5 common injuries in Runners & remedies for early recovery!

5 common injuries in Runners & remedies for early recovery

Every active person is likely to get injured at some point, on the same line they are even capable of faster recovery!! When it comes to running, injury can happen at any time of the practice or race but it is important to look out for these injuries immediately. When any kind of sprain, strain or tear happen, it is good to know how you can recover early so as to quickly return back to your training.

Common injuries:

1.   Shin splints: This is commonly experienced by many runners. Also shin splints can bother the ones who have just started running. Shin splints usually appear as an aching pain on the sides or border of the shin bone (tibia) and calf muscles. The pain aggravates badly, if you keep running with it. The common cause is due to weakness/ tightness of the calf muscles leading to repeated stress or impact on the tibial bone while running.   

2.   Achilles Tendonitis: The Achilles tendon is one of the thickest and strongest tendon of your body connecting calf muscles to the heel. Inflammation of this tendon causes Achilles tendonitis. The majority of the force generated while running, is transmitted through Achilles tendon leading to the stress on it. Moreover, if you have tight calf muscles, reduced ankle mobility or pronated foot increases the risk for Achilles injuries. This injury is seen particularly in runners, who repeatedly does speed training, uphill running or runners using improper footwear.

3.   Illio Tibial Band (ITB) Syndrome: It is a long band of tissue running from the top of the hip, down to the outside of the thigh and knee. It serves as a connection between major hip muscles and the knee. The cause of the injury is due to back and forth friction between the IT band and the knee while running. It leads to pain on the outer side of the knee progressing from dull ache to sharp pain. You will feel like friction is there! It typically hurts when going downhill, sitting with leg bent or activities with slight knee flexion. Muscle imbalance in hip and knee causes changes in running mechanics leading to ITB injury.

4.   Plantar Fasciitis: It is a soft tissue structure that runs from the heel to ball of the toes. In plantar fasciitis, the pain occurs at the arch (sole) and base of the heel. It hurts, particularly in the mornings at first step, weight bearing positions and during runs. Tight calf muscles, reduced ankle movements leads to increased stress on the plantar fascia. In addition, tight old shoes, uneven surface for running increases the symptoms.

5.   Runner’s knee: It is technically called as “Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS)”. It is a dull pain that is ‘behind’ and ‘around’ the knee cap. It typically aggravates on downhill running, squatting and resisted leg extension. Scientific studies state that if you have weak quadriceps, weakness of a small muscle inside knee called VMo and tight calf muscles are at a risk for PFPS. Moreover from our experience, runners who did training for proper firing of VMo often recovered and were back on the track!

A PREHAB program with individualised protocol can help prevent the above injuries.

How to recover from common running injuries?

ü  Gentle stretching exercises regularly pre and post run.

ü  Foam rolling for particular muscle groups post run

ü  Icing with ice bag/ cold packs after each run around painful area.

ü  Mobility exercises particularly for ankle and knee.

ü  Proper choice of footwear: Supportive running shoes.

ü  Eccentric strengthening lower limb exercises.

ü  Soft tissue release by an expert physiotherapist.

ü  Taping techniques by a physiotherapist.

Note: If any of the symptoms still persists, consult your physiotherapist for successful recovery, to avoid any secondary complications and for better performance.

We at REHAB STATION believe to help you in training smart and optimal, to make the best version of you…

-   Arohi Deshpande, Purva Gandhi, Sumit Jadhav, and Devyani Tikle (Physio Team)

-      Dr. Parag Ranade (PT) - Advisor.

Where can you find us?

•     Address: REHAB STATION, 259, Shaniwar Peth, Vishnukrupa building, Level 3, Pune-411030.

•         Contact: 020 24493526/ 020 24463860/ +91 88888 33508

•         Email id: contact@rehabstation.in  Visit: www.rehabstation.in