Blog by Marco Bevellino, Physiotherapist at Q Sports Physio

Everyone runs for their own personal reasons. Maybe you’re running for fun, or for your health and wellbeing, or you could be training for a race this year?

An estimated 7 million people run at least twice a week in England (https://www.statista.com/statistics/934996/running-participation-uk/), and approximately 50,000 participants are running the 2022 London Marathon on 2nd October. As well as the London Marathon, this year has seen many racing events happening all across London, including several locally to us here at Q Sports Physio - in Kew, Gunnersbury Park and Ealing.

With so many runners, and so many training for races, this has got us thinking. With injuries and pain possible in all sport, we thought we would specifically explore running pain and injuries in this month’s blog.

There are many benefits to running, but of course injuries may occur. Some examples of common injuries include sprained ankles, plantar fasciitis, shin splints, knee pain and pulled muscles.

It’s possible to minimise the chances of getting running injuries with extra stretching, strength & conditioning exercises and preventative sports massage. And if injuries or pain do occur, sports massage and physiotherapy can help you recover.

STRETCHING AND EXERCISES
Free weight compound exercises are a great choice. These exercises use most of the leg muscles and at the same time are quite demanding. They are extremely beneficial for building up strength and minimising the risk of running-related injuries.

·      Squats are an excellent place to start. This could also include variations of squats such as - split squats, single leg squats, goblet squats, isometric squats, jumping squats

·      Walking lunges

·      Deadlift and its variations - single leg deadlift, stiff leg deadlift, good morning

SPORTS MASSAGE
Sports massage has many benefits for both prevention and recovery from injury and muscle tension and pain that may be caused by running.

By having a sports massage on the build-up to a race, you could avoid pain and injury.

A sports massage after your race will help to relax those aching muscles and help to heal any pain.

Let’s explore further how sports massage can help you.

IF YOU RUN REGULARLY
If you're a regular runner we recommend a sports massage once a month.

A sports massage will relieve those muscle aches, pains, tightness or tension that many people will get after running.

Sports Massage also improves blood flow, which in turn can prompt healing of injured areas.

Increased range of motion is another benefit of a sports massage. This will reduce the chances of injury when you are running.

IF YOU ARE TRAINING FOR A RACE
If you're training for a marathon or long distance run, a sports massage twice a month will benefit you.

We recommend sports massage to marathon and other long distance race runners. This is because sports massage aids circulation, helping to remove metabolic waste products from your muscles. It also helps to relieve any muscle tension.

Sports massage is able to target areas where you have tighter muscles, meaning we can identify and reduce the muscle tightness before injury occurs.

IF YOU ARE A BEGINNER
If you are just starting out, a sports massage every 6-8 weeks would be beneficial to help you on your running journey.

You may notice muscle aches and tightness after the first runs you go on. A sports massage will relieve these aches and pains.

We hope you enjoyed reading this blog. As sports injury specialists, we feel that it is important for you to know and understand potential injuries and ways to prevent them. That's why we have created our monthly sports injury blog series. Stay tuned for the next blog, coming soon.