Can You Prevent Running Injuries?

We have been seeing some runners in our clinic recently. Some seasoned runners, but quite a few new, novice runners. My definition is unless the runners have been training, running and/ or racing for at least 5 years, they are still considered novice runners.

As a runner I would love to run long and hard daily, alas if we do that injury definitely beckons. How do we prevent that from happening? Can we actually prevent running injuries?

I came across an article investigating if it was possible to prevent running injuries. In this particular study (Leppanen et al, 2024), there were 325 participants who were fairly new runners (less than 2 years of running experience) and aged between 18-55 years. Interventions were completed before the actual runs. The runners attended group training twice a week with a physiotherapist for 6 months.

They were divided into 3 training groups, 2 intervention and 1 control group. All 3 groups followed a similar training program and all runners were taught about the basics of running technique. The first intervention group (108 runners) did strength and conditioning exercises for the hip and core. The 2nd group (111 runners) did exercises to strengthen the ankle and foot, while a third control group (106 runners) did static stretching.

Each training session lasted about 30 minutes twice a week with the exercises and difficulty level progressing over the course of 6 months. Each exercise had 4 different versions with different levels of difficulty and intensity. After the training session, the participants ran outdoors for 30-75 minutes. The participants reported all running related injuries each study week using a mobile application.

Results show that the group that focused  on hip and core training sustained the least injuries among the 3 groups. They had 39 percent lower prevalence of all overuse injuries and 52 percent lower prevalence of overuse injuries compared to the control group. 

I was surprised that the  ankle and foot exercise group did not prevent running related injuries compared to the stretching group. The incidence of acute injuries was lower in the control group than ankle and foot exercise group perhaps suggesting that stretching may help prevent acute running injuries. However, do take note that there were a low number of acute running injuries in this study so this observation should be approached with caution.

This study shows that beginner or novice runners injury rates can be significantly reduced by training the hip and core muscles. Overuse injuries can be cut by about half by strengthening this area compared to stretching which has always been traditionally thought to prevent injuries. And it's really easy to do with just body weight and/ or resistance bands.

Come see our physiotherapists at Physio Solutions and Sports Solutions to learn about what stregthening exercises would help prevent running injuries for you.

Reference

Leppanen M, Viiala J, Kaikkonen P et al (2024). Hip And Core Exercise Program Prevents Running-related Overuse Injuries In Adult Novice Recreational Runners: A Three-arm Randomised Controlled Trial (Run RCT). BJSM. 58: 722-732. DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2023-107926.