09/04/2020
Runners have firm beliefs on what they should be doing to prevent injuries. What if I told you many of these treatments and modalities are not as effective as once thought? 🤔
In this study, 720 runners answered a questionnaire after an organized running event. They were asked their beliefs on injury prevention strategies. Their responses included stretching, appropriate shoes, strength training, balance training, insoles, massage, kinesiotaping, and orthoses. Of these runners, 21.9% were dealing with an injury prior to the event. Clearly their strategies were not working 🙊
So, what DOES reduce injury risk?
💎 Training load management- Are you monitoring frequency, duration, intensity of workouts to ensure you are not progressing too quickly? Are you factoring in other life stressors that may be limiting your body’s capacity to take on physical stress from workouts?
💎 Sleep- Are you getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night? Our bodies need sleep to adequately recover from our training loads. Without enough sleep, we are slower to recover and this heightens our risk of injury.
💎 Nutrition- Are you fueling your body for the activities you are performing? Athletes need to ensure their caloric intake is at least what they are burning during the day to avoid a caloric deficit. This leads to low energy availability and results in compromised physiological processes which can affect recovery, performance, and increase injury risk.
💎 Strength training- Are you lifting weights? Stronger athletes get injured less. The stronger you are, the greater capacity your body has for physical activity.
Not sure where to start or how to piece these areas together? Reach out to a running coach.
Wilke J, Vogel O, Vogt L. Why Are You Running and Does It Hurt? Pain, Motivations and Beliefs about Injury Prevention among Participants of a Large-Scale Public Running Event. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(19):3766. Published 2019 Oct 7. doi:10.3390/ijerph16193766
