Preventing Injuries and Improving your Running

Friday, April 21, 2017 · Mike Davis

Good afternoon and happy Friday!

Most, if not all of us, do not think about how our body is meant to function—and it is not until an injury occurs that we may even consider it. It is a whole lot easier to go exercise and trust that everything will work as designed.

However, if we continue to challenge ourselves by increasing mileage or speed, the numbers of those that experience an injury is 3 in every 4 runners. Non-runners would jump on those odds and tell us that running is not good for our bodies. Nothing could be further from that thinking. Running or any exercise, if done correctly, is exactly what our bodies need. The problem is that we (me included) are our own worst enemies when it comes to our running.

Running seems fairly simple and even elementary. We have been running since the dawn of time—and while humans back then did it out of need and safety, we now do it for exercise. Our bodies were designed to run. From the time we took our first steps, we did it without thinking. Those early years of running did not include IT Band syndrome, hamstring pulls, shin splints, plantar fasciitis, and other typical injuries we hear in the running world.

So I guess simple thinking would be that the aging process is the logical factor in the fact we get injured or slow down. Blaming aging for our injuries takes the responsibility away from where it rightfully sits. While we age, we start abusing our bodies through our everyday activities, such as sitting, standing and other day to day activities.

In most cases, our bodies start out anatomically correct and it is not until we progress that our muscles become imbalanced and affect our posture, range of motion, and other functional movements. While these changes might not be noticeable or realized, they can impact our lives. Aging will eventually uncover this abuse of our functionality, which is why many of our older population become limited in their activities.

“Overuse” is a common term for injuries brought on by running or exercise in general. However, the incorrect understanding of it is that we are overusing parts of our anatomy, thus leading to an injury. Again, that gives fuel to non-runners, as they believe it is not healthy to run 20 plus miles a week. “Overuse” is actually when we do any repetitive activity while having incorrect form. Incorrect form is the problem not the activity.

As we age, we move away from how our bodies are designed to function. When we sit all day, our quadricep muscles eventually shorten and when muscles become tight on one side they impact the backside muscles—and in this case, the glutes will shut down. Now, we go out and run with a body that is not functioning as it was designed. Doing that repeatedly affects running efficiency and creates “overuse injuries.”

Can we reverse the effects of how we have been treating our bodies? Stay tuned for my next Coffee & Chat and part 2!

God Bless and have a great Friday