How to Avoid Four Common Running/Jogging Injuries
If you’ve started to get back out on the pavement, back to running or jogging, or you’ve found yourself playing tag or hide and seek with your kids or grandkids, here are some tips that can help keep you healthy and avoid injuries.
Let’s make sure we’re preparing ourselves for success by going through a quick checklist of exercises to avoid injuries. This can help avoid some common injuries that are often seen.
Four Common Injuries
Plantar Fasciitis/Achilles tendinitis or pain in your ankles
Often seen in runners who have what we call “flat feet” or pronate when they walk or run. Something to be aware of is making sure you have adequate arch support in your sneakers. Ensuring that you have good contact when your feet hit the ground will help to avoid this pesky injury. Also, making sure that you’re running on an even surface, instead of part of the road that’s sloping downward, will help to keep you in the clear as well.
If you are still experiencing pain in the ankle/foot/calf region, you may want to contact a medical professional such as a physical therapist, to help determine if a more in-depth analysis of the mechanics of how your feet hit the ground is needed.
Please contact Dr. Laura
Pain in your knees or the dreaded ITB pain.
The IT Band (ITB) is the lateral band running the length of your femur. Often seen in joggers or runners that have instability or decreased strength at both the hips/pelvis and core. Being able to maintain your pelvis at neutral while in a single-leg stance or a single-leg squat or when performing a bridge is key to making sure you’re prepared to hit the road for your run.
If you are still experiencing pain in the knees or outside part of your leg (ITB), you may want to contact a medical professional such as a physical therapist, before this gets to a point that you have difficulty walking. As one of my professors said in graduate school, the ITB can become like a steel rod. We know we don’t want that when we’re trying to walk or run.
Please contact Dr. Laura
Low back pain
Often seen in runners/joggers who don’t have good pelvic control. Running tends to lead to many people coming into what we call an anterior pelvic tilt, with your pelvis shifting into a forward position. This will cause increased tension and overworking of the muscles of your low back. Your glutes are the main powerhouse in your body and need to be able to propel you forward when you’re running. This is very difficult when your body is in an anterior pelvic tilt. Again, being able to maintain your pelvis in a neutral position when performing a bridge is both a good test as well as allowing you to be able to fire your glutes. The next step in this is being able to perform a single-leg bridge with the pelvis in neutral without feeling any tension in your low back. Your butt should be doing the majority of the work here.
If you are still experiencing low back pain after going out for your runs, you may want to contact a medical professional such as a physical therapist, to help determine if there are other underlying issues that may be attributed to your low back pain. The sooner you can see if you’d benefit from interventions, the quicker your recovery will be. Most often at times simply resting will not get to the root cause of your pain or discomfort.
Please contact Dr. Laura
Hip flexor pain or tightness
Oftentimes the result of pelvis instability and not being able to push off from your butt muscles, hip flexor pain begins. To give more insight into this, let's see if you can properly hinge through your hip. This will allow you to activate your glutes.
This can also be attributed to poor breathing mechanics while you’re out running. Are you gasping for air? Do you feel like your breathing isn't fluid? Your main hip flexor muscle (Psoas) is attached directly to your diaphragm. Your diaphragm is the major muscle of respiration. If you’re gasping for air, you could be putting increased pressure and strain indirectly onto your hip flexors.
Check out this quick video to review the basics of breathing mechanics and how you can help to work on this daily. It will also help with relaxing in general, improve digestive issues and improve overall health and wellness.
If you are still experiencing hip flexor tightness or pain, you may want to contact a medical professional such as a physical therapist, to help determine if there are other underlying issues that may be attributed to your low back pain. The position of your femur is something that can be causing this underlying hip flexor tightness (and not being able to access your glutes). The sooner you can see if you’d benefit from interventions, the quicker your recovery will be. Most often at times simply resting will not get to the root cause of your pain or discomfort.
Please contact Dr. Laura
Terms and Agreements
Thanks for visiting! My online information, emails and products are a resource guide for educational and informational purposes only. They are for people looking for more information, not a substitute for working with a licensed medical professional. By viewing this website you acknowledge that I cannot guarantee any particular results, nor am I supplying medical advice. You follow any information or recommendations on this website, emails or affiliate sites at your own risk. If you need medical advice, please seek it immediately from a qualified medical professional. Your use of this site and the resources are subject to our terms and conditions.
