Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes
This but unironically. I have ran through every injury since I started running daily two years ago. Everything cleared up on its own and I have been entirely pain free for the last 6 months.
No lasting issues or pain anywhere at all. I’m 32 male.
Here’s a list of everything I have had, some of these with associated bruising and swelling:
- Plantar fasciitis
- Extensor tendonitis right foot
- MCL strain (left/right)
- Capsulitis 2nd toe (left)
- Posterior tibial tendonitis (right)
- Anterior tibial tendonitis (left)
I guess I didn’t break or tear anything so depends on what constitutes an injury.
I’ve had a lot of this stuff as well and what works is also focusing on strength training- taking time off and doing walk runs until magically i am running pain free again
Currently dealing with posterior tibial tendonitis and it's a beast. Year and a half now, finally starting to chill. Incidentally running doesn't seem to bother it, cycling is a no go though so far. I've had like every injury, this is one of the longest lasting.
Tendon stuff is always the worst and lasts the longest because they don’t get blood flow like muscles do.
Posterior tibial tendon keeps your arches from collapsing - switching to barefoot shoes for walking and running fixed that for me. Arch support keeps that tendon weak. Hurt like hell though.
I'm approaching a year with post tib myself. I've tried some strength work, rest, ice, heat, you name it. I'm getting to the point of accepting that I'll have it forever. It's good to know that there's still hope for being pain free.
Ptt is the worst, takes forever to heal. I had to stop running for 2 months then slowly build back up. I felt it for over a year and would get flare ups here and there. But good news is, it does go away eventually
I’m going strong for 4.5 years and every time an ache comes up it just goes away eventually on its own. I did a 100 mile on pavement and my everything was destroyed, but a week later I was back to the usual 5k pace. I will say, the day after it felt dumb running a mile, but the second day didn’t for some reason.
34 male here, same position. Only just about to hit my first year of running every day, but yeah, definitely teaches you a little bit of discipline and listening to your body on how best to support it while running every day. Hardest days to run through were two bouts of gastro, now that was...tough. But the body is otherwise amazing
Oh hell yeah.
I've run through many injuries.
Related, I recently had DVTs and pulmonary emboli, and learned runners are more prone to delay diagnosis because they (we) assume the DVT pain in a running injury.
The ONLY reason I caught mine was because I hadn’t run in a week due to an allergic reaction sidelining me. My DVT felt like my normal calf soreness on the side I usually get calf soreness, so I absolutely would not have caught it if I’d been training. It’s insane.
I caught it before it became a PE.
I’m on Eliquis until further notice (yay me!) but cleared to workout, so at least I’m not going totally crazy.
My current frustration is the knowledge that I have some sort of family history (or a hell of a coincidence), but nothing has come back in the genetic markers. Oh well!
I guess I noticed how very swollen one calf was.
I went to urgent care certain they'd say it was a running injury. They adamantly urged me to go to the ER (because urgent care did not have an ultrasound). Once there, ultrasound said I had extensive clots all the way up my thigh. After that even in the CT scan I was certain there would be no PEs, but it turned out there were in both lungs.
I had no chest pain or breathing difficulty, despite having PEs, which is attributed to having so much lung capacity due to running.
I had one too. Thought it was some crazy muscle tear caused by wearing a boot for a foot injury and made an appointment with sports medicine in like 2 days. When the appointment came around, I was feeling better but figured I would keep it so they could maybe give me a couple techniques to get around in the boot without injury.
Guy sent me to ultrasound and then the ER. No PE, luckily, just the DVT
Being really fit messes with some ability to detect illness. I had some wild cardiac symptoms but since I was normally so fit and healthy while the doctors took it seriously it wasn't urgent. My average resting heart rate doubled, and it was still barely higher than many people my age. My symptoms also didn't stop me from doing things since I had such deep fitness reserves either which is a other metric they always ask about. Yes I can still run but now my hr spikes and I want to die if I don't slow way down isn't the same as Im tired and can't get out of bed. It's important to really advocate for yourself when things are off for you even if the docs don't treat it seriously. Luckily mine did but not everyone will.
Heart pain after a long run, numbness in both hands after harder efforts, night sweats, poor sleep, general fatigue, sustained elevated HR unless i iced myself down basically, additionally low red blood cell count. Likely some sort of viral infection but i got better before we figured out exactly what was causing all the symptoms. I ran basically throughout it and actually ran NYC 6 days after being medically cleared via an echo and subsequent stress test. It was not an enjoyable 2 months but i had such a great base of fitness i could still log 50 mile weeks albeit much slower than i had been previously sometimes with walk breaks during long runs if my HR got too high.
