Specific Advice and Scientific Takeaways on Minimizing Injury from a Running Specialist Physiotherapist.
There is no doubt about it, runners are at a high risk of injuries, especially when training and competing in half and full marathon distance races.
In a recent survey over a 3-year period, 24% of adults engaging in a half-marathon and 30% engaging in a full marathon reported an injury that happened during the race or in the 2 weeks following the race (Mohseni, Filmalter, Taylor, Vadeboncoeur, & Thomas, 2019).
The primary factors related to these injuries were: 1.) a lower weekly mileage during and before training for the event as well as 2.) having sustained a previous injury in the past.
Here are 3 main categories of why runners get injured:
- Training errors: inadequate load management.
- Individual(Intrinsic) factors: previous injuries, running mechanics, years of running experience, etc.
- Environmental(Extrinsic) factors: shoes, orthotics, surfaces you run on, etc.
The good news is that we have some control over multiple parameters in these 3 categories.
For this February Blog Series, we will explore one of the above categories each week and explain what you can do to help minimize your risk of injury while training.
To read week #1 Training Errors, click here.
Follow @alaiaphysio on Instagram or Facebook to keep up to date when we post the next one in the series.
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Florence Charbonneau-Dufresne BSc, MPT, FCAMPT, CGIMS.
Physiotherapist, Running Specialist and Competitive Runner.