The Myth of Stopping Running Injuries

A lot of running/triathlete coaches will say “You can get injured if you don’t know what you’re doing and that’s why education is important”.

My argument and the truth of the matter is even if you do know what you are doing, you can still get injured. Take for example London champion Christine Ohuruogu, who won gold in the 400m at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Christine recently suffered a quad injury and will be resting instead of competing in the upcoming European Championships. My guess is the likely cause of this injury was through over training and what appeared to be a little quad tweak, turned into something more substantial because of the lack of recovery time for the body.

Christine is not alone, as a number of elite athletes at the top of their game have also fallen victim to injury. Kelly Holmes another British athlete who won two Olympic gold medals (800m & 1500m at the 2004 Athens games) had a number of injuries throughout her career including ruptured achilles, stress fracture and calf injury.

Paula Radcliffe, current world record holder for the women’s marathon was also plagued by injuries in her running career, including suffering a hernia and neuroma culminating in a fractured toe and stress fracture of her thigh bone. Men also suffer the same fate, although a recent study by exercise physiologist Vicki Harber at the University of Alberta indicates female athletes tend to suffer from more injuries than their male counterparts.

If professionals can’t keep their bodies in healthy, injury-free shape, what chance do us mere mortal amateurs have? The lesson here is that we can’t eliminate injuries. After all, the competitive nature of athletes is to try and push our bodies to the limit. Sometimes these limits sneak up on us. What we can do is reduce the chance of injury by following these five simple steps:

1. Learn to listen to your body. Those little tweaks and pains are indicators that your body is trying to tell you something. Take time off before it gets worse. Remember, the old saying a stitch in time saves nine!
2. Regularly invest in a new pair of running shoes. Use recognised, quality brand names like Asics or Nike. These are well worth the money.
3. Sleep more. I recently read that the average Londoner only gets just over six hours sleep per night. The full eight hours is recommended, especially if you are training as the best form of recovery for the body is rest.
4. Warm down sensibly. After a heavy training session, try to fit in a sauna and spa. This provides a great way to relax the muscles and don’t forget to stretch down too.
5. Swim more often. If you do find yourself with an injury, put your feet up and relax. When you are ready to start training again, try swimming as this keeps up your muscle strength and places your body into a relative resistant free position with no major pressure points as you glide through the water.

Take care with your training and I hope these steps help reduce your running injuries.