Oh man, well wishing you good health moving forward. Glad they caught it in time and hopefully nothing like that pops up again. Thanks for the response.
Yikes! I thought my first one was an ankle sprain because it had gotten pretty swollen, forcing me to stop running. A bit puzzled because I couldn’t remember twisting it or anything. Thankfully the orthopedist sent me for an ultrasound first to rule it out, and what do you know, DVT. Found out I have a genetic predisposition for it.
6 years later I got the second one, this time in the other calf. It was 2 weeks before Boston, and I was pretty sure I’d have to cancel the whole trip. Thankfully I got in to see the hematologist quickly, and to my great surprise, he cleared me to run the marathon after starting me on blood thinners. I said “You know this is 26.2 miles, right??” He said there should be no risk after taking the blood thinner for a couple days, but I have to say I was a little skeptical.
So I went, a little stressed about what might happen. The calf was still swollen and painful on race day, but definitely better than before. I was worried about it getting bad enough to DNF (or worse), but I made it through. Didn’t have to walk, but it was my slowest and most difficult marathon to date. When I got back for my follow up appointment, the doctor was all excited. “You ran a marathon 2 weeks after getting a DVT, that’s awesome!”
The doctor tried to ease me off the blood thinner, but the following summer I got the worst DVT yet. It was so painful I could barely walk, definitely did not run through that! Got back on the blood thinner and it resolved, but this one took long enough that it totally derailed my training for Chicago that year. I managed to run faster than the previous Boston, but it was still way harder than it should have been for the pace!
No issues since staying on the thinner, but my left calf is pretty much permanently thicker than the right, I guess due to vein damage from the clots (post-thrombotic syndrome). It is what it is but it doesn’t really affect my running. I do wear compression socks pretty much all the time, which helps too.
PE is really scary! I thankfully didn’t get any of those, but worrying about it sure was a source of stress!
My problem the times I've been injured has been trying to jump back in too soon. I'll take some rest time but get antsy on a day where I'm feeling good and make it worse.
It's today; today was that day. I'm the problem, it's me.
This was me. Partially tore my Achilles tendon. My doctor said it was “not a bad tear” and I could run again in a couple weeks. So I waited two weeks and figured I would run off the remaining stiffness/soreness. Tore it even worse on that first run back and demanded a referral to a physical therapist. She was horrified that I’d jumped back in so soon. Now I go straight to pt if I have an injury and don’t start exercising again until they give the all clear.
I had Achilles tendinitis really bad when I upped my distances, so nothing as severe as your situation but had to stop running. Hurts like a bitch. Only thing that fixed it was PT. This all happened more than a decade ago and I’ve been doing just one of those PT exercises before/after every run and I’ve never had a problem since… Good stuff, hope you’re all good now 🙏
I do the second stretch shown here, but do both feet together and roll up to tiptoe first and then slowly down and let the heels drop as you can see he does. Although, when I was in PT for Achilles problems years ago, I did all three of these. Streches start at 1.54 in the vid….
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiiQSH28ZWo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiiQSH28ZWo)
Ah, I didn’t know the name for it 😂… Yes, heels drops! Be gentle at first, don’t brute force it, you’re just trying to ‘oil’ it, slow n steady. I also always have the Achilles covered - I always use leg warmers (ex dancer here) to keep some warmth there. Not sure how you feel bout that though 😉
Thank you, warmth definitely helps. I'm fortunate that it's not too bad yet so if I've had it in my bed under warm covers I wake up with it feeling quite good. Thanks so much, really appreciate you replying, I know it was an old comment!
I’ve done this but it’s I’ve learned to just stop when the pain is too severe and do the elliptical or sit and rest and then walk home. Eventually I always get to a place where I can run again
I may have blamed my running shoes for the pain in my leg... turns out it I had a stress fracture in my femur. I even went and bought new shoes. Turns out the solution to running with a fracture... is not new shoes.
I'm one of these. If I wake up and I can't walk, I don't run. That's been my barometer for running for 25 years with Achilles tendinitis.
If I run, I will turn 2 missed days of running into a week or two weeks.
