#runninginjuries

Injury Prevention in Running - Part 3: Strength Training

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Nicole Coffey, one of the owners of Ladner Village Physiotherapy, is a life long runner with several half marathons under her belt. This blog is the final instalment in a three part series on common running injuries and how to prevent them. Enjoy!

The sun is shining, the grass is green, and it’s a great day for a run!

The gyms are closed and options for exercise are more limited these days. As a result, more and more people have been lacing up and pounding the pavement, which is awesome if you ask me. But (and there is always a but) the cold hard truth is that running comes with a 50% injury rate. My last few blogs (Part 1 and Part 2) have covered some common misconceptions people have about preventing running injuries as well as some of the most common training errors I see in my clients who are injured (see below for a quick review). Let’s now focus on what you CAN do to prevent running injuries.

Do you remember being in high school and the teacher would say “this will be on the test- if you only remember one thing, remember this.” Well, dear reader, this is the take home message. There IS something you can do. It’s not a nutritional supplement that magically makes you bigger/faster/stronger (but if you ever find one of those let me know okay?). It’s not stretching for 20 minutes per day (even though you’ll be extra flexible), and it’s not buying a fancy new treadmill or a new running outfit (although those do sound snazzy).

The answer is strength training!

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Many runners I know avoid the gym at all costs. They worry they’ll get too bulky and heavy and it will slow them down, or they think if they go into the gym they will hurt themselves and it will negatively impact their running. But this is not what the research shows. The research shows that strength training is one of the best things you can do to increase running performance and decrease running injuries. For maximum benefit and impact on running strength training should account for 20% of your training.  

Strength training has several benefits for runners:

  1. Increased running economy

  2. Increased running power output

  3. Prolonged point of exhaustion

  4. Reduced risk of overuse injuries

What kind of strengthening should you be doing?

  • Lift heavy weights. That means doing exercises such as squats, calf raises, farmer’s carry and deadlifts at 60-80% of your maximum effort will give you more benefit than doing more reps at lower weights.

  • Plyometrics and other explosive exercises such as lunges, jumping and hopping.

How often should you strength train?

One or twice per week is good. Because the strength training is done at such high load and intensity you only need to do it twice per week during your “off season” or “training season.” When in “race season” strength can be well maintained with only one session per week as long as the intensity is correct (in addition to your running of course).

What else do I need to know?

  • Don’t go nuts. Technique here is still critically important. If you have never done weighted resistance exercise before you need to learn proper technique before you start loading up the barbells. If you don’t know how to do these exercises get someone who is qualified to teach you. Youtube is not your friend here.

  • Be ready. This is also assuming you don’t already have a pre-existing injury. If you do, get help with it and rehab correctly before implementing new aspects to your training program.

Lifting heavy loads and doing explosive exercises can help increase muscular strength, making you a stronger and more efficient runner with less chance of overuse injury.


“Uhhhhh You’re forgetting something Nicole, I can’t go to the gym right now because of a little thing called COVID-19.”

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I know that right now you don’t have access to a full gym and weight rack right now, BUT exercises like:

  • single leg jumping

  • hopping

  • lunges

require no extra equipment and can definitely be incorporated into your routine at home right now. Once restrictions have been lifted we can all get back to the gym.


Looking for the other instalments? Check out Part 1 - Running Volume and Part 2 - Footstrike! Here’s what we have learned so far:

Common Mistakes:

  1. Increasing volume too quickly, resulting in overuse injury

  2. Putting too much emphasis on stretching, which does not reduce overuse injury rates

  3. Trying to make yourself a “mid-foot striker” when you are naturally a “heel-striker”

What Can You Do To Decrease Injury:

  1. Increase volume by no more than 10% per week (includes distance AND intensity)

  2. Increase cadence by no more than 10% (aim for 160-180 steps per minute)

  3. Re-allocate some of the time you spend stretching and focus on strengthening instead.

Happy running everybody - enjoy the sunshine! 

As always, if you have an injury that you would like assessed or if you need assistance with technique please call our clinic at (778) 630-8800 and we will be happy to help! 


References:

  1. Beattie, K., Kenny, I. C., Lyons, M., & Carson, B. P. (2014). The effect of strength training on performance in endurance athletes. Sports Medicine, 44(6), 845-865

  2. Berryman, N., Mujika, I. Strength Training for Middle – and Long-distance Performance: A Meta-Analysis in International Journal of Sports Physiologiy and Performance. 2017:13: 57-64

  3. Blagrove RC, Howatson G, Hayes PR Effects of Strength Training on the Physiological Determinants of Middle- and Long-Distance Running Performance: A Systematic Review. Sports Med. 2018 May;48(5):1117-1149. doi: 10.1007/s40279-017-0835-7.

  4. Lauersen J, Bertelsen DM, Andersen LB (2014) The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials British Journal of Sports Medicine 2014;48:871-877

  5. Mikkola J, Vesterinen V, Taipale R, Capostagno B, Häkkinen K, Nummela A (2011) Effect of resistance training regimens on treadmill running and neuromuscular performance in recreational endurance runners, Journal of Sports Sciences, 29:13, 1359-1371

Injury Prevention in Running - Part 2: Foot Strike

Nicole Coffey, one of the owners of Ladner Village Physiotherapy, is a life long runner with several half marathons under her belt. This blog is the second instalment in a three part series on common running injuries and how to prevent them. Enjoy!

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In a continuation from my last blog, here are a few more commonly misunderstood running topics. Hopefully they save you some time and some pain. As always, if you have any questions about your specific running style or gait please feel free to contact the clinic for an assessment with one of our physiotherapists!

