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Who will you call when you have a running injury?

Anthony Brindle is our resident specialist sports injury Osteopath. An avid runner and squash player himself, Anthony enjoys treating a wide range of sports related injuries. He believes prevention reduces the risk of injury later on and is passionate about helping you achieve your fitness goals; getting you back on track should injury occur.

Common Running injuries

Runners tend to get injuries in a few common areas of the body e.g. knees, shins, Achilles tendons and feet. Injuries vary from acute muscle strains to more long term tendon injuries. While serious injuries such as stress fractures may require lengthy periods of complete rest from running you may simply be able to modify your training when less serious symptoms occur.

How to avoid getting injured

Before starting any new exercise programme you should consult your doctor (especially if you have any underlying conditions affecting the heart or lungs). Getting looked over by one of our Osteopaths would also be recommended, as they will be able to highlight areas of weakness or tightness that may affect you as you start running.

It is important to combine strengthening and stretching exercises with any running programme and in order to reduce the risk of injury, specific exercises should be targeted at known areas of weakness or tightness. For example, a common area of weakness in runners is the gluteal muscles. Weakness here can lead to injuries such as iliotibial band syndrome (which presents as pain around the outside of the knee). A programme of strengthening exercises for the gluteal muscles could keep this from becoming an issue.

Other things which help you avoid injury include getting proper running shoes, changing them regularly before excessive wearing occurs. It is also important to listen to your body, allowing time for rest and recovery and knowing your running limits. Pushing yourself to run further and faster is important but must be done carefully and progressively, to avoid overloading your body which can lead to injuries.

What to do if you’ve done all the above, but an injury still occurs

Unfortunately, even if you do all the right things injuries can still occur. The first course of action should be to follow the simple RICE protocol – rest, ice, compression and elevation.

Rather than leaving an injury to see if it will heal by itself it is advised to seek medical attention sooner rather than later. All our Osteopaths at The Odiham Clinic are skilled in treating a variety of injuries and will be more than happy to aid your roll to recovery and back to running.

So why not try and minimise the risk of injuries by booking an appointment with one of our Osteopaths? If you would like to see Anthony, he is at The Odiham Clinic on a Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.