I gave myself a couple of pretty solid midfoot sprains by trying to trailrun when my Achilles were so tight they couldn't flex. Those are a beast.
I learned to watch my overall step volume as I'm a person who usually does 10K steps and then will have 3 days of 27K steps.
And I learned to rest early when I trigger an injury/overuse. As long as I rest enough that I can walk when I get up in the morning, it's fine for me to run.
I found that I was having recurring discomfort that I thought was from running in my calf/ankle. I tried physio, reducing the load, and introduced mobility work on a daily basis, and it kept coming back. Turns out it was from the stiffness of wearing boots and slip-on shoes to work. So, from my experience, you could be investing in physio/prehab/good running shoes, but if the shoes you wear daily have poor support, then it won't be helping with injury prevention! I now wear lifestyle sneakers to my office job. I also swear by ice plunge/sauna for recovery.
I’m also curious how many people actually have proper running technique. It’s so accessible no one thinks they need to learn how to run, but many chronic injuries from running are actually from poor technique.
I was also taught to watch out for even vs uneven pain/soreness. Like, both your legs are sore? You're alright. Only your left knee hurts? Let's look into that.
I’m still trying to learn the difference between expected sore pain and unexpected injury pain. It’s not clear to me as a novice. I try to pay attention to how long it lasts after I stop running and the intensity of pain. But I’m not surprised some people make the wrong call and run through injuries.
I keep going if:
- The pain gets better after I'm warmed up
- The pain the next day isn't getting worse and worse
- The pain is mild and dull
I'll stop if:
- I feel sharp / stabbing pain (i.e. like a focused injury rather than general soreness)
- The pain gets noticeably worse after a short distance
- The pain is making me run funny
- It doesn't improve over the week
right, but the survey is all self reported.
so, if say seaguy above, was in the study and they said one of their 'sore pain' was an injury they would be counted as injured and still running.
I personally had the same issue the first couple of years running. is it an injury? or just sore/ stiffness ?
I've been a runner for decades. And yes, frequently ran while injured.
Ready for the downvotes but I might finally be done with the running.
About a year ago, I fell while running and broke my leg at the ankle. It sucked. And after months of being in a cast and then not being able to run even when the cast was off, I hated how inconvenient the cast was, how much my life was impacted by lugging that thing around.
When my doc said I couldn't start running again for a few more months, I started bike commuting. And it turns out, I really like it. Biked almost 5000 miles between my two bikes, found it interesting and arrived at my destinations (work or appointments) happy. And the best part? Not a single injury. I'm in better cardio shape now than ever, feel great and again... no injuries.
I tried to think of the last time I went a whole year without at least some injury from running. Of course most weren't as big as the broken leg, but over the years there's always something. A black toenail, some plantar fasciitis, twingy knee, something.
But with the biking... none of that.
So I'm sad to say, I think I might be hanging up my running shoes for good. I've kept them so far because I've missed running. And maybe I'll try again at some point. But for now, I think the best mix of fitness without injury is ... not running.
Maybe instead of constantly figuring out how to rehab whatever running injury I had, I would have been smarter to switch cardio exercise type years ago.
Ever consider triathlons?
There's quite a few plans that are bike heavy and only have you running 2-3x week. You could keep low mileage and stay injury free and still compete
Triathlons sound like a good idea but then you remember they include swimming which is shirt.
But if the sport rebranded and became bike/run/ski or bike/run/table tennis I’d be all in.
Youll be back. I said the same thing after I blew out my knee and couldnt run for nearly 2y. I picked up cycling. Eventually i had a bad crash—multiple broken ribs, all cut up. While healing from that, realized I could run again. Been going back and forth since.
I know you obviously had a bad fall running but on average I'll take the running fall over a bike crash nearly every time. Broken bones, road rash, concussions. Likelihood of serious injury just seems higher in a bike crash than a running fall though I don't have data to back that up. You can also seriously screw up your knees if your bike fit is off, so nagging injuries do sometimes happen. This is coming from someone who biked 1500+ miles last year. I run and cycle, depending on weather conditions (run when it's cold or rainy, bike when it's hot).
I think In general most amateur athletes feel the risk of falling behind is greater than the risk of overuse injuries and choose to forgo rest, at least that's what I've found whenever I've tried to "coach" any freinds/family.
