Best form of injury prevention

ecoli

In running training seems to go hand in hand with injuries for some people. However there are some people who rarely experience injuries at all. It got me thinking. So many people spend so much time training and looking for training advice from people. They seem to be in awe of certain sessions but are soon to forget the little things an athlete does to keep them on there feet.
For me i think that the since greatest aspect of training of consistency. With that in mind would be interesting to see peoples views on the measures they take to keep themselves on there feet.
So which aspects do you thing are the most important or least important:

- Stretching
- Rest
- Core work
- Cross training
- Yoga
- Nutrition
- Footwear
- Regular massage
- Listening to the body
- Vary training distances

Mod: Please no looking for medical advice on this thread this is about the principles of staying on your feet not what to do once you are of them;)

Seres

my gait is gammy so i think thats what caused my injury , well that and an increase in mileage so id go :


Core work
Stretching
footwear
limited intensity workouts ( gait get very sloppy when im tired )
Rest
Listening to body ( prob wouldnt have been injuried so long if i had acted sooner )

Training surface prob makes a difference for some people too .

BeepBeep67

- Stretching
- Active Rest
- Core work combined with by TP roller
- Cross training
- Yoga (only done it once)
- Nutrition and Vitamins
- Footwear
- Regular massage and my TP roller
- Listening to the body (listening is one thing, acting on what you are hearing is more difficult)
- Vary training distances and training effort (so you are working different muscles)

tunguska

Alberto Salzar is coaching a group of athletes at the moment and every day he has them perform mobility, strength and flexibilty exercises for 2hours. And this is all before they even run.
So I think its either do what salazar has his athletes do or just accept that the you're gonna take a hit at some time or another.

TFBubendorfer

tunguska wrote: »

Alberto Salzar is coaching a group of athletes at the moment and every day he has them perform mobility, strength and flexibilty exercises for 2hours. And this is all before they even run.
So I think its either do what salazar has his athletes do or just accept that the you're gonna take a hit at some time or another.

As Salazar's athletes seem to be injured more often then the rest (Ritzenheim injured for the 1543th time in his career, Alan Webb just coming back after a long lay-off), I'd take that with a pinch of salt.

Peterx

People don't rest enough and they don't take a break in training early enough once they start getting a niggle.
Rest is best.
Second best is having a back up sport you are happy to play when you can't train in your preferred disipline.

All the preventative measures in the world can't combat a high pain threshold coupled with an almost pathological desire to train - leading to injuries.

dare2be

I'm with Peter on this one. I take an extra 2 rest days than i probably should but i find them great for the quality sessions when i can really push hard.

I've began to stretch and foam roll a bit more but that's only because i'm having injury problems myself at the minute

shels4ever

Peterx wrote: »

People don't rest enough and they don't take a break in training early enough once they start getting a niggle.
Rest is best.
Second best is having a back up sport you are happy to play when you can't train in your preferred disipline.

All the preventative measures in the world can't combat a high pain threshold coupled with an almost pathological desire to train - leading to injuries.

+1
Yep but its a hard balance for some, before I'd push it while slightl injured make a few pb's or good runs and get injured. Now i'm not pushing it at all while I have a slight problem and can run but not going well.. Think its about getting the balance right.

MaroonTam

For me, I am rubbish at stretching.

I get regular (6-8 weeks) Sports Massage and between times I use a foam roller (I try to use it after each run, but its not always the case)

Also, I have a tendency towards sore shins. Foam roller on the calves and a good running shoe (that is not worn out with too many miles) appears to be the right combo for me to control this situation.

I have started doing core work this year, more to address specific weaknesses in my form. Cant say I have seen any appreciable difference in injury resilience.

I have actually cut out a rest day and I am now on a 6 day a week schedule. Whilst the training miles leave me felling a wee bit wiped out at times, I have not yet noticed an increase in any soreness etc.

brownian

To me, the single biggest and most frequent cause of injury is over-training, or more specifically returning to running after a period of idleness and going out too hard, too soon. To stay uninjured, my own experience (YMMV) is that a slow and steady increase in distance and (especially) speed leads to a lot less injury.

Apart from that, stretching is high on my list of anti-injury strategies.

pgmcpq

Interesting topic and one where I have lots of questions. Comments in green, questions in blue.

- Stretching - vital. Probably the only lesson I can be certain about.

- Rest - There are those who advocate a rest day and others who advocate running everyday with "recovery runs" in place of complete rest or cross training. Right now my 12 week plan call for 7 days a week and it has gone ok with three weeks to go.... so far. Which approach is better ... ?

- Core work - Do some but for stamina/endurance rather than injury prevention.

- Cross training - Do some - not much generally relegated to when I cannot run.
- Yoga - just starting really look on it as advanced stretching. sorry to purists out there.

