THE PHYSICAL THERAPIST’S GUIDE TO HEALTHY RUNNING We all know that running is great exercise for our bodies, but often people stop due to knee or lower leg pain. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but usually ones that we are not aware of. Over 50 million Americans deal with some sort of knee trouble, as the knees are the second most common injured joint, the first being the joints in the spine. Therefore, it is essential to know what you can do to prevent knee troubles from even starting. Most all knee and leg pain can be attributed to the following issues: • Poor muscular strength • Imbalance of muscular strength with certain muscles stronger and others weaker • Poor muscular coordination • Poor biomechanics of walking/running • Lack of flexibility
Common injuries with running or exercising: • Patellofemoral pain • Meniscus tears and pain • Ligament injuries (ACL, PCL, MCL, LCL) • Osteoarthritis • Shin splints • Hamstring pulls • Achilles tendonitis
Warm-up: Warming up your body prior to running by slowly moving the legs and trunk through various motions which contract and stretch the running muscles is called dynamic stretching. These are helpful for avoiding injury from overloading the muscles and joints before the blood flow and muscle flexibility is adequate. If you are not sure which warm up and cool down exercises are best for running or jogging, give us a call, and schedule a free consultation with one of our Fritz Physical Therapists. Don’t push through pain While feeling a stretching sensation or muscle burn is a normal part of exercising, feeling pain is not. Persistent, sharp or dull pain can be like an indicator light in your car: a warning sign that tells you to slow down, stop, and get it “checked out”.
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