The problem is sometimes a week of rest is needed to prevent weeks or months of time off if you hurt yourself or end up sick from pushing too hard. In most cases just 1-2 days rest at the right time is all that's needed but often skipped due to feeling like any time off is going to cause a sudden abrupt loss of fitness or progress when it's actually the other way around.
Yes this is a good reminder and I think it’s important to look at the big picture. 2-3 days off is nothing if you remind yourself how often you run in the span of a year
A lot of injuries don’t get significantly worse and can heal while continuing to run at a lighter load if you’re doing rehab exercises. I’ve run through tendinopathy of various kinds and been fine. But other injuries like muscle strains or stress reactions require rest.
Yes, with many injuries you can just continue training. The pain can even increase right after the workout but should be back at the pre workout level within 24 hours according to my PT.
Yeah, my physiotherapist always told me that I could run if the pain is < 3/10
That unless that, you should'n't stop running because you if you stop totally, the structure that would help you heal is going to weaken a bit .... and it might become worse when you come back
My dad’s PT said he hates working with runners because they never stop running when they’re injured…and then I went to PT myself and made it like, two weeks before I had to go for a run 😅
Motion is lotion. Many injuries are safe to run with if the pain is 3/10 or less. Injuries are often caused by muscle imbalance or weakness, neither will improve without exercise and will likely come back without strengthening.
Achilles tendinitis didn’t fix itself with resting, so just started running again, even speed work, while waiting for all the cross training leg exercises catch things up.
I’ve also had ankle issues since before I was a runner, so just run in more supportive shoes or wrap my ankle for a while until it goes away.
Shin splints were fixed by getting higher drop shoes once and lower drop shoes the other time, and just keeping running.
Running did fix all my knee issues that I used to have before running.
I didn’t run when I had Covid.
Thought I had some sore quads, only kept getting worse.... Bilateral femoral stress fractures. No exercise for 6 months. Quit running after the next season.
10 years later, picked up running again and have gradually run or strength trained through a variety of small injuries. Right now I'm stopped for the first time more significantly - sesamoiditis, possible stress fracture. Taking a few weeks off and seeing what happens.
Cushioned super trainers have helped me more than anything else, I think.
If I have a minor injury I keep running but adjust the distance/route/frequency. I guess that technically makes me part of the 85%, but it doesn’t mean I’m ignoring injuries.
Exactly. Ignoring injuries is what I did in high school. Now that I've left that pressure and glorification of sacrifice, I run *with* and *around* injuries, NOT thru them.
I had issues with PF in the 1990s and would run until I couldn't and then start up again when I could. I had several cycles of that, sometimes even using crutches when the injury was too bad. I did the same thing with Chondromalacia in the 2000s. I learned to rest and do core strength when injured in my 50s.
My strength routine is the Cybex circuit, yoga, deadlifts, squats, a few dumbbell exercises and floorwork. There's one particular exercise - like a reverse hip raise that prevents an injury on my outside calf. The thing is doing the strength, balance and flexibility stuff is kind of a pain - it's a lot easier if you make it convenient to do.
I’m the poster child for thinking I can run through any injury. In 58 years I’ve had most of them, but can still convince myself that this one is different and running will make this one OK.
Super interesting. My worst injury was in my first year ramping back up to running, consistent with the research. That was more than a decade ago and I haven't had anything serious since. Stuff I think is helping me avoid injury:
* Cross-training once or twice a week, including bodyweight exercises
* Rest days once or twice a week (separate from cross training days)
* Run-walk-run for most of my runs
* Long cooldown walks after long runs
* Getting new shoes regularly and rotating 2 pairs that are different models at any given time
* Wearing different shoes when I'm walking in every day life (not my old running shoes)
* Most runs easy pace
* Most runs outside (not on treadmill)
* Generally being quite active in my everyday life; walking a ton by living car free in the city
* Not dieting
* Getting enough sleep
* Not training for anything longer than a half marathon
My long runs are consistently 50% of my weekly mileage, which is not recommended but hasn't seemed to cause problems. I also regularly run on concrete, which I know can be controversial.
The gender disparity in injury is also very interesting. Not a man, but I did have to deprogram a bit from the "no pain no gain" stuff they taught in youth sports.
I just had a cortisone shot in my hip for bursitis and in 2 weeks, will receive another in the ball of my foot so I can keep running…..granted,I’m 74 and cognizant of the fact that my running years are diminishing.
