Well our long runs are now upon us as we draw ever closer to the LA Marathon. In the coming months we have several long runs scheduled and you will now more than ever need to listen to your body for signs of oncoming injury. Here are some ways to help you through an injury:

  Any time you do on an activity that requires significant motion, such as training for a marathon, pain may not be too far behind. The key factor in analyzing this pain is whether the pain is related to an actual injury or is just a by-product of the activity itself. For example, after running for several hours, it is quite normal to feel stiffness or pain in various areas of the body such as the knees, ankles, feet and lower back which is a “good” pain. In most cases this type of pain is not indicative of an actual injury or the onset of an injury, but instead, it merely indicates extreme effort. It is an important part of marathon training to learn to distinguish “good” pain from “bad” pain. Bad pain is often the beginning of an injury and you should deal with it as son as possible. Obviously, if the pain persists beyond a couple of days and is not related to muscle soreness, then an actual injury may have, in fact, occurred and it is highly recommended that you seek professional medical help as soon as possible to lessen the downtime required for the injury to heal successfully.

  We can classify pain into two categories. (1) Sharp pain that comes on very quickly and is quite intense and localized to a specific area is usually a good indicator that an injury has occurred. Common examples would be pulling a hamstring muscle, twisting an ankle or other readily apparent and obvious damage. (2) Pain that started out as a minor annoyance and has built gradually over time into significant discomfort, such as ITB, Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis or stress fractures, can only be healed by reduction, or in the case of a stress fracture cessation, of training. Such this type of pain should not be ignored and should be properly diagnosed by competent medical professionals.

  Any of the above types of injuries can really curtail your ability to exercise; therefore, prevention and early identification of these injuries and associated pains is essential. Good form, proper stretching and strengthening exercises, common sense, and adherence to proper training and recovery guidelines goes a very long way towards preventing injuries.

  Most minor injuries respond well to RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression & Elevation). Let’s use the typical twisted ankle as an example. You twist your ankle. If the twist is not severe, you may be able to continue, albeit at a slower pace as needed to get back to the start.

Upon arrival, apply ice to the area damaged by the twisting. Using an ACE bandage, one can adhere the ice pack with a little bit of compression onto the injured area. The bandage should be wrapped firmly but no so tight that blood flow is inhibited. One then should prop the foot up so that the injured area is higher than the heart. You may need to lie down to achieve the proper position. The ice should be left on for no more than 20 minutes at a time, and there should be a thin piece of material between the ice and your skin to prevent ice burn. The process can and should be repeated throughout the rest of the day and at least twice a day until there is no more pain and you have resumed full training. It is important to continue to ice for a few days after everything seems fine since inflammation can easily reoccur.

  Elevation is also quite important and is often overlooked in the healing process. Elevating the injured area above the heart slows the normal blood flow to the area, which reduces swelling and allows the body to heal the tissue faster.

  When using an ACE bandage, one needs to make sure it is not wrapped too tight or this will restrict blood flow to the rest of the limb or in this case the foot. The bandage should make X’s when wrapping around the foot, and it should be snug, but not so tight that the skin color of your toes is different from the skin color above the ankle.

  Rest the injury. If you have consulted a doctor, wait for your doctor’s okay before resuming your training. Starting back too soon can cause a reinjury.

  Anti-inflammatories (such as Advil) are quite useful as well. The big caveat here is not to become dependent on their use in order to continue your exercise program. Always follow the directions on the bottle, and do not exceed the maximum dosage. While these drugs can relieve the pain temporarily, their primary use with respect to exercise and related injuries is to minimize inflammation to the injured area. During the injury/recovery period, it has been shown that taking these drugs prior to starting to exercise greatly enhances the anti-inflammatory affect, which can speed the healing process. In addition to this, one can also use these drugs, again always following a doctor’s advice and/or the directions on the bottle, throughout the course of a day to create a systemic anti-inflammatory effect.

  If the injury does not respond to anti-inflammatories and/or RICE treatments as recommended by a health professional, then it is imperative that you stop working out, and seek further professional medical help.

For certain injuries and muscle pain after runs you can try some gentle massage as well as RICE. Be sure to not massage the area too hard and inflame the injury further, nice and easy does it. Massage can be done with the usual fingers etc., a frozen Dixie cup of ice or a foam roller or any number of massage devices.

Hey there everyone. As I’m sure you all know, the date of the LA Marathon has been moved a couple of weeks earlier to Monday, February 16th. So in light of the change in date we made a few modifications to our training schedule. So here it is. Be sure to update your calendars accordingly. Just click the image below to take a look at it.