Running is a high impact exercise that helps you with your physical and mental health. It aids in warding off many chronic ailments like diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and some types of cancers. For doing this simple exercise, you don’t require any kind of equipment; you only need to have a pair of running shoes and workout clothes.. Besides all those positive things associated with running, there is also a risk of injury ascribed with this exercise. After running for around a month or so, there is a great chance that a twinge will settle on your knee.
However, overuse injuries and muscle strains are not an inevitability for avid runners. During your training program, you won’t suffer from running-related injury if you follow the tools and methods that all the successful runners utilize. Many studies revealed that to lower injury risk, you need not a magic bullet but a gun with a six-bullet chamber including less training, building speed reasonably, running on soft surfaces, adding strength to your body, not pushing yourself when your body is aching, and eating healthy nutrients. Read on to learn in detail about these six bullets required for injury-free running.
Fewer Days of Training Per Week:
People who run not more than three days a week have a comparatively low rate of injury. Other than Olympic candidates and world record aspirants, all runners should run on alternate days. Giving your body 48 hours for recovery between runs is like magic in repairing the damage. Inserting a short and slow jog on recovery day (junk miles) means you are not allowing your body to complete recovery.
Build Mileage & Speed Reasonably:
When you start running, you might want to hop straight into training for a half-marathon but that won’t work for safe running. Start with 2 to 3 miles every other day then gradually increase it to the distance you want to run. There is nothing wrong in setting a big goal but trying to reach that goal sooner than your body allows will land you in trouble. You will face injuries and it will damage your running routine. Give your body appropriate time to train because trying to go from couch to 13.1 miles over 6 weeks is a tall order for anybody, and it’s likely to lead to some sort of injury.
Stick to soft surfaces:
Although pounding on the pavement is not wrong but if your body doesn’t have the strength and is not used to running on a surface, doing so can be harsh on your body. Running on soft surfaces like grace, on the other hand, will not only ensure injury-free running but it puts less pressure on the foot compared to running on concrete. When there is less pressure on your feet, you will be able to run more than you used to run on a hard surface.
Add strength:
In the battle against injury, a strong body would be the best armor for you. Strong muscles, healthy bones, ligaments, and tendons will guard against impact, improve form, and lead to a consistent gait. With strong muscles all your lower body will be in rhythm while running but with weak muscles, one footfall will not be like the rest, your knees won’t turn in the same way, your hip drops, and your foot pronates changes with each step. When running with a strong body, the glutes, the core, the foot , and the ankle, all work together to provide a solid foundation to land upon.
Don’t stretch if you have an ache, pain, or injury:
When you feel an ache in any muscle or tendon, stretching will make the situation even worse because forcing a tight or injured muscle or tendon to move will increase the damage dramatically. Even a single stretch is enough to produce tears in the fibers, resulting in a longer recovery. In place of stretching massage your stiff muscles because massage is a great way to deal with the natural tightening produced by running.
Eat enough calories:
Diet culture won’t make it easy for you to have a healthy relationship with running. For a strong relation, you need to have a healthy relationship with food. Food will fuel our bodies for our activity level.
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