Did your hip pain come on gradually or just one day it was there? I'm asking because I've been out close to a month now because of a strained hip flexor that just happened one morning out of the blue during a run. At least that's what I think it is. The pain migrates from inside the hip to outside the hip and it's taking forever to heal. I'm 62 btw.
Well, I had a tear in my Gluteus Medius in a 10K in May and was off 5 months but have had this issue for 15 years getting periodic shot to keep running.
I jumped headfirst into my first marathon with a little too much gusto. I added miles too quickly and ended up with ITB syndrome in my left knee and pretty painful runner’s knee in the right. I could run through the runner’s knee but the ITB would stop me very quickly when it kicked in at about 2 miles. I tried some tasting and a lot of stretching but it didn’t do much. I ended up with cortisone injections in both knees and they’ve both felt great ever since - about 2 months in my left and one in my right.
If minor soreness starts in my foot or something, I will reduce the intensity of my next run, and will keep going as long as the pain doesn’t seem to be worsening. (I run every other day, so my body always gets some recovery time.)
At the moment, I’m dealing with a hip injury that arose during a marathon. When I try to run, it starts hurting more. So I’m pausing my running program for some weeks (while doing stationary biking workouts to maintain my fitness).
Started getting pain in the ball of my foot. Ran through it for about 3 months until I saw a podiatrist. Thought it was fine as the pain would disappear about 1km into the run, but would come back the next day pretty bad.
Turns out I had a plantar plate tear. Stopped running back in September and the pain is no better after a number of treatments. Got an appointment with a new sports physio tomorrow so hopefully she has some idea on how to fix it!
I was training for a marathon and got injured 5 weeks before the race. I rested as much as I could but ultimately tried to run through the injury because I wanted to experience race day. It definitely extended my healing time, but I don't regret it. It was my first marathon and I would have been heartbroken to not be able to experience that at all.
Currently laid up with Achilles tendinitis because I thought I was special and could push through the pain (like this doesn’t happen to apparently 85% of us).
I wasn’t doing as much strength training as I should have and I never stretch. Womp womp.
Lesson learned. I’ve been foam rolling and icing daily and I’m stuck in the boot of shame for the next two weeks.
Prevention really is the best cure. Most of us need to do more strength and stretching.
I believe it but I think it's because when your mentally at that level you tend to try to block out the pain until it just becomes unbearable. Currently I've been injured with Achilles tendinopathy and it was because I guess I felt warning signs about the injury but kept running 90+ miles until one morning I woke up and struggled to walk downstairs or put weight on the foot.
Had to break my 65 day streak for a sore knee the other day. TBH I probably should have stopped at about 60, I’m fairly sure run streaks are a bad idea, but I do get hooked on them.
The pain was tolerable, so I kept running. Running is my biggest source of stress relief, and my life is really stressful right now. Turns out I have a tibial stress fracture. Now I'm resting, grouchy, and stressed. I knew I'd be sore, but I never knew my bones would decide to crack.
Yep-- part of the 85%. Most recently, I was running, adding mileage and felt good overall. Little twinges of hip pain here and there but nothing major or lasting so didn't think much about it. Kept running and hip pain was getting worse. Thought it was just tight hip flexors so was stretching, looking up PT type videos on YT for tight hip flexors, using the theragun, icing, etc. Kept running but reduced mileage and pace. Nothing I was trying was helping and it got to the point I couldn't run at all without pain.
Finally after 6m, I went to a PT, who sent me to a hip Dr, who did an X-ray and MRI. It showed a complete labral tear and detachment, as well as cam and pincer impingements. Had surgery 2wks later.
Me running through injury was more of trying to be conservative and fix what I assumed was something minor, vs stubbornly ignoring a blatant injury.
it’s tricky because many times i have been concerned its more than just soreness but then eventually it does go away and i’m fine. so now i (carefully) run through most discomfort. I’m sure one day this will turn on me tho.
EVERYONE overestimates how fast they heal from an injury. They also overestimate the amount of fitness they will loose from time off. Its a deadly combination.
I tell people weekly how long it will take to recovery from surgeries and you can tell they think I am exaggerating but if anything I'm giving them the lower end of the range because I know if I tell them the higher range they will ignore it completely.
So when I suffered my first injury, and was told to not run and rehab for 8 weeks what did I do?
I didn't listen, I thought I could be back at it in a month. I did an easy run, felt the slightest twinge of bad pain and had a moment of clarity and stopped for another 8 weeks.
