injury prevention for runners

The worst thing that can every happen to a keen distance runner is suffering with a chronic injury like plantar fasciitis, ITB friction syndrome, or patella-femoral knee pain that hangs around for months or even years. The typical approach to use rest, anti-inflammatory medication, a massage or even some therapy may help to calm the injury down but the minute you go back to running all the pain comes rushing back to the way it was. This is something that could easily be prevented if a carefully designed strength training program is used in combination with your running training. Having been a very keen distance runner for a long time myself, I am very aware of all the injuries associated, and experienced first hand some of these annoying and painful injuries in my time. I was able to get on top of these quickly and over time learned that the secret was using strength training techniques to improve gait and working on my running technique. I found the perfect combination of strength training, stability training, postural retraining, movement skills and more efficient running technique that allowed me to reach my peak when I was in my late 30’s. If only I had been told this many years earlier who knows what I would have been able to achieve. I have since used the same methods for assessing hundreds of runners and sporting athletes to overcome some of the most annoying and chronic injuries preventing them from enjoying their running or sport. In this article, I am going to show you these secrets and also what I have found to be the common traits so you can prevent them from stopping you in your tracks.

Read More