Archive for the Injuries Category


Reader Question: How To Avoid Re-Injuring Your Knee

I recently received the following email from Mike Terhar: I am trying to run primarily on trails due to the modulation in pace from obstacles or rocky terrain. I think this is helping me avoid re-injuring my knee. (itb and patellar tendinitis) I run in different shoes and different distances on different paths. I also [...]

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How To Do The Stretches Used In The USATF Stretching Study

What is involved in the stretching regimen that was used in the recent USATF study? There were 3 different stretches that they used (technically 4 since the last stretch had 2 parts.) The subjects that were going to be stretching were supplied with a detailed stretch protocol that included the photographs of the stretch, as [...]

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Does Stretching Before a Run Help Prevent Injuries?

The USATF wanted to find the answer to that very question, so they recently did a 3 month long study of 3000 runners to find out exactly what factors do and don’t play a part in preventing injuries and in getting injured. The results of their summary can answer that question in two words: Not [...]

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What Do You Do If You Fall and Hit Your Head?

I took a small spill yesterday on my trail run. I felt myself losing my footing and tried to roll so I’d land on my side instead of my face (I’d rather break a shoulder than a neck) and while I wouldn’t have been too happy I was doing all right until my head got [...]

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The Biggest Benefit For Keeping A Training Log

Training logs are great, especially modern training logs that let you graph workouts and see trends and get the big picture. The single largest benefit for keeping a training log, though, isn’t dependent upon fancy graphs or a searchable database of workouts. You can take advantage of this feature even if you just use pen [...]

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Twice As Many Researchers Advise Against Stretching

Stretching was always a mainstay for distance runners in an effort to both reduce injuries and improve performance. Over the past decade, however, a lot of research has come out that seems to contradict that popular belief. In fact, according to Running Research News, almost twice as many research studies advise against stretching compared to [...]

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How An Injury Can Lead to a BIG PR…

You may or may not remember last April, when Judy was trying to decide whether or not she should ignore her doctor and run the Boston Marathon despite a serious onset of plantar fascitis. Her training had been going really well, she was just entering her taper, and she really didn’t want to quit running [...]

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2nd Annual Maine Coach & Athlete Cross Country Clinic (Part I: Injury Prevention and Treatment)

The 2nd annual Maine Coach and Athlete Cross Country Clinic was on August 18th, 2008 at the University of Southern Maine. The clinic lasted for about 2 hours, although most of the speakers and coaches were available before and after the clinic for questions. The clinic was sponsored by John Rogers of the Maine Running [...]

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Karl Meltzer’s Appalachian Trail Record Attempt is Over

Back on August 5th, Karl Meltzer began his attempt to run the 2,147 mile Appalachian Trail in a record 47 days. The run may not be over, but his attempt at the record is: “My Anterior Tibialas is tweaking. It’s swollen and unrunnable right now. Needless to say, the record will remain in AT’s (Andrew [...]

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The Neck Is Doing Much Better

Thanks for the emails over the weekend; my neck is doing much better tonight than it was a couple days ago. On Friday afternoon, I tweaked or pulled something when I began my run that led to my spending the rest of the afternoon on the couching and requiring assistance to get up. Saturday morning [...]

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