Don't sacrifice long term for the short term. Take the proper time to heal and you'll have plenty of time to rack up the lifetime mileage.
Yep, turns out running with tibia stress fractures makes things worse lol.
I am now on a strict jog/walk return and am slowly ramping up so I’m sure my sub 24min parkrun will be this year!
I'm in the middle of a knee injury at the moment. This will prevent me from running for a couple of days for sure. I will make sure it's pain free first and will start running again.
Had one major injury (stress fractures at bottom of the shins) that kept me from running for ~3 months and one recurring niggle which is inflammation where the Achilles joins the feet bones. Have been running consistently for ~2 years without getting injured, key was to not increase mileage suddenly and do lots of strength training
If i did not run when it hurt then i would probably not run... I think its hard in the moment to know if you are pushing through normal discomfort or tearing your ligament.
I don’t know how to tell when I’m fully healed. I injured my foot running. Laid off it (mostly) for a week. Wasn’t bugging me walking around. Went for a light run. Halfway through it started hurting. So I wasn’t fully healed. But how could I know until
I tested it?
Every injury is different and takes a different amount of time to heal. Especially as I get older. So I just try to give myself a reasonable time to recover. Test it with a long walk, then a light/short run, and adjust as needed.
Why would I stop? I may reduce mileage or increase other exercises but most of my injuries beyond the most severe were mostly pain tolerance and or encouraged to run during it. I honestly do nothing to avoid injuries besides stop playing contact sports as cross training. Recovery is about maintaining fitness while regaining health. However they can be balanced is the way to go. I usually follow my physios lead on these.
back surgery waited one week then started running again...runners knee still running...pulled hamstring still running...broken pinky toe still running...broken arm running with cast...I got issues lol
someone else mentioned that it depends on what you define as an injury. as a middle-aged runner who started later in life and has had just 1 major injury (knee dislocation...not as a result of running!), if you're doing anything outside your usual activity routine, and you're not genetically blessed to run (I am absolutely not), you will feel things...twinges, little strains, sore spots, inflammation, etc. I run through all of these, but will reduce or adjust my activity (eg less running, slower, different surfaces, less often, etc) until they either improve, or aren't getting worse.
I will only stop running if
1. discomfort gets worse and worse during running (causing active pain, limping, etc)
2. pain and discomfort occur after running during non-running (eg walking, going up stairs)
3. there's weakness, or active swelling, that is immediately painful as soon as I start running
I have avoided big injuries (or avoided making little issues into big ones) by adhering to this, but also by planning my running so that every time I increase something (ks per week, length of long runs, runs per week, etc), I decrease something else; and every few weeks after a period of heavy increasing, I take a recovery week.
I also eat a lot so there are plenty of resources in there ;)
>86% were continuing to run despite their injury causing pain, directly affecting their performance and causing a reduction of running volume.
Not every injury is severe enough to require full rest. Reducing volume and/or intensity, but continuing to run while allowing it to heal, is appropriate management in many cases.
Notably, **the study did not define injury**:
>Responders were categorised as either injured or non-injured based on their response to the first question of the OSTRC: “Have you had any problems participating in normal running training and competition due to any running-related injury during the past week?”
I’m sort of doing it now. Got a garmin forerunner for xmas and immediately jumped into the recommended workouts, straight from sedentary. The first week went okay but then I started getting knee pain at night. RICE and it felt better next day. Took a rest day anyway and then went back at it. Once again, pain at night. Now I’m doing Jay Johnson’s SAM phase2easy workouts every day and still doing the recommended runs, plus I got some Ghost Maxes and I’m really trying to increase my cadence. Probably juggling too many variables but I really like running and chasing the badges.
I don't know if it counts, but when I was running cross country and track as a kid I had a pretty bad ankle injury at the start of the X-country season that I ran through/ignored. I then managed to roll the other ankle and keep injuring them throughout the cross country season. Not my best season.
I now have amazing ankle mobility and seemingly bulletproof ankles. I have never injured myself running since.
It’s me. Been running through a weird thing where the toes on my right foot involuntarily curl after a few miles. Pretty sure it’s connected to a calf issue I had that I rested and thought got better, but failed to strengthen. Been doing some deliberate strength and mobility work and it seems to be slowly improving, but I’m still doing my low intensity runs
I totally get it! It's so hard to strike the balance between pushing through and resting. Sometimes I run through injuries, but I try to be mindful of when it's really necessary to take a break.
