Running is a fantastic exercise, it is great for strengthening lungs, preventing high blood pressure, boosting immune system, and increasing bone density. Running is also great for mental health, running is a great stress reliever and it can help with depression because running secretes hormones in your brain that naturally lift your mood. Personally I love running, pushing yourself past your limits on sixteen mile runs may be rough while it’s happening, but the feeling you get after you are done is worth it. I was on my high school’s cross country team for three years. I could only do it for three years due to getting devastating knee injury, my doctor told me that I should stop running until I was done growing because my ligaments couldn’t keep up with how fast my bones were growing. But people run marathons much faster than I could ever run and they do it all of the time for training too. This got me wondering what are other effects of long distance running and how can they be avoided in the future. I want to know how people can run extreme distances often and for long periods of time, without suffering severe joint injuries. I thought that the only way to keep yourself ready to run was just to stretch, but there must be other, better methods than just stretching. Running is important to me and I can’t wait to get back into running more often, This essay will not only further my knowledge of the subject, it will also give me tips for staying uninjured while running. I feel that this topic will be one that is full of different sources of information too.
In an ideal runner’s world, every run would be completely pain free, no twinges, winny knees, or aches. The reality is that many runners constantly deal with a slight (or not so slight) disturbance. While these nagging issues such as soreness or aches often aren’t serious enough to require a time-out, they can be very annoying, even more so when you can’t enjoy the full experience of your run.. In fact, John Hesick who is a physical therapist at Northern Arizona University states that “over one quarter of people come into the physical therapy clinic for running related injuries”. That represents how running injuries are one of the most common injuries that are treated at some physical therapy clinics. Running pains can be thought of terms of a spectrum. In the red zone, we have serious, blown out injuries, this can include devastating stress fractures that require large amounts of time off. The other end, where you’re in top form, is the green zone. These types of injuries include things like little aches and pains that arrive one day and can usually be gone by the next. Unfortunately, many runners get stuck in the middle, the yellow zone. This zone is for the people who are not quite injured but not quite healthy in terms of injuries either. “Whether you land in the red, linger in the yellow, or return to the green end of the spectrum depends largely on how you react when that first stab of pain hits,” says Richard J. A sports physician at Rocky Mountain Orthopedic Associates in Grand Junction, Colorado. In his article, along with two other authors Christie Aschwanden and Bryan Heiderscheit, “The Big 7 Body Breakdowns,” Price states that ‘Often it comes down to whether you take a little time off now or a lot of time off later,'(2). You can reduce your risk of entering the red zone by catching the injury as soon as possible and then taking the proper steps to heal and strengthen whatever what injured. ‘Physical therapy is like homework,’ (Price 3). This represents how doing physical therapy is extremely important when you are training for running, stretching and strengthening are essential parts to overcoming your injuries. The three most common running related injuries or issues include: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome, achilles tendonitis, and hamstring issues.
Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), or ‘runner’s knee,’ is the irritation of the cartilage underneath your kneecap. Runners knee makes up approximately 40 percent of running related injuries. According to Price, “13 percent of runners suffered knee pain in the past year, according to 4,500 respondents to a runnersworld.com poll”(2). Some things that can irritate PFPS include: sitting for long periods of time, running down hill, or walking for long periods of time. “Anyone with biomechanical factors that put extra load on the knee is vulnerable to PFPS,” says Bryan Heiderscheit, director of the University of Wisconsin Runners’ Clinic. Risk factors include excessive inward foot rolling, hip problems, or weak quads. In order to prevent a relapse of this injury one should take extra days off and reduce the mileage of their runs as necessary. When I was going through knee pain I found that running uphill puts less pressure on your joints. Uphill running has the benefit of also strengthening your glutes because that can prevent people from having hip problems. Christie Aschwanden states that “Strong gluteal muscles help control hip and thigh movement, preventing the knees from turning inward. Avoid running downhill, which can exacerbate pain. Bicycling can also speed your recovery by strengthening the quads”(2). This is a list of exercises that you can do to help strengthen your muscles to help you recover from your runs easier and get injured less often. Also, landing with your knee slightly bent and shortening the distance of your stride can take up to 30 percent load off the joint. Strengthening your quads and glutes can also help keep your knee straight which will prevent inward rolling.
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The Achilles tendon connects the two major calf muscles to the back of the heel. Under too much stress, the tendon tightens and becomes irritated (tendinitis). “It makes up 11 percent of all running injuries; 8 percent of runnersworld.com poll respondents dealt with it this past year”(Price 3). This shows how this injury isn’t as common as PFPS but plenty of people are still dealing with this problem. Overtraining is the leading cause of this injury, anyone with weak calves are at risk of developing the problem. It’s very important to pace your training because it can become counter productive if you push yourself too much. ‘If you have any pain during or after running, stop. This is not an injury to run through.'(Aschwanden 4). A few days off can be enough rest if the the problem is caught early on. Running as usual can lead to a much worse injury that could take months to heal rather than days.
Hamstrings are one of the most important muscles when it comes to running. Hamstrings are important for many things such as, bending our knees, extending our legs, and driving us up hills. This means that when it come to hamstring injuries, we are quick to notice when something is wrong. “Seven percent of poll respondents say their hamstrings have bugged them this past year”(Aschwanden 5). Hamstring issues usually show up when we have either too long or too short of hamstrings, this can result in weak or flimsy hamstrings. Stretching too much however can be counterintuitive for this problem, overly flexible people are very susceptible to this issue because elongated hamstring muscles are very weak and can tear easily. On the other hand, people who tend to sit for long periods of time or who can barely touch their toes are also at risk of injury. Price states that “Another factor is muscle imbalance, many runners’ quadriceps overpower their hamstrings, which sets them up for injury(3). This represents how if one of your muscles is too strong, then you can be at risk of overpowering your hamstrings. An Exercise you can do to avoid this problem is to lie on your back with your feet on a chair or exercise ball. Raise your hips, then lift one leg into the air. Slowly lower your hips back down to the floor, using the supporting leg. Return the leg to the ball. Repeat with the other leg. Also, compression tights during or after running can aid blood flow.
I concluded this paper knowing much more about running injuries than I started out with. This essay helped me understand the different kinds of injuries and the different ways to prevent relapses, It was a surprise to me that stretching and strengthening would be such an important process when it comes to avoiding injuries, I always thought they were important, but I never thought they could prevent some injuries. I intend to use this information in my daily life as it will help me be able to keep running and stay running for longer. This research process was pretty successful because I was able to find a bunch of articles and sources on people’s experiences with running injuries. These articles also had a plethora of information that was very useful to me when I was writing my paper.
