If you are an experienced runner gearing up for a fall race, or new to the sport and hoping to build up your mileage, learning about common running injuries is an important way to get thinking about injury prevention.
A team of researchers led by Dr. Alexandre Dias Lopes and colleagues published study results about major musculoskeletal injuries runners experience to understand how typical these common running injuries are.
Looking at data covering around 3,500 runners, researchers found that three of the most common running injuries were:
- Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome
- Achilles Tendinopathy
- Plantar Fasciitis
For those running very long distances like ultra-marathoners, Achilles tendinopathy was the most common type of musculoskeletal injury experienced, followed by Patellofemoral syndrome.
Achilles tendinopathy is a painful condition that occurs in your Achilles tendon area where your calf muscles and heel bone are connected. It tends to be quite uncomfortable and may be accompanied by swelling and a stiff feeling.
Achilles tendinopathy often happens over a period of time when the Achilles tendon experiences repetitive injury that does not have time to heal.
Sometimes called “runner’s knee” patellofemoral pain syndrome is a knee condition that is typically quite painful. Some of the symptoms of this common condition include pain in the knee cap area that is worse when walking on stairs or bending down or squatting or sitting for a lengthy amount of time.
A number of different things are thought to lead to runner’s knee including an injury, low arches or flat feet, muscular imbalances, or a kneecap that is not in proper alignment or is partially dislocated.
Learn more about this research on some of the common running injuries that are musculoskeletal that runner’s often experience.
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