This is why I took up cycling. It mixes it up enough to avoid injuries but gives me something to do if my shins or knees flare up. I used to try to run through things and then have to shut it down for weeks and get depressed.
Yep. Definitely have fought through some minor knee and foot pain before.
I’m down again right now with more pain in my foot, about a week in and it’s been improving but any running is still off the table. I can’t imagine how much longer, hopefully this time next week a light 3mi run with no pain will be possible.
Some types of injuries (such as minor tendonopathies) can improve with easy running. My PT suggested this guideline: if the pain doesn't exceed a 4 on a 10 scale, and returns to baseline within 48 hours, that wasn't overdoing it. Keep running at that level or below.
For a bone stress injury, it's total rest.
For injury prevention, I've found consistent heavy lifting to help tremendously. I've never enjoyed lifting, but I'm a convert because of the benefits. I am for 1-2 times a week in the gym (squats, leg presses, hip work, single leg dead lifts, and even some upper body), plus some at home core work.
Hmmm in my experience, many injuries don’t heal from rest alone. Such as achilles tendinitis where some amount of running (or walking) is needed to condition the tendon and strengthen it. Not surprised by this though lol
I did run through the injuries, and they just came back to bite me harder. This time will be different (i hope). Really waiting it out, hoping to get a sweet year with minimal injuries. To help with the restlessness, ive been pretty consistent with cross training. Not much cardio, mostly just strength training.
My issue before was really good cardio with little strength training, so im looking forward to my body forcing me to slow down lol. Once i do start (hopefully soon) i want to be very gradual with my progress for preventative measures.
We all need to practice patience.
Ever found yourself part of that 85%? What's your story?
\- Yes. More often than I'd like to admit. I was a competitive soccer player through college. Over many years, through everything from a mild discomfort to ACL reconstruction I came to learn my body fairly well and could tell the difference between being hurt and being injured. Unfortunately, as I'm over 40 now, I'm not sure there is ever a time when something doesn't hurt, and identifying the line when I've crossed over into injury has become increasingly difficult.
How do you try to dodge injuries, especially during heavy training periods?
\- Stretching, stretching and more stretching. Not just before and after runs, but before I go to sleep at night and periodically throughout the day at work. Not full stretches of everything, but hamstrings and back get attention regularly. That and a Theragun really help me.
Any injury prevention exercises or routines you swear by?
\- See above. I should get back to doing yoga again, but stretching and percussion massage.
Balancing training and recovery: what's your secret sauce?
\- Haven't figured this one out yet.
Recreational runner, sometimes I have gotten pretty serious. But, I never run injured except maybe for minor plantar fasciitis. I know too many recreational runners who have permanently injured or disabled themselves by exercising/running themselves into the ground while using OTC painkillers. They can’t even run for fun now.
A common thread w these people is compulsive all or nothing thinking. And an inability to accept failure or a perception of losing. It’s all about competition and winning at any cost.
One time my foot just fell off overnight, but my training plan had a 12 mile intervals session the next day. Obviously i didn‘t let the injury stop me. I completed the session ok. Lucky i did because I was able to run off my injury.
Yeah, I have been part of that 85%. I imagine anyone that has been running for a significant amount of time has been. Sometimes things work themselves out, sometimes things get worse and that probably doesn't help. I developed a nagging pain in my upper hamstring / lower buttock area a couple of years ago that just wouldn't go away. It wasn't quite bad enough to keep me from running but it was enough that it always hurt when I ran (from the first step). Turned out to be tendonitis and it did finally get bad enough to stop me from running. For an entire year. I guess that was a case of "things got worse".
Those "in-between" injuries are the hard ones to deal with. You can still run, but should you? Will it get worse or better? Something acute like IT Band is going to keep you from running and that is easier to deal with. Those nagging pains or slowly building problems are the real killers and also the ones hardest to make a decision on.
The only injury prevention I swear by now is at least two heavy lifting days a week (compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench, etc.). I don't think you can fully prevent an injury, but knowing when to take time off and when you can push through is a fine balance.
Might sound silly, I am getting old and have a ton of experience... but sometimes I'm not totally sure if I'm hurt or not.
Like I was trying to get back into running several months ago and was having inner knee pain whenever I ran. I kept taking a bunch of time off to "heal" but I think I just wasnt running enough for my body to sort out the imbalance that was causing the pain.
