3 Tips To Help You Prevent Running Injuries
Whether you are running for pleasure or training for an upcoming race, it is important to do what you can to prevent running injuries. Take care of your body, as running can place a great deal of stress on it. Here are three tips to help you treat your body well to help prevent a running injury.
Seek Chiropractic Treatment
Many runners today are relying on a sports medicine-trained chiropractor to help prevent running injuries. If you experience any joint pain while you run, this can be a sign of joint misalignment, which your chiropractor can check and realign. Your chiropractor will evaluate how your body moves, how you stand, the arch of your feet, and your knee and hip alignment. Then, they will use a controlled force to push any of your misaligned joints or your spine back into their correct positions, restoring your normal movement and mobility.
If you have overcome and are healing from a running injury, it is recommended to receive ongoing preventative chiropractic care every two to six weeks. This will help you maintain your healing progress from the old injury and reduce the chance of having a new injury. Talk to your chiropractor to schedule the frequency of your alignment appointments to help keep you free of running injuries.
Warm Up Before You Run
Before you start a run, it is important to warm up your spine, hips, and your outer buttock muscles to keep your body and spine aligned and prevent injuries. Your joints can collect adhesive-like sticky substances that prevent them from moving fluidly. A warm-up helps break these substances apart and gets your joints and spine ready for running. Then, warming up your buttock muscles helps to keep your pelvis stable during your run and helps keep your spine aligned.
There are a few simple warm up exercises you can do to prepare for your run. First, warm up your hips by standing behind a chair, holding onto the chair for stability. Lift your left leg with your knee slightly bent, and circle your leg ten times in one direction, then ten times in the other direction. Repeat with your right leg.
Next, warm up your spine. Standing and holding onto the same chair, extend your left leg out to the side and swing it back in forth in front of your right leg, like a pendulum. Repeat with the right leg. Do ten reps, or swings, on each leg.
To finish your warm-up, performing side lunges can warm your buttock muscles. Stand with your feet together, then move your foot to the left in a lunge, with your right leg straight and extended. Your left knee should be bent. Make sure to keep your weight on the heel of your left foot. Move back to a standing position, then repeat on the right side. Do ten reps on each leg.
Replace Your Running Shoes Regularly
Your running shoes help absorb the pounding your feet take when you run, so it is recommended to replace them every 300 to 500 miles. Over time, the sole of your shoes compress and lose their cushioning, increasing your risk for overuse injuries, such as shin splints and tendinitis. Calculate approximately how many miles you run each week and month to determine when your running shoes will log this amount of mileage. For example, if you run three miles daily, five times per week, you run 15 miles per week. You will run 300 miles in 20 weeks, or approximately five months.
When it is time to buy new running shoes, it can be helpful to take your old shoes with you. The salesperson can look at the wear patterns on the soles of your running shoes to recommend a good replacement pair. For example, if your feet roll inward when you run, causing wear on the inside of your soles, you can benefit from a stability shoe or one that has motion control. If your feet roll outward, wearing out the outside of your soles, you should get neutral shoes that have extra cushion. If your shoes show even wear, you can go with a neutral pair of shoes.
Use these three tips to take care of your body and prevent running injuries. For more tips, contact a practice like Hidden Valley Chiropractic.