Runners: Stay Healthy, Avoid Injury
Being healthy is not a goal; it is a way of living. Health is crucial for any person and to maintain the health, most of us look towards different kinds of physical exercises. Some of us go to the gym every day, and some perform yoga, but the most common exercise that most people opt for is running.
Running is an excellent exercise to maintain your health as it gives you more cardio. Running might seem very simple, and it may look that it has no harm, but it is not that way. If you are a runner and you are running on a regular basis you need to be careful about it and you need to take some precautions as well.
It is not like that running is dangerous and it can destroy your knees because there is no such proof of that running regularly can make your knees weak. But it is still important that a runner must be careful because there are several injuries that can happen in result from running. So a runner must be aware of the injuries that can occur while running.
In this article, we will mention five most common running injuries that a runner needs to know about. Here below are the five most common running injuries:
1# Runner’s Knee:
Runner’s knee is a name given to a knee injury that causes pain behind and around the kneecap. This injury is caused by a lot of knee bending, which can be caused by running, jumping or riding a bike. Runner’s knee can also be caused when you train a little harder in the gym, or you put extra stress on it.
The scientific name for this syndrome is PFPS (Patellofemoral pain syndrome), and it can occur to anyone. The symptoms of this injury include pain around or behind the knee, swelling of knee and trouble while walking uphill. Sometimes it is worse and can be felt at rest or even with a regular movement. Runner’s knee can be prevented by resting your knees properly, running on soft surfaces or you can also use a knee brace.
2# Achilles Tendinitis
Achilles Tendinitis is a name given to an injury that occurs due to the inflammation of Achilles’ tendons. This injury starts a pain in the back of your band of tissues that joins the calf muscle and the heel bone. As your lower leg is far away from your heart and the blood flow there is not as good as it is to the nearby organs. Injuries like this heal very slow.
The symptoms of this injury involve the pain on your Achilles Tendons, which are located behind your lower leg as mentioned above. And you may also feel tenderness as well as stiffness. To avoid this injury, do proper stretching before you start your running or any other exercise. Also, it is very important that you wear the right shoes.
3# Plantar Fasciitis:
Plantar Fasciitis is a name given to an injury which can be caused by running at the bottom of your foot. It is one of the most annoying and common injuries that happens to the runner and it really bothers while running. Plantar Fasciitis cause severe pain in the base of your heel. The pain of Plantar Fasciitis might go away after some time, but just when you talk another run, it comes back to you.
This injury is caused by mostly due to the weakness of your foot muscles. Apart from that, it can also be caused by overtraining, and it can also be a result of wearing improper footwear. The injury can be dealt and avoided by wearing the right footwear. Also, you can try stretching your foot to prevent it.
Use icing on the affected area to deal with the pain or roll your feet around a golf ball to get rid of it.
4# IT band syndrome:
Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS) is an injury that causes you severe pain, and it is also very dangerous. The injury refers to extreme pain in your IT band. And IT band is a tendon that connects your hip and knee. The pain in the tendon in this syndrome can be very intense, and some say that it is equal to someone stabbing you in the leg especially when you are running downhill.
If a runner has an IT band syndrome, then it is crucial that he deals with it carefully and correctly or it can become crippling. There are many things can cause IT band Syndrome but it is mostly caused by running downhill. It can also be caused by running on the same side of the road, a lot of stress is added to the knee, and it causes friction between the femur and IT band. This results in IT band swelling, and the runner starts to feel pain.
To fix this injury you can try massaging the hamstring and the quadriceps muscles. You can try icing the injury as well which may result in reducing the pain. Avoid running on downhill roads to prevent IT band syndrome.
5# Shin Splints:
As you can guess it from its name, Shin Splints is referred to the pain caused in the shin area. Shin Splints can also become a stress fracture along Tibia. This injury makes you feel pain in every stride and also causes the muscle in your shin area to swell. It gets better after first few miles, but it is an annoying pain that can suck all the fun out of your running.
Shin Splints are mostly caused by running too much or putting much pressure on the muscles. It is mostly common among the new runners as their lower legs are not much used to that amount of stress and are weaker comparatively. The pressure is put on the shin muscle, and it causes pain in the whole shin area.
If you have got Shin splints, you just need to choose appropriate running shoes, rest your legs, or for the pain, you can try icing as well. Also, you should increase the intensity and volume of your training slowly not quickly, as it may result in this injury.
Author Bio
Emily Carter is an American competitive athlete who is always trying to push herself to the limit. She is also the founder of GoAheadRunner, where her associates blog contain articles to provide everything a runner needs, whether you are a seasoned pro or an absolute beginner.
As a certified holistic life coach, Emily also has 3 years’ experience as a power running instructor and holds a degree in sport science. She loves bringing what she knows and learns to the community and hopes to help everyone to the road to happiness.
Tags: ankles, exercise, feet, fitness, injuries, injury, knees, legs, runner, running
