Running is awesome! You won’t find many greater advocates for the benefits of running than myself. As a physio, I love promoting running for all its health benefits and stand firm in my belief that everyone can run.
Unfortunately, running is associated with a high level of injury, primarily because running is considered a high impact activity. Whilst our bodies are built to run, they need time to adapt to the loading patterns of running – most running injuries occur when we train beyond the current capacity of our muscles, tendons and bones.
I recently presented to some local GP practices on key principles of physiotherapy management of running injuries. Below you’ll find the key points I made to understand how we can reduce the risk of developing a running injury and the principles of how we manage them when they occur.
- The most common cause of running injury is training load errors – “too much too soon”
- It’s not shoes, running technique or what surface you’re on – although these are important considerations. Doing too much too soon is the biggest cause of injury. Your body can adapt to anything…given time.
- Running injuries are common, not because running is “dangerous” but because it’s high impact
- You need to be “fit enough” to run – sometimes we need to start someone on lower impact exercise to build your fitness and strength first before we can start running
- Age is not a barrier but a consideration in how we manage a running program
- Running is NOT associated with any long-terms risks like osteoarthritis
- There are numerous, high quality studies that have shown that running is absolutely safe long-term. In fact, these studies have suggested that running can actually prevent osteoarthritis! So you don’t need to worry about “wearing your knees out”…
- The best ways to avoid an injury is to:
- Be consistent and build your training slowly. If your Strava log looks like a rollercoaster, you’re doing it wrong!
- Vary your training runs as much as you can (speed, terrain/route, distance).
- It might also be helpful to do something else during your week as well, like cycling, Pilates, strength training or another sport to vary the pressures on your bones and joints.
- Get strong!
- Strength training alongside running programs has been shown to significantly reduce the injury risk and also increase your VO2 max – win/win!
- It’s important to remember that not all runners are the same and each runner has different needs
- For example, not all runners need shoes with lots of arch support – some runners needs shoes with lots of cushioning instead. Different runners will adapt to different surfaces better. We all have slightly different running techniques and that’s perfectly OK!
- And finally, I like to follow these four steps in treating any running injury:
1 – Reduce running load (almost never stop unless something there is something sinister like a stress fracture)
2 – Treat the presenting problem (physiotherapy, pain relief, stretching, strength training)
3 – Adjust biomechanics and running habits
4 – Rebuild running load
I look forward to seeing you out on the running track!
Ben Croxford, Principal Physiotherapist at Form & Practice