Running can sometimes take a toll on your body, but there are ways you can prevent common injuries.
Running is easily one of the most popular forms of fitness, whether it’s marathon, trail, or short-distance running. After all, as far as exercise goes, it doesn’t get a lot more accessible than simply putting on your shoes (they should be running shoes!) and hitting the road.
But, even with all the health and fitness benefits running can provide, it still comes with its drawbacks from time to time. It is a high-impact workout that could take a toll on your body, especially your legs, without the proper precautions.
With this, here are five of the most common running injuries, what causes them, and how you can prevent them.
Runner’s knee
Runner’s knee, which is also known as patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), is one of the most well-known running injuries and is characterized by pain in the knee, usually around the kneecap area. This could be caused by a blow to the knee area, malalignment in your bones, or weak thigh muscles, but among runners, one of the most popular causes is overuse.
When you perform workouts that require you to bend your knees over and over again, like running, this can eventually irritate the tissues around your kneecap.
Excessive training is common among runners, but there are a number of things you can do to prevent this injury: making sure to warm up and cool down after every training session, gradually increasing your running distances instead of making big jumps, wearing the right type of shoes, and of course, making sure you’re getting enough rest and recovery days in between runs to allow your legs to recover.
Shin splints
Shin splints are one of the most common running injuries.
Also known as medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), this injury is characterized by pain you might feel in your shin area, and one of the most common causes is a sudden increase or change in physical activity that can overwork your legs. In addition, it could also be caused by running on uneven surfaces, such as off-road trails, and runners who have flat feet or high arches may also be more prone to this injury.
Shin splints are common among beginner runners who may be taking on more kilometers than they are ready for, or long-distance runners who make sudden jumps in their mileage per run.
With this, it is important to remember that runners should go on their journeys gradually, which means increasing both mileage and speed at manageable rates. More is not always better! In addition, it is also important to cross-train with other forms of low-impact exercises such as swimming or biking to strengthen your body without consistently performing high-impact movements.
Hamstring strains
Some runners don’t often give their hamstrings enough credit after a good run. For the most part, the quadriceps and the calves tend to get the most attention. But in reality, the hamstrings can gain a lot of stress from running, especially as these muscles (the back of the upper leg) are responsible for helping your leg bend when you run.
With this, another common injury is a hamstring strain, which is characterized by pain behind the thigh. This is usually caused by tears in the muscle that can build up over time with overuse.
What can you do to prevent this? Similar to other common running injuries, warming up and cooling down before and after runs, and making sure you get enough rest days are crucial. However, on top of this, it is also important to note that hamstring strains can also be brought on if your glutes and hamstring muscles are not strong enough.
One of the best ways to prevent a hamstring strain is to strengthen this part of the body by incorporating strength exercises (like lifting weights) into your routine.
IT band syndrome
Before we talk about IT band syndrome, let’s talk about what the IT band is in the first place.
The iliotibial band (IT band) is a tendon muscle that runs on the outside of the leg from the top of the pelvic bone down to the knee, which connects it to your glute muscles and the muscles around your knees. This tendon can swell up from excessive rubbing of the muscle to your hip bones or knees, which causes IT band syndrome.
This can be triggered in a number of ways — arthritis, overrotation of the ankle when running, not enough time to recover, or tightness or weakness of the hips or glute muscles — and is often characterized by pain in the knee.
This accounts for around 12% of running injuries, and though its causes may vary, there are still ways you can prevent this. One way is to make sure that you get enough time to recover in between runs to prevent overuse. And to go a step further, you can also make use of recovery methods that loosen up the muscles in your legs to prevent tightness in the surrounding areas, especially as these can get very tight with overuse. Finally, another underrated way to prevent this injury, along with several others, is to make sure you’re using the right running shoe fit for your running form and your foot anatomy.
Ankle sprains
While the previous running injuries mentioned are mostly caused by overuse and can develop over a period of time, let’s talk about one of the most common conditions that can be caused suddenly: an ankle sprain.
Ankle sprains happen when you roll or twist your ankle unexpectedly, which can overstretch or even tear the ligaments around your bone. Runners are prone to this, especially those who run on off-road terrains.
Often, these injuries are not easily preventable as they can be caused by unavoidable accidents. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t decrease your odds of suffering from a major ankle injury. One thing that can be recommended is to perform strengthening exercises for your legs, particularly your ankles. This could be as simple as performing calf raises (performing tiptoes).
By strengthening the muscles around your ankles, you could prevent injury to the area.
Banner image Ketut Subiyanto on Pexels.