Five Tips For Distance Running
Distance running can be a fun way to challenge yourself, improve your fitness or relieve stress. It can also be the cause of injuries if training is not completed correctly. With further distances, it becomes more and more important to look after your body and ensure you stay fit and healthy for the next run. Below are five quick tips to keep those legs ticking over.
Common Running Injuries
Running is a great way to stay in shape, manage stress and increase your overall health, however, it’s not without its drawbacks. While being a low-risk activity, there are a few injuries that commonly affect runners. As running is a repetitive impact activity, most running injuries develop slowly and can be difficult to treat. Here we discuss three of the most common conditions faced by runners.
Shin Splints
Shin splints are a painful condition of the lower leg, also known as Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome; it is an overuse injury that causes pain along the inside of the tibia or shin bone. It is common in runners, hikers and running based sports – soccer, AFL, netball and basketball.
Shin splints are typified by persistent leg pain, usually the inside of the shin, halfway down the lower leg.
Focus on Stress Fractures
A stress fracture is a microscopic fracture of the bone that is so small that it often cannot be picked up on X-ray.
The majority of stress fractures occur in the lower limb, being particularly common in the hip, shins and foot at points where the most force passes through when weight bearing. Most stress fractures are overuse injuries and are common in long distance runners.
