Did you know running is considered the most dangerous sport based off of injury statistics? It’s true. Up to 47% of runners get injured every year!
Do you know what the best predictor of future injury is? Past injury.
To stay injury free as a runner it isn’t necessarily easy. It takes work and effort to not only run your best, but to stay injury free. Knowing what to do can make the difference in watching a race from the sidelines or enjoying it afterwards from the podium.
While there are many tips to stay injury free these are 5 of the top easy tips to try immediately.
If you have already been injured let’s try to get your body moving as well as possible to try to minimize any lost time from running. If you haven’t been injured then there is no time like the present to prepare your body and make sure you don’t miss any runs.
So to help avoid injuries and make sure you get your runners high we have put together 5 ways to help you avoid injuries.
1) Don’t increase your running time (load) too fast. The general advice is to not increase your running time or distance more than 10%/week. Staying below this allows your muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscles to slowly adapt and get stronger so you don’t overstress them and give yourself an injury from ramping up your running too fast.
2) Crosstrain. Help your body get in shape while not overstressing tissues in the same movement patterns. For example, you could try biking or swimming which could help you stay active aerobically while not stressing the tissues too much.
3) Allow for proper recovery time. While we are stressing our tissues with all of the running we are doing we need to give them a break as well. This recovery time is when the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones actually get stronger and allow you to train harder, stronger, faster, and longer without pain so skipping this recovery time is a fast pass to an injury.
4) Develop strong hips. The hips don’t lie. When I meet an injured runner I can tell almost immediately if they have strong hips based on their injury and their running history. This is the number one thing we find in common with most running injuries. Most of the muscles we use for running move either straight ahead of us or straight behind us so that’s what everyone focuses on. The problem is the hips only get stronger by moving to the side or preventing rotation of the knees. When runners have weak hips the knees roll in making the kneecap track more laterally and loses a ton of efficiency which can be the start of a plethora of running injuries. Having strong hips allows for the best running form and the best chance to stay running injury free for a long time.
5) Work with a physical therapist to make sure you are moving as well as you could be. Working with a PT can help you to move easier at all your joints and muscles, find weak areas, find areas of your running where you are losing efficiency, and help improve your performance. Just like you don’t clean your room only once and then leave it, many times we will have to come back to our body and “clean up” how we move after some time off from running or during a hard training cycle. Cleaning up how you move can help you to prevent injury, stay running through minor aches and pains, and allow you to enjoy as many days of that amazing runners high as possible.
Hopefully this information has helped.
If you are having to alter your running feel free to try this tips, but whatever you do don’t delay. Let’s get on top of these issues and get you running again the way you want and deserve.
If you want to get active again or even just be able to jog or run short distances without pain or slowly hobbling around afterwards then please consider scheduling a free 20 min phone call to see if we can help. Click the button below to schedule your free call and start getting relief today.
For more information on running injuries Click Here For our webpage for 7 Tips We Give Colorado’s Top Runners to Reduce Running Pain
