Running is an excellent way to maintain your health and fitness, but, like any physical activity, it carries the risk of injuries. By gaining a comprehensive understanding of running injuries, including the anatomy of running injuries, we can significantly lower the risk of injury.
In this article, we dive into common running injuries, preventions, and treatments.
Common Running Injuries
First, let’s explore some of the most common running injuries.
- Runner’s Knee: This is a frequently seen running injury, causing pain around the kneecap. It’s often a result of overuse or improper running biomechanics.
- Achilles Tendinitis: This is an inflammation of the Achilles tendon, which connects the calf muscles to the heel bone. It’s often caused by overuse or incorrect footwear.
- IT Band Syndrome: This condition affects the IT band, a thick band of tissue running along the outside of the thigh.
- Shin Splints: This injury causes pain along the shinbone, often due to overuse or running on hard surfaces.
- Plantar Fasciitis: This common running injury affects the plantar fascia, a thick band of tissue connecting the heel bone to the toes.
If you experience persistent or severe foot pain from any running injury, it’s crucial to consult a healthcare professional like those at The Jackson Clinics. Our team can provide personalized treatment plans to help you recover and return to running without pain.
Preventing Running Injuries
Prevention is crucial in maintaining a healthy running routine. For many of us, running injuries are something that we feel can happen inadvertently and can’t be prevented or anticipated.
But by incorporating the following strategies, you can help reduce the risk of running injuries.
- Effective warm-up and cool-down techniques: Preparing your body with a dynamic warm-up routine and cooling down with static stretches can prevent muscle tightness and soreness, reducing the risk of running injuries.
- Gradual increase in mileage and intensity: Gradually increasing your running mileage and intensity can prevent overuse injuries, such as runner’s knee, and help you avoid foot pain.
- Cross-training is key: Including cross-training activities like swimming, cycling, or strength training can improve overall fitness and reduce the risk of overuse injuries.
Understanding Foot Anatomy
Also understanding the anatomy and biomechanics of our feet can greatly help us lower our risk of injury – even prevent them altogether.
Firstly, if you have foot pain, then your foot is “out of control!” This means that your body does not have true motor control of your foot, which in turn wear down our tissues and start to cause pain. The foot can also be painless but contributing to knee, hip, and/or back pain.
We’ve heard runners say, “my problem is that I pronate.” Let’s be clear, pronation of the foot is not a bad thing. It is normal and necessary for shock absorption.
Too much pronation is what usually leads to foot pain. This happens because the tissues on the bottom of the foot become stretched and painful. This is technically called Plantar Fasciitis (PF), although there are varying degrees of severity of PF.
Too much uncontrolled motion can also cause calluses, bunions, neuromas and a host of other issues.
Treating Running Injuries
There are several key strategies for treating running injuries, including RICE, physical therapy exercises, and the use of orthotics or supportive footwear.
- RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation): RICE helps prevent running injuries by promoting recovery and reducing inflammation. Rest allows the body to heal, ice reduces swelling and numbs pain, compression stabilizes muscles and joints, and elevation reduces swelling by aiding fluid drainage.
- Rehabilitative Exercises: These exercises strengthen weak muscles, improve flexibility, and correct imbalances contributing to the injury. A physical therapist will create a personalized exercise program tailored to the individual’s specific needs.
- Use of orthotics or supportive footwear: Your foot needs more control, meaning you need to provide it with more stability to endure the stresses of running. Our doctors offer specialized running exams and can make custom orthotics based on your unique foot shape.
The solution for you will vary depending on the cause of your individual pain.
Many of our therapists have completed their Foot/Ankle fellowships through The Jackson Clinics and can help you identify the exact cause of your pain.
Let us be part of your solution. Click the link below to schedule an appointment with one of our world class Doctors of Physical Therapy.
Did you know you have Direct Access* to Physical Therapy? No referral, no problem!
Curious as to what a Running Exam looks like at TJC? Check out this video on our Social Media pages!