Heel Strike vs Midfoot or Forefoot Strike

This debate came to the forefront quite some time ago when the minimalist shoe fad hit town. And yes, it’s true that people with a heel strike have a higher chance of knee pain (1). BUT: those who have a mid-foot strike have an equal and proportionate risk of Achilles and calf injuries (2), so it’s one or the other, one is not superior.

The “evil heel-strike theory” was based on the concept that landing on your heel meant you were increasing your “braking force” as the ground reaction force pushed back at you (in the opposite direction that you were travelling) and therefore you would have to work harder to overcome that. Turns out that isn’t true!

There is no difference in the efficiency of running for a heel strike vs. a midfoot strike.

Also worth noting, if you happen to be a rear-foot striker and you try to change yourself to a mid-foot striker you increase your chance of injury to your calf and Achilles pain (3) So, run the way you run. The majority of people prefer a heel strike. A heel strike is not the devil it was once made out to be, and if you try to change your gait pattern you are probably doing yourself more of a disservice. Time to focus your energy on more helpful techniques.

Cadence 

This is one topic people don’t often think to ask me, but I feel like it’s worth noting. Should you pay attention to your cadence? My answer to this one is “yes, it couldn’t hurt.”

Cadence is the number of steps you take in one minute. An elite runner will run about 180 steps per minute, efficient recreational runners should aim for 160-170 steps per minute. Increasing cadence can indeed decrease some risk of knee pain.  This is because a slower cadence means you are taking longer steps, which means you are spending more time in the air and actually travel a little higher, which means you are landing harder and from a higher height.  This heavier landing puts extra strain and impact on your joints.  “Subtle increases in step rate can substantially reduce the loading to the hip and knee joints during running and may prove beneficial in the prevention and treatment of common running-related injuries.” (3).  

Also note that taking faster steps does not mean you have to run faster. You can still run a 6 minute mile or a 10 minute mile, the difference is if you are taking big huge long slow strides vs tiny quick little steps.

Calm brain fast feet” - I’m not sure where that saying is from but I really like it.

Once again, remember that any change must be implemented gradually. If you increase your cadence by more than 10% you decrease running efficiency, which means you are going to work harder and get tired more quickly, which is not the point.

Happy running everybody! Next up we will talk about the role of stretching and foam rolling for runners!


Looking for the other instalments? Check out Part 1 - Running Volume and Part 3 - Strength Training!


Injury Prevention in Running - Part 1: Running Volume

Nicole Coffey, one of the owners of Ladner Village Physiotherapy, is a life long runner with several half marathons under her belt. This blog is the first instalment in a three part series on common running injuries and how to prevent them. Enjoy!

I’m really glad I am finally writing about this as I’m sure all of you know, the injury rate when running is extremely high. As a matter of fact, 54% of people training for a marathon will report a lower extremity injury during their training or their race (1).  Another source says the reported injury rate can be up to 79.3% (2). And, if you’re curious, about half of those injuries will be knee injuries.

To me those statistics are very scary, but also completely accurate. I cannot think of a single runner that I know personally who has never suffered from a running related injury (myself included). Because of this, runners take prevention of future injuries quite seriously.  So today I would like to begin to go over some errors in training that can increase your risk of injury. In future blogs I am also going to discuss misconceptions that people have about reducing injury and shed some light on some beliefs that runners hold that are actually not true at all. If you’re spending the time training and trying to prevent injury the last thing I want is you unintentionally wasting your time, especially if that effort could be redirected to something else that actually might help you stay injury-free. So without further ado, let’s jump right in shall we?

The most important factor in avoiding injury is to avoid overloading yourself.  You must increase your volume slowly.

When used in terms of running, volume refers to the total amount of work you are doing (including the distance you are running and the intensity of that run). The first and most common mistake that I see is people increasing their volume too quickly.

Maybe they were on vacation and missed a few weeks of training so they decide to “cram” in a couple of extra runs to get back onto their training schedule, or maybe they want to run with a friend who runs 12km every weekend even though they haven’t done more than 5km in months but decide to go for it anyways. This time of year is so common for running injuries because people have renewed enthusiasm for fitness in the new year and suddenly decide they are going to run five times per week in order to shed a few pounds or get back into shape even though they have never run a day in their life.

Don’t get me wrong, I love that people love running. I love running too, but unfortunately all of the situations I listed above seem to end the same way. And that usually involves a client in my office feeling defeated and discouraged because of a running injury.

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So here is the take home message for week 1: Slow and steady wins the race.

Running volume should not increase by more than 10% per week.

If you increase your volume too quickly (considered more than 15% per week), YOU CAN QUADRUPLE YOUR LIKELIHOOD OF INJURY (3). So I repeat, slow and steady wins the race. Give yourself enough time in your training that you won’t feel rushed and still be able to achieve your goal.

If you’re looking for some guidance for how to increase your volume without overdoing it, check out these resources:

  • For a straight forward list of what to do week by week, take a look at the SportMedBC InTraining program.

  • Interested in joining a local group? The Run Inn in Tsawwassen runs several fabulous groups aimed at all running abilities!

  • There are tonnes of apps for both iOS and Android. Two great ones are Couch to 5k and Couch to 10k, depending on your goal distance.

So there you go. Tip #1 is to avoid overloading. Gradual increases in speed and intensity will get you where you need to go. Be patient and trust the process. Happy running everybody!


Looking for the other instalments? Find Part 2 - Running Cadence and Foot Strike and Part 3 - Strength Training here!