During this time of lockdown you may have decided to take up running or increase the distance you are running. We’re keen to keep people active for both the mental and physical benefits especially during this challenging time. However we’re also keen to keep people injury free so they can continue doing what they enjoy. Here’s our top tips to help you stay injury free when running:

10 top tips to for injury free running:

1. Gradually increase your distance. One of the most common causes of running injuries is ‘too much too soon’. It is generally recommended to increase by 10% each week. Start with a walk/jog programme and gradually build this up. The coach to 5k programme is a great resource to use if you’re just starting out.

2. Purchase appropriate trainers for your foot type. Obviously it’s more challenging to get this assessed but if you’d like any advice let us know

3. Keep your core and gluts strong. Weakness in these areas can cause common running injuries. Pilates addresses the core and gluts and can help reduce the risk of injuries and help with recovery. There’s a Pilates for runners class available on our YouTube Channel (link below)

4. Incorporate some strength and conditioning exercises each week such as squats and single leg bridging.

5. Once you’ve established a baseline of running fitness and would like to increase your running performance, mix up your running training. Sprint/interval sessions can be a great way to improve fitness. Often runners will do what’s termed ‘junk mileage’ where we just run for the sake of ticking a running session off, the same distance and the same pace but actually you can get much more out of your training if you add in sprint/interval sessions and will start to see the gains in your fitness

6. Think about your running technique - reducing your stride length and keeping closer to your base of support and centre of gravity can put less strain through the joints and can allow your muscles to work more efficiently

7. Increasing your stride width can give you a more stable base of support which means less work for your muscles

8. Allow time for recovery so spread your running sessions out and also try and get a good nights sleep to help with recovery too

9. Think about your hydration and nutrition to allow for a good recovery

10. Don’t suffer in silence – seek professional advice if you’ve tried simple measures and they have not helped

Injuries can happen though and here’s the most common problems we see with runners:

FOOT AND ANKLE PAIN

Plantar Fasciopathy 

This presents as pain in the arch of your foot. It’s commonly caused by tight calf muscles and inappropriate footwear. Often people experience this at this time of year as they wear flat shoes such as flip flops which then over stretches the structures on the underside of the foot. Simple things to help this are calf and foot stretches, strengthening exercises and massaging the sole of your foot with a golf ball or iced bottle of water. Addressing your footwear is key. Trying to avoid flat shoes and also making sure you’re wearing appropriate trainers for your foot biomechanics.   

Here’s some self help exercises for you

Achilles Tendinopathy

This presents as pain in the tendon leading from the heel bone up to the calf muscle. Again this can be caused by tight calf muscles and inappropriate footwear but one of the main reasons for this being caused is overloading the tendon due to training error. Addressing footwear, stretching and a carefully guided progressive strengthening can all help with this condition.  

Here’s some exercises and advice for you to try:

KNEE PAIN

This can either be due to pain in the joint itself or what’s termed as Anterior Knee Pain

KNEE JOINT PAIN

This can be due to an osteoarthritic flare up or early onset osteoarthritis or could be due to the meniscus, which are the shock-absorbing rings of cartilage within our knee joint

And here’s some exercises to help you with knee joint pain:

ANTERIOR KNEE PAIN

This is pain at the front of the knee and can be due to a number of different structures including the patello-femoral joint and the fat pad

This link provides you with advice and exercises to help manage fat pad impingement syndrome/Hoffa’s syndrome

Here’s a taping technique to help you:

If you think it is due the patello femoral joint follow this link for exercises and advice:

Here’s a taping technique to help you:

Iliotibial Band Syndrome

This presents as a sharp pain on the outside of the knee and can be debilitating to runners. It occurs due to an irritation of the ITB tendon over the bone. It is mainly caused by gluts and core weakness and faulty biomechanics and running technique. Strengthening your core and gluts will significantly help as well as releasing through the structures at the side of your leg with a foam roller, taping and addressing footwear and running gait pattern. 

Here’s some exercises for you to try:

We hope this helps you stay injury free or helps you manage any injuries that you may have picked up.

Stay safe, stay running and stay injury free ⭐️