Common running mistakes that cause injury and how to prevent them
Do you run? Are you sure you are doing your best to prevent injury? This article will explain five of the most common running mistakes that are made and how to avoid them.
A good quality, personalised training program
Are you suffering from or do you want to know the secrets of how to prevent common running injuries? If you aren’t making the right preparations then this can cause an acute or chronic injury which can set you back months if not longer, as well as taking an emotional toll on you and your training, so here are the causes of the most common injuries:
You skip your warmup and cool down. Without a thorough warmup and cool down, you’re risking a serious strain to the same muscle groups.
You only run. You concentrate considerably on increasing the volume of your run and completely forget about the importance of a good strength program to complement your routine.
You don’t seek professional help when injured. Some injuries are minor and they can easily go away on their own, but they have their root cause somewhere.
When injured, you jump back into it too soon. If you jump back into running too soon without an all-clear from your physician, you can either relapse your injury and make it worse, or cause an additional injury.
You ignore agility training in your routine. Chances are that if you run outdoors the terrain on which you run is probably smooth and flat which may not be placing your body in the correct alignment.
It’s hard to know that you can’t do what you really love and look forward to doing every day because of an injury, so here are five tips to prevent the most common injuries:
You want to make sure that you take at least five to ten minutes to thoroughly stretch your feet, calves, thighs, hips, glutes, and lower back in order to maintain flexibility and relax your muscles. One of the best ways to warm up properly before you run is to use the TheraBand, this is a resistance band or tube made of latex that will further ensure that all your muscles are engaged and ready for action.
It is a good idea to have a thorough assessment to start with to pinpoint any imbalances, make sure your run is specifically tailored to the time that you have and your needs. A good quality, personalised training program will ensure the correct biomechanics, further decreasing the odds of injury.
Your body is the main tool you use to run, so you want to make sure that you get the correct diagnosis and you get to the bottom of the problem. Unless you fall or trip during your run when you can actually specifically pinpoint what caused the injury, your back posture, incorrect biomechanics, incorrect footwear, or even incorrect intensity at which you’re training and running can all be to blame. Don’t wait, trust your practitioner, and listen to their advice.
Be patient, choose the practitioner that you trust, and follow their advice through every single step of the way to ensure you recover fully and stop the injury from reoccurring in the future.
Agility training improves your mind-body connection, making sure that you subconsciously place your body in the correct alignment, no matter what surface it meets, making your limbs move faster, keep your movements safer, and improving your overall run times.
By including these tips into your running program you can hinder many future injuries.
If you found this post useful then take a look at our video on Running injuries-5 most common mistakes and how to fix them created by Monika Sikora