Introduction
This week we take a fascinating look at a topic close to my heart, getting injured through running! As this study agrees, once again rehabilitation is growing up and we must look beyond our static structure and see what is happening “in motion” – as this is when the body experiences the large forces that have the potential to injure. If the body does a good job navigating movement with the efficient contribution from its working parts, injury is much less likely to occur.
Article Title
Lower limb alignment characteristics are not associated with running injuries in runners: prospective cohort study, by Hespanhol Junior, De Carvalho, Costa & Lopes, in European Journal of Sport Science (2016)
Background
MEASUREMENTS: At the start of this prospective trial, several biomechanical measures were recorded. Leg length discrepancy was recorded with a measuring tape in a supine position. Q-angle was measured while standing in a normal position, using a goniometer. Subtalar angle was also measured in a standing position, with a digital camera positioned at the same height as the feet. Plantar arch index was also measured using a digital camera, while standing barefoot on a podoscope with the feet 7.5cm apart. The medial longitudinal arch was defined as either high (≤0.21), normal (0.21 – 0.26) or low (≥0.26). Running-related injury was self-reported biweekly, and runners were defined as injured if they missed >1 session as a result of musculoskeletal pain.
POPULATION: 89 recreational runners, aged 44.2 ± 10.6 years, who had been running for <6 months and were injury-free at the start of the trial. The runners were allocated into those who had never been injured previously, and those who had been injured before.
Conclusion
The researchers concluded that the prospective rate of new running-related injury in recreational runners is 7.7 injuries per 1,000 hours of exposure, and that most injuries occur in the lower limb, knee and lumbar spine. However, there were no associations between the risk of running-related injury and any lower limb alignment measures. Therefore, the causes of this relatively high incidence of injury due to running should be further investigated. Other likely causes from previous literature could include: Faulty running technique/biomechanics, weakness or restriction around key joints (as opposed to their static alignment and/or poorly designed increases in training volume, ie. too much increase too soon.
The other likely factor from last week’s article is that the role of the strong muscles and joints of the hips and pelvis explain a larger proportion of the variance in knee pain than does the lower limb. So strengthen around your hips, core and pelvis and learn to move better – this will help your knees.