- Nutrition
- Footwear - Yes. This I take seriously - because it is easy to recognise and fix.
- Regular massage
- Listening to the body. Not smart but unless it is shouting loudly I tend to ignore it ... I've never been sure about where fatigue ends and injury begins. E.g. when I strained my calf I ignored the early warning signs as simply a cramp .

- Vary training distances - I understand varying speed and cross training as bringing different muscles into play ... how does varying distance do it ... or is varying speed implied here ?

littlehannah96

Warm Up- some light jogging or the rowing machine for 5 - 10 minutes

Stretching - thorough, all body, spend a while at it

While exercising - Using good form and being aware of bad habits

if you feel any pain or discomfort, STOP

After exercising, a handy warm down (usually I count this as my cycle home)

Another good all-over stretch before hopping in the shower

buzzingnoise

my computer keeps telling me that acai berries are whats missing in my life....

token56

The simplest things for me are stretching and listening to your body.

I never really stretched enough and its partly led to where I am now. It should be a normal part of every runners/joggers (ideally every persons) daily routine, even if its 10 mins in the morning and 10 mins in the evening it helps.

Listening to your body is the most important I think. I was terrible at this and I've spent over 2 years now injured. Had I listened to my body I really doubt I'd be where I am now. It's easy to do but few runners actually do it I think. If you feel tired then run easy or just rest, if muscles are sore get them rubbed or take care of them yourself. If you have a niggly problem that doesn't go away get it looked at.

I used to actually think it was great getting feeling a bit sore because I'd have a story to tell other people I trained with about how great I was pushing through the pain etc, but really it was just arrogance and stupidity. Fair enough we all have little things that you can run through and they sort themselves out but if gets to become more than that or recurs alot its a sign to get it looked it.

rainbow kirby

I know I don't stretch enough, and I also know that I don't get enough sleep (average 5 hours a night during the week). I got another smackdown from the physio the other night too about my lack of core work. Current injury is nothing to do with training though (this time...), more to do with a sneaky kerb in the dark!

I do listen to the body though and I'm quick to get anything checked out if there's something going wrong. There's a difference between "my legs hurt, I ran a 20-miler yesterday" and "my legs hurt, I think I'm injured". Definitely think I should get sports massage more regularly too, it's incredible the difference it makes.

Footwear gets replaced as often as it needs to be, generally that's every 300-400 miles for me because I'm a one-woman shoe destruction machine. I definitely do notice the difference when my shoes need to be changed, tend to get more annoying little niggles.

When I'm not training for anything in particular, I like to swim as cross training but at the peak of marathon training I can't really fit it in. I'd love to take a yoga or pilates class, it might make core work and stretching a bit less boring :pac:

Diet's not too bad, but probably a bit too much sugar and caffeine in it.

TrackFan123

Incorrect technique, very tight muscles and weak core are the main causes of injuries in my opinion. Had too many athletes coming to me with atrocious technique, once I fixed that they rarely succumbed to anything serious.

Raighne

Peterx wrote: »

People don't rest enough and they don't take a break in training early enough once they start getting a niggle.
Rest is best.
Second best is having a back up sport you are happy to play when you can't train in your preferred disipline.

All the preventative measures in the world can't combat a high pain threshold coupled with an almost pathological desire to train - leading to injuries.

A great comment although if I would be inclined to substitute "desire to train" to "desire to win".

Bigcheeze

TrackFan123 wrote: »

Incorrect technique, very tight muscles and weak core are the main causes of injuries in my opinion. Had too many athletes coming to me with atrocious technique, once I fixed that they rarely succumbed to anything serious.

What does "weak core" mean ?

thirtyfoot

A well planned training schedule that has all the facets included. To be able to do that you'll probably have had to have made mistakes and got people injured before and realised what doesn't work. It's like testing for an allergy. And each athlete may be different. Prevention is not always possible so cure is then key. A rehab program that fixes you quick and prevents re-occurrence is also part of the future injury prevention process.

ocnoc

Food - Can't run an engine with no fuel.
Sleep - gotta let the engine rest, if its not rested 100%, how can you be expected to train at 100%

MrCreosote

Increasing distance or intensity too quickly is what gets me injured.

wayne0308

My muscles have always been quite tight and even though I stretch after running and cycling especially, I've never been very structured or organised about it.

Does anyone have a link to a good stretching routine to do after a run? Something you can just run through step by step? Or something that works for you that I can try and maybe change to suit me? Also just out of interest how much time would you give to stretching after a tough training run?

Mr Freeze

MrCreosote wrote: »

Increasing distance or intensity too quickly is what gets me injured.

A Golden rule should be to not do the above. I did exactly that last weekend and my knee's are not right since, I ran too far, too fast! 2nd trip to physio planned tomorrow to sort me out.

I definitely have a weak core and suffer from tightness in the legs.

I have to stretch every morning and night to try and stay loose.

My Plan, to hopefully avoid injury going forward will be:
Strengthen the core.
Warm up and cool down properly after training.
Only increase run distances by 1km at a time.

It was my own fault I got injured this time over doing it.