the body

Many injuries come on gradually, we just don’t pay attention to them when they’re “quiet.”

Tuning in sooner can help us prevent serious trouble.

“Becoming more mindful of any discomfort either during or following a workout is essential in creating sustainable programs for runners,” says Yunaska.

She suggests using a 0-10 scale.

If you feel a symptom increases more than two pain points from the start of a run, make some change in the workout right then and there. Don’t just tolerate the pain and keep going. “This may include a change in speed, form, or terrain,” says Yunaska.

If these changes fail to lessen the symptom, it may be time for the dreaded “R” word: rest. But a little preventive rest is much better than the alternative. “Many athletes that ‘run through’ high levels of pain create compensatory movement that further sets them up for a more serious injury over time,” says Yunaska.


Don’t Live and Die By Mileage


So many runners think in mileage first and foremost, but the tides are turning as wearable fitness trackers provide us with mind-blowingly easy access to more advanced key performance indicators, especially the cardiovascular changes that come with training.

Max heart rate and target heart rate, specifically, are easy to track and can give the athlete and coach good information on the heart’s response to a training experience, says Yunaska. “This helps set parameters for safe, efficient programs.”

But the shiny new stat on the block is heart rate variability (HRV).

“HRV is a measurement of the time gap between each heartbeat and is considered a biomarker of stress in the body,” says Yunaska. “Stress can be due to a number of factors including poor sleep habits, poor diet, and increased emotional stress, all of which can be overlooked when participating in a running program.”

Your goal is to improve your HRV: The higher the HRV, the more adaptable the heart is to change, and the more “fit” the heart is for fitness. “The lower the HRV, the less adaptable the heart is to change, which can affect tolerance to a progressive running program,” says Yunaska. “Considering a runners HRV in designing a running program incorporates a more holistic approach to training, which best serves the athlete’s overall wellness picture.”


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Give Your Gait a Break


There’s a pervasive myth in the running community that changing your gait will solve all your pesky problems, but research from La Trobe University suggests there is no evidence that changing your strike pattern will help prevent injuries.

The most commonly held belief is that running on the balls of your feet instead of your heels will reduce your risk of injury and improve your running performance, says La Trobe injury researcher and physiotherapist, Dr. Christian Barton.

“Firstly, we wanted to know if evidence supported changing strike pattern from the heel to the ball of the foot reduced injury risk or helped to treat injuries,” he says. They found no evidence to support either. “This did not surprise me in relation to reducing injury risk as changing strike pattern doesn’t make running loads disappear.”

Running on the balls of your feet reduces load at the knee, but increases it at the foot and ankle, Barton says. “So if not careful, you may cause a new injury by changing your strike pattern.”

The second question Barton and his team sought to answer was whether changing strike pattern from the heel to the ball of the foot improved running performance. “Contrary to commonly held assumptions, this change in strike pattern actually reduced running economy in the short term,” he says. “When you change anything to do with the way someone runs, it is often harder and less economical for them,” he says. However, there is currently no quality long-term research to determine whether running economy improves over the long run after this change.

The most important thing, says Barton is “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Based on current evidence, changing strike pattern does not appear to help performance, and may actually lead to injury. The only time you might still consider carefully changing your strike pattern is to help with specific injuries, especially those involving the knee or front of the shin, he says.


Think Beyond the Run


Running requires muscles to keep the body balanced and erect yet many of us spend a lot of time sitting. “We’ve all heard that sitting is the new smoking,” says Yunaska. “Sitting results in hip, core, and trunk weakness, especially in the glutes, abdominals, and lat muscles.”

Strengthening and flexibility in these areas, then, is important to a runner’s performance.

Yunaska is also a big proponent of implementing proprioceptive exercises into running programs. “This includes training on a physioball or Bosu ball to help activate the neuromuscular system that is so important in helping us stay upright with dynamic activity,” she says.

Natural aging brings on changes in our neuromuscular system that decrease the sensitivity of our joint proprioceptors. Adding exercises to your running program that challenge balance can help keep this system working well and keep athletes running longer, says Yunaska.

“My bias is that the most important thing to support longevity in running is consistency and not doing too much too soon,” says Barton. “Consistently running, but not getting too competitive, appears as though it could be protective against conditions like osteoarthritis.”

Which means, if done right, running itself can be a means of injury-prevention.


Best Recovery and Injury-Prevention Tools for Runners


KT Tape, Original Cotton

KT Tape, Original Cotton

There are literally decades of data supporting the use of runner's tape to help support muscles, joints, tendons and ligaments during long runs, and many a runner swears by the importance of being adequately taped up. The idea is that, by adding some artificial pressure to a sore spot, you can shore up a weakness in the tissue or joint and alleviate some of the pressure that comes from the impact of your stride. KT Tape is one of the most trusted and most commonly used, and for good reason: it's durable, latex- and rubber-free, and hypoallergenic, so you should have no trouble using it for even your longest runs.

$7.48 at Amazon.com

New Balance Fresh Foam V1

New Balance Fresh Foam V1 Running Shoes

Barefoot running – not to mention shoes that simulate barefoot running – is all the rage right now, but for most runners, and especially runners dealing with injuries, a cushioned shoe is a huge help. At a qualified running store, the staff will be able to point you to the high-cushion and low-cushion models, but for our money, we're big fans of the New Balance Fresh Foam V1. It's very affordable, stylish, lightweight and, most importantly, comfortable, with a foam midsole that soaks up most of the impact from your stride.

From $59.99 at Amazon.com

Theragun Mini, 4th Generation

Theragun Mini, 4th Generation massage gun

Massage guns went from unheard of to ubiquitous in a few short years, and for good reason: they really work. They help massage sore muscles, promoting blood flow and breaking up painful knots and speeding up recovery – which is exactly what you need if your running schedule demands multiple long runs a week. For runners, in particular, we favor a smaller, more portable massage gun, and the Theragun Mini fits the bill perfectly, offering most of the power and performance benefits of the larger massage guns in a much smaller, much more portable form factor. Throw it in your backpack, keep it in your car or gym locker – just make sure you use it regularly.

$199 at Amazon.com


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