Injuries are a constant for runners, we all know the pain of having to stop your training when you are feeling good, clocking up great times and adding miles to your weekly runs and when a dreaded injury comes along.
But the good news is there is a solution. Injuries are often caused by what we are doing and what we are not doing, this is extremely important.
Here is your checklist for injury prevention. Tick them off as read this and see if you can identify how your most recent injury happened.
Movement pattern - correct movement patterns place less stress on your muscles. Movement pattern drills will help improve your running technique and reduce injuries.
Resistance training - strong muscles do not tear easily.
Muscle imbalance, if your glutes are incredibly strong and you neglect your hamstrings how long do you think the weaker muscles will be able to keep up with the stronger ones before an injury occurs? There can be no achilles heel, if you know you have a weak area you make it strong.
Flexibility - when you stretch do you feel a lot of discomfort? Tight muscles do not lengthen and contract efficiently.
Mobility - can you squat down comfortably in a low squat position with your hands raised above your head. A lack of mobility will lead to poor movement patterns.
Warm up- quite surprisingly many people skip this absolutely vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to running. Think of your muscles as a stick of chewing gum, pull it apart cold and it tears , pull it apart warmed up and it stretches. Never skip the warm up.
Cool down- another often skipped piece of the injury puzzle, muscles that have been under intense resistance from training will tighten up so after exercise is a great time to cool them down and lightly stretch them.
Deep tissue massage - releasing tight muscles and especially knots require some deep tissue massage either in the hands of a professional or a simple foam roll and massage ball at home.
Loading - doing too much too soon, if I started a professional athletes training schedule today I would be injured within the month, allowing the body time to adapt to the stresses of training is vital.
So how many of these did you tick off? If you are missing one or more don't be surprised when you get injured, in fact it's in the post so expect it and day now.
If you found this useful and want to know more about the topics outlined here you can book a one to one or one to group running coaching session today
