Running Injuries | 3 Reasons To Not Stop Running
Hello, Healthy Runners!
Have you been injured and thought to yourself…I should just stop running? As an injured runner you may have been told to stop running and rest in order to get rid of your pain.
Well meaning doctors are just trying to make you feel better and get rid of your running injury. However, this could be a recipe for preventing you from getting back to the sport you love!
In this blog, I will break down 3 reasons to not stop running when you have a running injury.
Click the video below to watch the LIVE video within the Healthy Runner Facebook Group
Let’s get into the three reasons you should not stop running when you have an injury!
1. You’ll lose your running fitness
When you stop running due to an injury, you start to lose the fitness that you’ve built up through training. Think about how you feel when you go a few days without running. Maybe you’re too busy, maybe you’re just not feeling up to your run… when you get back out to the pavement, you feel a little weaker, a little less able to get through that run. If you have an injury and your doctor tells you to stop running for 4 to 6 weeks, you’ll really feel the difference in your running capacity when you get back to running. Through your training you’ve built the ability to endure the effects on running on the body. You can continue to run through an injury, but perhaps modify your training for that week so that you don’t lose this fitness.
2. You’ll get weaker
When you rest due to an injury, you stop engaging your muscles, right? This means that your muscles are starting to atrophy and breakdown. By consistently training as a runner, you build up muscle strength, muscle tone and the ability to make it through your runs without compensations due to weak musculature. Taking time off from running for a few weeks will cause these strong muscles to weaken. You’ll lose the running fitness previously mentioned more quickly than you’ll lose muscle strength, but it only takes about 3 weeks of inactivity for muscles to begin to atrophy.
3. You’ll get stiffer
Let’s give an example with this one. Think about being in a stabilizing boot. This prevents any range of motion from happening at the ankle and forces the hips to compensate due to the added height on one side. When you finally get out of that stabilizing boot, your ankle range of motion is going to be significantly decreased, your hips may feel tighter, as well as your hamstrings. When you train consistently, you’re making sure that you’re stretching and through your running, you’re establishing good range of motion. Stopping this due to inactivity will cause muscles to tighten and your range of motion will decrease.
With the right guidance and instruction from a healthcare provider, you can continue to stay active through an injury. Obviously there are some injuries that you just cannot continue to train through – and that’s OKAY! We want to make sure we are staying healthy and smart above all else. However, certain injuries are simply set backs that we can work through to stay active, doing what we love!
If you are still worried that you may do more damage continuing to run with an injury, click this previously published blog article https://sparkhealthyrunner.com/should-i-stop-running-if-i-have-an-injury/ to learn about the 4 serious running injuries to never push through that will require you to stop running.
You can also listen to Dr. Scotti share this information on the Healthy Runner Podcast…available wherever you get your podcasts!
Here is what other runners are saying about the podcast
Thank you (running friends) for taking the time to read and I hope you enjoy the podcast episode!
Warmest regards,
– Duane
Duane Scotti, PT, DPT, PhD, OCS
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