Lots of runners get injured, that’s a fact. It’s also our experience here at Weymouth Physiotherapy. We have a steady flow of runners coming through our door with issues ranging from achilles tendinopathy, to runners knee, gluteal tendinopathy and heaps of others.
What always fascinates me with runners is it does not matter how experienced a runner is they are still susceptible to pain or injury. We see just as many serious and really experienced runners as we do those just taking up running and striving for their first 5k.
One of the most common questions runners often have is what is the cause of their pain. In this blog I hope this question on a general level (rather than per specific injury) to hopefully get you thinking. If you are struggling with a running injury and are unsure what is going on then the best course of action is to book in for an appointment.
Causes of running injuries.
So what are the most common causes of running injuries? Overpronation ? Wrong footwear choice? Heel striking? Overstriding ? Obesity ? Weak glutes or “Glute Amnesia” ?
Whilst all these may contribute to running injuries by far the most common cause of running injury is training error. Some studies suggest this is as high as 80% of all running injruies.
So what do we mean by the term training error? Ultimately this means that you have done more than your body is capable of doing at that point in time. The load has exceeded the capacity.
It may be that you’ve upped your mileage too quickly, it may be that you’ve increased the frequency and not included enough rest days, it may you have not trained hard enough for an event and you are now trying to cram it in. Some might be returning to distances or speed they have run previously after a break from running.
It may be you are doing a funky challenge and all of sudden you start doing more (RIOT runners I’m looking at you). It might just be you’ve started to add more hills or increased your higher intensity sessions.
As you can see there are lots of things that you can do which puts your body at risk of injury particularly if you do these things too much and too quickly without sufficient time for your body to adapt.
Often, but not always when we explore the history of someones injury one of these things come out. If it doesn’t we always check strava to see if someone is telling porky pies ha. No but seriously training error is the number one cause of running injuries that we see in clinic and as your running career continues it is something to be mindful of.
Some tips to avoid training error
- Build your distance (maximum and weekly) up slowly. A general rule is no more than 10% but this is not right for everyone (Perhaps a blog for the future)
- Introduce anything new slowly – different sessions, footwear, hills etc.
- Plan your training or download a training plan
- Incorporate deload or rest weeks in your training plans. These allow you to recover but also allow for some flexibility in your training plans should you need to miss sessions.
- Be flexible. If you are struggling don’t worry about cutting some runs down or missing them all together. Being a slave to the numbers won’t help you in the future.
- Don’t feel like every run needs to be challenging to get positive adaptations. Lots of elite runners will use slower runs for the bulk of their training
- Quit strava or get comfortable posting easier or slower runs.
Anyway that is all for now, hopefully some food for thought. It might not be so helpful if you are already injured although some of the principles may be useful in your recovery. If you are injured and don’t know what it is or what to do about it then get in contact or book in.
Our next blog in this little running series is going to look at the second most common question we get asked: Can I continue to run ?