My 5 tips for injury prevention - or how to reduce your chance of watching the race from the sidelines
Being injured myself has finally prompted me to finally create this long-overdue page on injury prevention. Any runner will know, there is nothing worse than being on the bench and albeit witnessing runner friend’s achievement can be uplifting, it also often serves as a painful reminder that running is something you just can’t do right now - and it sucks! Now, I am not saying that what I suggest below will keep you injury free - I am afraid injury may still happen! - BUT the below should drastically reduce the LIKELIHOOD of you getting injured.
So there you go - my top 5 tips to prevent a running injury:
Get the right running shoes
Every body is different, in the sense that we usually have some weaker and stronger areas in our body, and that will differs from one person to the other. It changes with your weight. It changes with your age. It changes if you’ve had an accident. It changes after pregnancy (I gained one shoe size after my second child for example, because my arched feet flattened!). Basically it changes for plenty of reasons. So please don’t rely on shoe reviews online or even rave reviews from your running buddy: you are UNIQUE! Get yourself to a running shoe shop that will do a free gait assessment and will be in the best position to advise the range of running shoes that fit your running style. You don’t need to own 10 pair of running shoes (I myself own only one pair at any given time), but the shoes you run with need to match your running style. You won’t regret that investment, believe me.
Work on your running form
Running form is never something I have much (if any) thought about when I started running regularly in my early twenties. I don’t think anybody had ever mentioned it to me, and I didn’t think there was much more to running than just putting one foot in front of another. That was wrong. It took me about 15 years to discover that I was subjecting my body to harrowing loads when running because I was a heel striker. Heel striking is extremely common amongst runners but it makes you prone to knee and hip injuries. Forefoot striking can also lead to injuries such as ankle or shins. I am myself a bit proponent of midfoot striking - not to say you’re never get injured as a midfoot striker but it’s made a difference to me in that i no longer hit the ground with the same force as I used to as a heel striker. And this has had the benefit for me to help me manage my Moreton Neurome symptoms (in combination with finding the right running shoes for me). Saying that, changing running strike is not necessarily easy. I would recommend you look into the Chi Running technique if you’re considering switching to midfoot striking.
Don’t do too much too soon
Now this piece of advice is equally valid for beginners, for runners returning from injury and just for about anyone with a running goal. We runners can be a bit stubborn when it comes to running. And it’s natural when you love something that much, right? But, by ramping up the mileage too quickly, you’re just increasing your likelihood to get injured. It’s simple, every time you increase your mileage, you basically cause damage to you muscles. That’s not to say running is bad! It’s just the way the body adapts to ever increasing running loads: you run longer- you damage your muscles - the muscles repair themselves, in the process getting stronger - the muscles are now ready to run longer - so on and so forth.
The problem when you run too much too soon, is that you are pushing your muscles way past what I will call the ‘adaptation injury’, i.e. the normal range that will enable the muscle to repair itself after the run. You’re also taking the risk to incur other type of injuries such as shin splint and IT band syndrome. As a rule of thumb, a typical recommendation is to only increase your mileage by about 10% a week, no more than that. So basically don’t book a marathon next month if you’ve never run more than 10k. Training for a marathon takes time, but the long preparation is the only way to prevent it from being your last one.
Don’t ignore niggles
Maybe you’ve recently noticed some new pain around your knee, or in your ankle. It may have been a one-off, but if you start noticing it every time you run, it’s time to take action. The reason being that it is likely to be a symptom of an underlying problem but also it will likely impact your running form, as your body has clever ways to try and circumvent the pain - which will just lead to a bad running form and further injuries in the long run.
Your first port of call should be your physio, who will be able to assess the root cause and offer some exercises to reinforce your weaker areas and ensure your body is balanced so you can have the best running form possible.Get some rest
I know this may be contentious but I wouldn’t advise anyone on running every day. If you want to improve your performance, or your mileage, your body will need time to recover between sessions. This is when the muscle repair I mentioned above occurs. You can imagine what will happen if you try and skip that: your muscles just won’t be ready for that next session, and you’ll just be putting yourself at risk of injury.
Also another reason to ensure you include days off in your running schedule is to prevent overtraining. Some typical symptoms of overtraining are tiredness (despite a good night sleep for example) and lack of motivation amongst others. Scheduling regular recovery will enable your body to perform at its best and reduce the chance of you skipping a run because you cannot be bothered.