Whether you are training for your first 5km fun run, or looking to up the ante and hit a new PB on your marathon time, there are a few key areas to get right in your running to avoid unwanted injuries.
Many different factors can influence running performance and injury rates, but we’ve identified 4 key areas that if you get right, will help you go a long way to staying healthy and get across the finish line feeling great.
1.Manage your training load
This refers to the volume, frequency and intensity of the running you are doing. We know runners are more likely to experience an injury where they have had a sudden spike, or increase, in their running loads. An example of a spike in loading would be where you have been running occasional short runs, and suddenly decide to add in consecutive long runs in order to get ready for an upcoming event.
Loads can be measured a number of ways, the simplest being to track your kms or duration of runs. While you want to challenge the body in training, after all that’s how we improve, the aim is to increase loads on the body gradually so it can adapt and cope with the stress, and avoid breakdown and injury. Load management is often about planning well smart, ensuring gradual increases in volume and intensity, allowing adequate recovery time and also being patient in working towards your goal.
Tendons can commonly be sensitive to getting sore through training spikes, eg achilles, patella or gluteal tendons, but other joints, muscles and tissues can also be affected such as ankle, knee and back joints and the iliotibial band on the outside of the knee.
A nice rule of thumb when starting out, is aiming to increase your training workload by approximately 10% per week, for example if you ran 15 kms over 3 runs in week 1, then increasing to 16-17km in week 2 would be a reasonable increase, as long as the initial training week was well tolerated.
2.Attend to past injuries
Q. Do you know what the biggest single risk factor for an injury in sport is?
A. Having had a previous injury.
Past injuries increase your risk of further injury, for a range of reasons but often through secondary deficits in strength, flexibility or balance control, even after the pain of the initial injury has gone. When you then return to running, you may have altered movement patterns or muscle imbalances and be more prone to experience stress (and later injury) through tissues of the body.
So the best advice is to attend to previous injuries, have them assessed and work out a plan to address limitations that remain. This could include resuming (or starting) stretches to key muscles and regaining full strength and balance. Some of the common areas for runners to focus on include having full ankle flexibility into “dorsi-flexion” (ankle upward bend), and having full calf and gluteal strength.
3. Check your running form > start with cadence
The way you run is unique and develops from when you start to walk and move around from a young age. Changing your habitual running pattern is not easily done, but gradual improvement can come through focusing on a few simple areas without having to make wholesale changes to technique. A great starting point is aiming to run with a higher “cadence”, or “quicker turnover”. That is, the number of steps you take per minute. This can reduce the impact on joints and muscles, and also help you to become quicker over time.
You can check your cadence by counting the steps you take in 60 seconds of running. Aiming for 170-180 steps per minute is considered optimal. This may seem very high when compared to your usual step rate, so the process of practicing to gradually increase your cadence will take time, and remember even making small improvements in your cadence can make a real difference.
Other technical aspects of form that may also be identified in a running assessment include focusing on hip and pelvis position, the style of your arm swing, and changes in foot placement.
4. Have foundation strength and flexibility
Strong muscles, used in the right pattern, will be less prone to injury and can naturally cope with more stress. Key muscles to work on as part of your run conditioning regime include having strong calf (lower leg) and gluteal (buttock) muscles. These can be addressed by performing exercises such as calf raises, gluteal bridges and single leg squats. Your physio can provide a much more specific and targeted program for your individual needs..
The other aspect involves having good range of motion, or flexibility in key areas such as the ankle/calf, hip and rib cage/mid back. Once again simple stretches such as calf and hip flexor stretches can help greatly with this.
Get these basics right to give yourself a great chance of staying injury free. As always if you have any specific questions, or would like to know more about how we may be able to help you, we’d be pleased to answer any questions via the email or contact phone number liste on our website.
Now, get out there and run!