Avoiding injury

Liz says…

“Don’t ignore a niggle.  See a specialist. The key to a speedy recovery is to be proactive with appropriate and accurate diagnosis, management and rehabilitation.” 

The best way to avoid injuries is to listen closely to your body, plan your training appropriately, stretch regularly and eat a healthy, well-balanced and nutritious diet to support your training.

Why you may develop an overuse injury

• Impact force from continuous running
• Repeated running on unforgiving surfaces
• Failure to listen to the signals from your body early enough
• Too much uphill and/or downhill running
• Doing too much, too soon, too hard, too fast, too often
• Foot strike, knee and hip alignment, muscle imbalances
• Inadequate running shoes
• Inadequate nutrition or hydration

Golden rules for coming back from injury

• Take action - If you do three consecutive training runs and experience the same problem each time, stop and take appropriate action. Seek the early advice of a qualified sports injury and pain management professional.
• Be patient -  Give yourself time to heal.   If you experience an increase in pain or three days of the same pain (as above), modify your activity. This may include total rest from running, and cross-training to maintain fitness whilst resting the affected area.
• Be committed - Your sustained and progressive rehab programme may strengthen and adapt different muscles through other means of exercise. For example, with a sprained ankle it’s important to start with control, balance and stability before actually running.
• Address underlying issues - Avoid initial injury or injury re-occurrence by addressing issues of core stability, strength and conditioning.  Focus particularly on buttocks and abdominals.
• Gently does it - Be gentle with your comeback. Don’t launch back into your running at the same point you stopped. 
• Don’t be fearful - Injuries do happen, but they don’t necessarily happen again and again. If you rest and tailor your recovery, your body will adapt and your injury will recover.

More information

For specific enquiries email gotraining@nspcc.org.uk. You can also download training plans here. 

Please note: Neither the NSPCC, Liz Yelling nor Active Futures can be held responsible for any loss or injury resulting from any information contained within these training pages. Please ensure that you have taken medical advice from your GP before commencing your training and taking part in your event.