How to Prevent Running Injuries Before They Sideline You

Posted on October 15th, 2022

If you’re a regular runner, chances are you’ve experienced some type of injury in your tenure as an athlete. Research shows that nearly half of all recreational runners get injuries, with many of those occurring in the Achilles tendon or calf. Other research pinpoints the knee, ankle, lower leg, and foot/toes as common spots runners experience aches, pains, and injuries

Is it the way we run? The shoes we wear? Because we sit all day? Or do we keep repeating training mistakes, like big jumps in mileage, running the same route at the same time in the same not-so-good shoes, or skipping out on strength work? The truth: It could be a one or all of these things.

The good news: There are proven strategies for how to prevent running injuries before they sideline you. It’s just that injury and injury prevention is multifaceted, so figuring out what will work for you may take time and some dedication. “A combination of things—for example, an anatomical issue plus a training error and the wrong shoes—can add up to injury,” says Joseph Hamill, Ph.D., a biomechanist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Every runner is a puzzle, with a different anatomy and injury history, says Anthony Luke, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Human Performance Center at the University of California, San Francisco. “Which is why injury prevention is so challenging,” he says.

But now, running science often focuses not on the treatment but the prevention of injury. Scientists are studying uninjured runners to decipher who gets hurt—and who doesn’t—and why.

Most experts agree that to lower injury risk, you need not a magic bullet but a loaded gun. One with a three-bullet chamber: a strong body, good form, and the right shoe. So here, we take a closer look at each, offering exercises, form tweaks, and shoe advice that all runners can use to lessen their chance of injury and enjoy a long, happy, ice-pack-free running experience. Read on and keep on running.

5 Steps to Preventing Running Injuries

1. Add strength training to your weekly schedule

In the battle against injury, a runner’s best armor is a strong body. Strong muscles, ligaments, and tendons guard against impact, improve form, and lead to a consistent gait. “If muscles are weak, one footfall will not be like the rest,” says Reed Ferber, Ph.D., director of the Running Injury Clinic at the University of Calgary. “How your knee turns in, how your hip drops, how your foot pronates changes with each step. But with strength, these movements are the same each time, so your mind and body know what to expect.”

When a strong body runs, the brain tells the muscles to brace for impact before the foot hits the ground. The glutes and core contract to steady the pelvis and leg. The foot and ankle muscles are activated, providing a solid foundation to land upon.

But if one stabilizer isn’t strong enough or isn’t recruited, other muscles get overworked, and the entire chain of movement is disrupted, says Eric Orton, a running coach featured in Born to Run, creator B2R Training System, and author of The Cool Impossible.

Most runners lack strength in at least one muscle group, as well as in their neuromuscular pathways, the lines of communication between brain and body, says Jay Dicharry, M.P.T., author of Anatomy for Runners. Strong pathways help muscles fire more efficiently and in quick succession, which enables you to run with greater control and stability.

How to use this list: These exercises, adapted from Dicharry’s and Orton’s programs, as well as input from Runner’s World coach, Jess Movold, strengthen running’s key muscles and those neuromuscular pathways. You can do them as a full routine or insert them into your day two or three times a week.

If possible, do the moves barefoot. Movold demonstrates each move below so you can master proper form. Do as many reps as listed below or the time prescribed.

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Source: Runnersworld