RUNNING INJURIES
THE lakesRUNNER LAYMAN’S GUIDE TO SELF-TREATMENT
These articles provide information on the treatment and prevention of running injuries. They provide very basic advice, and have been written from the point of view of runner or coach, rather than doctor or physio. The articles have been compiled by Lakes Runner’s own Martin Bagness, coach to the National Orienteering Team, in consultation with National Team physiotherapists.
If you have just sustained an injury, you can treat yourself immediately and effectively by following the RICE formula.
R stands for Rest: stop running to give the injury a chance to recover. Avoid loading the injured part.
I stands for Ice: place an ice pack or a bag filled with ice cubes on the injured part for 15 minutes. Do not put ice directly on to your skin —cover it with a piece of cloth or a towel first. If you are out in the terrain and cannot get hold of any ice, then you may be able to immerse the injury in a stream. The cooling effect of ice reduces swelling and inflammation in the damaged tissues, and speeds recovery.
C stands for Compression. Applying pressure to the injured part, perhaps with a compression bandage, is another way of reducing inflammation.
E stands for Elevation. Keeping the injury raised also reduces inflammation.
It is possible to buy effective anti-inflammatory drugs over the counter, such as ibuprofen, but beware - these can cause stomach upsets. They also have the effect of masking pain, and can mislead you into running on an injury before it has healed sufficiently. Some other drugs are banned in sport under international doping rules. You will be able to obtain a list of banned medications from the national governing body.
If you have sustained an overuse injury, you should think carefully about the possible causes. Perhaps there is something wrong with your shoes and you should consider replacing them. Look back through your training diary: the cause is often something quite obvious, like a sudden increase in training, more road running or a particularly hard hill session. You may be able to cure the injury simply by a change in your training.
Many athletes try to 'train through' injuries in the hope that they recover without resting and thereby not miss any training Sometimes this is possible, but many injuries have a habit of starting out as slight aches or niggles and then getting worse and worse if they are neglected. It is always worthwhile treating the injury, seeking expert advice if necessary, resting until it gets better, and trying to find out what caused it.
Seeking advice - The best people to turn to if you need advice about an injury are doctors or qualified physiotherapists who specialize in sports injuries. These can often be visited at sports injury clinics and will be familiar with the urgency felt by athletes following a training programme, so their priority will be to get you back running as soon as possible. As well as providing a diagnosis and treatment, they should be able to give you rehabilitation exercises to help cure the injury and strengthen that part of the body, so that the injury will not recur in the future.
Podiatry – another effective way of treating and preventing injuries. A qualified podiatrist will use gait analysis to study your running style, then create orthotics (shoe inserts) if appropriate, to correct any problems. LakesRUNNER recommends David Nicholls, a qualified podiatrist who visits the shop each Wednesday for consultations. If you would like more information about seeing David at the shop, please click HERE. The initial consultation is free. Orthotics can be made while you wait if required. In addition, our staff are all trained in gait analysis and shoe fitting, and will be happy to assist you until you have found the most suitable shoe.
For more specific information check out the following pages:
