the HRUNGRY KITCHEN

Ever heard of, or experienced, knee pain or shin pain while running? The pain is so intense that it makes it difficult to run, or even walk on for the next few days? This might be signs of overuse injuries. All injuries make running less fun, regardless of their seriousness. As scary as it sounds, there are ways to lower the risks of injuries, this blog is going to discuss 4 tips for injury prevention, particularly for overuse injuries.

What are overuse injuries?

Injuries can be classified into overuse or acute injuries, the former one is classified by tissue damage due to repetitive stress over a long period of time (Eg. Shin splints, stress fracture, patellar tendinopathy etc.), hence, the pain would be experienced over a period of time, with gradual onset. Whereas, acute injuries occur more suddenly, such as ankle dislocations from an awkward landing, wrist fractures from fall etc. 

Tip 1 – Gradually increase training load

In the context of running, ‘training load’ is composed of the intensity (speed/ efforts), duration (or distance), frequency, footwear, and running surface etc. of the runs. Our performances improve by progressively increasing the load. For example, our endurance increases as we slowly increase the running distance/ time, and our speed increases as we include sprints in our sessions. The key here is to allow our body to have adequate time to react with the adequate increase of stress. A mistake that new runners usually make is that they increase their training load too quickly or drastically, such as going from not running at all to running 5 days a week, or pushing themselves to run 10km while their longest run was 5km. This also happens to runners who haven’t been running for a while (due to injuries, or switches to a different sport), and wanted to get back to their previous training levels straight away. 

Keeping a training diary that documents the training frequency, intensity, and duration of each training session would be helpful to keep track of the progression, a common rule of thumb is to have no more than 10% increase to a training program per week. 

Tip 2 – REST 

As a continuation of tip 1, resting is equally as important as progressing our training. As it allows our bodies to have enough time for tissue repair and recovery. Resting includes having rest days each week, as well as enough sleep to allow full body recovery. 

Tip 3 – NUTRITION!!

As we slowly increase our physical activity levels, our bodies will have a higher energy expenditure. Having an inadequate calorie intake reduces our bodies’ energy availability, we may be more easily fatigued or injured. We also need enough minerals (Eg. calcium, magnesium etc) and vitamins for bone health and optimal body functions. This may be a problem for people with inadequate dietary intake (due to dieting, cultural reasons, or medical conditions). Therefore, it’s best to consult your GP or a dietitian if you are concerned with your nutrient intake. 

Tip 4 – Strength training 

Even though running is an aerobic exercise, it requires more than just some fit hearts and lungs. With the repetitive one-legged movements, we are constantly putting high stress through our joints and bones, hence a proper running technique is crucial to reducing unnecessary load through our joints. Strength training is shown to be effective in improving running techniques and speed. 

A common misconception towards ‘strength training’ is that it makes us bulkier, which makes it harder to run fast due to the ‘extra’ weight. However, ‘bulking up’ is harder than we think  unless we are constantly intaking excessive amounts of protein and doing high resistance training. In fact, strength training can be done with any amount of resistance, even body weights, meaning that basic exercises like heel raises, squats, planks etc. are also forms of resistance training, hence a way to prevent injuries. 

Please be mindful of that, the information given above are only general guides for injury prevention in runners, there cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach for training load and program, as different individuals react differently to stress and loading. If you are in doubt on how to plan your running schedules, or notice signs of overuse injuries, please consult a physiotherapist for a proper assessment and treatment. 

All in all, I hope the information above is helpful for new runners to maintain a long lasting and healthy running life! See you next time. x