Rules of the Road: Tips For Staying Fit And Keeping Joints Healthy Through Running
September 19, 2013
Running is one of the most common forms of exercise, among elite athletes and regular, fitness conscious people alike. Whether you jog three-to-five times a week to keep active – like myself – or you regularly train for ultra-marathons, there is always that underlying risk of injury. Runner’s knee, Achilles tendonitis, shin splints, plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, hamstring issues – all common injuries we don’t like to say out loud, but unfortunately are often associated with running.
However, no need to hang up your running shoes yet. Following are key tips for safe and healthy running:
- Support means everything. This comes from both the shoes you wear and the terrain on which you run. Having the right support in your running shoes is key. Be sure to take note if you are arched or flat footed, then do some research on the best running shoe for you. A lot of specialty running stores, like Fleet Feet Sports here in Raleigh (where I go), can help determine the right shoe for you. You should also consider where you will do the majority of your running. If you run on hard ground such as concrete, you will probably need more cushion than you would should you choose to mostly run in grassy and soft-grounded trail-like areas. The “give” of the terrain plays a major role on how your joints react to the impact of your strides.
- Listen to your body. Even the most experienced runners can still experience sharp pains brought on by joint fluctuation and agitation. This is especially common in knees. Although hips have a smooth ‘ball and socket’ joint and ankles are designed to accommodate impact and rotation, knees tend to fall short in the functionality department. Cartilage and tissues can rapidly wear down from over-exertion and lack of support and stability. Make sure you rest between runs and stretch liberally during your warm-up and cool-down.
- Cross-train. From preventing and rehabilitating injuries, to improving overall fitness, cross-training is key. Supplement your running with strength training, swimming, biking, yoga – whatever tickles your fancy.
- Jump on the yoga bandwagon. Yoga helps strengthen your core and makes you more flexible – two elements that can keep you running injury-free.
Keep these tips in mind the next time you lace up and hit the streets or trails. Happy running!
Hi, all is going fine here and ofcourse every one is sharing information, that’s in fact excellent, keep up writing.|
Hey, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your website in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, amazing blog!|
Awesome post. I am a regular visitor of your website and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the nice site. I’ll be a frequent visitor for a really long time.
Hello to every one, the contents existing at this site are actually amazing for people experience, well, keep up the good work fellows.|
That is a really good tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere. Short but very accurate info… Many thanks for sharing this one. A must read article!|
Hello there! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good results. If you know of any please share. Many thanks!|
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is wonderful blog. A great read. I will definitely be back.
Just want to say your article is as astonishing. The clarity to your submit is simply great and that i can think you’re a professional on this subject. Fine along with your permission allow me to grasp your feed to keep up to date with coming near near post. Thank you one million and please carry on the enjoyable work.|
Awesome write-up. I am a regular visitor of your blog and appreciate you taking the time to maintain the nice site. I’ll be a frequent visitor for a long time.
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with some pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is wonderful blog. A fantastic read. I’ll definitely be back.
I precisely wished to say thanks once again. I am not sure the things I might have handled in the absence of the entire tips revealed by you about my concern. It truly was an absolute scary concern for me personally, however , considering this skilled tactic you solved the issue took me to jump for delight. I am just grateful for the information and in addition hope you really know what an amazing job that you’re carrying out instructing some other people by way of your webpage. I am sure you’ve never got to know all of us.
Great post. I was checking continuously this blog and I am impressed! Extremely useful info specially the last part 🙂 I care for such information a lot. I was looking for this particular information for a long time. Thank you and best of luck.|
Hi my loved one! I wish to say that this article is awesome, great written and include approximately all significant infos. I’d like to see more posts like this .|
Hello everyone, it’s my first visit at this site, and paragraph is actually fruitful in support of me, keep up posting these articles.|
Hey I am so excited I found your website, I really found you by accident, while I was searching on Yahoo for something else, Anyhow I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a marvelous post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to read it all at the moment but I have bookmarked it and also added in your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the great work.|
Hiya, I’m really glad I’ve found this information. Nowadays bloggers publish just about gossip and net stuff and this is actually frustrating. A good web site with interesting content, that’s what I need. Thank you for making this web site, and I will be visiting again. Do you do newsletters by email?
It is actually a nice and helpful piece of info. I’m glad that you simply shared this helpful information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thanks for sharing.|
bookmarked!!, I like your blog!
When I initially left a comment I seem to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a comment is added I receive four emails with the same comment. There has to be a means you can remove me from that service? Appreciate it!
naturally like your web site however you have to take a look at the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling issues and I in finding it very bothersome to tell the truth then again I will surely come again again.|