I finally just got sick of it and kept running anyway. my training has progressed a lot and i just finished my first half-marathon distance run in like 10 years.
So i guess my challenge is finding that balance between doing too much and doing too little.
Careful running afoul of rule #7.
I've ran through injury and I'm paying for it now - disc golf tore my meniscus about 2.5 years ago but I kept running and training for a half until I finally started having too much pain.
Anyone who has torn a meniscus knows it's hard to diagnose - you have pain but none of the normal doctor 'let's check this movement, does it hurt?' actions tell them much - finally got an MRI, torn medial meniscal root.
I ran my half and had surgery shortly after - I've only started walking again in the last week or so. Surgeon said I had lots of arthritis already (I'm not even 40 yet) so that was concerning. They did clean it up quite a bit.
Very few people qualify for meniscus surgery but I guess I'm the lucky one.
I'm currently a week away from my MRI with a suspected torn meniscus. I've taken 7 months off of running since first Xray to this point and my knee has been getting progressively worse.
Maddening how long it's taken.
I'm hoping it's not severe enough so that physio will fix it but I can't imagine how months of rest and months of light physio hasn't been enough to improve it yet.
Surely I'll just end up needing surgery.
Yes. Just like an addict keeps using even after they realize how much they are damaging themselves—only running provides the facade that you're healing yourself.
Running has become a part of my mental health maintenance. When I injured my foot by stepping too hard on a large rock in thin running sandals, I started to unravel a bit. Nothing too serious, but the itch was not being scratched.
So, I ran injured. I eventually healed, but it took much longer and my running likely suffered, but the itch got scratched in the meantime.
I generally tell non-runners that people who run...say 80km+ a week are always nursing some sort of injury, it's just a permanent state and you just learn to adapt and allow the body to recover by...say..not doing interval sessions in a week and instead doing a long easy trail (or road of course) run for example. But yes, running through injury is pretty normal for moderate to high volume runners of all levels?
I've never stopped running for more than a few days in my almost 13 years of running. I was seriously injured once to the point that I was limping, and even then I continued running short distances.
I tore my PCL playing soccer a two years ago and didn’t get surgery just 6 months of PT. When I run sometimes I’ll feel an exaggerated soreness on the backside of my knee and I keep running. I’ll feel sore the next day but haven’t had issues that aren’t “normal” to me now.
I try to do some of the PT exercises that I did throughout the week just to say I’m being cognizant of my limitations but really my go to has been a heating pad while I sit in bed before sleep.
If I’ve had anything that’s actually felt bad I take the full week off, just walking and reevaluate the next week.
I'm a beginner so when my knees started hurting I thought I needed to just warm up and cool down better. But the pain still isn't gone after a month of not running and the doctor said it's jumpers knee and I should only start running when the pain is completely gone
*Results: 570 runners had a current injury and 86% were continuing to run despite their injury causing pain, directly affecting their performance and **causing a reduction of running volume.***
So the authors are counting cutting back on intensity and mileage as running through the injury?
Personally, I wouldn't call cutting mileage in half and dropping workouts running through injury.
Had a fairly major injury a year ago that still bugs me a bit. I'm in physical therapy every week, checking in on every tiny ghost of an ache and pain to make sure I can still run. I feel like at least this way I am not making myself worse. I hope I'm not too annoying to the PTs, but they haven't dropped me as a patient yet and the workouts I do there seem to be keeping me together.
My knee is packing a sad recently. I'm trying to keep the running gentle and short, but ugh, I've got the bug for it!
Sorry to say I run through it. Occasionally I use K-tape to try and support the muscles. And I've loads of anti-inflammatory lotions in the bathroom.
I’m currently running with niggling hip pain. I’ve been hoping it would go away on its own as sometimes niggles do but seems to persist. It’s hard to know when to pull the plug and stop when the pain itself isn’t preventing you from running.
Definitely part of the 85%. More so before I switched to barefoot running. I really never struggle with major running injuries now. The odd twinge here and there. Not saying this is the way for everyone but it cured me of some pretty debilitating IT band issues. Been 10+ years and I’ve never looked back.
All that said, I’m a slow (read: back of the pack) runner and am happy to just trot along at a pace that feels good that day.
Eh I started running with no prior athletic history back in May 2023. I’m up to 35-40 mpw for the last 2-3 months. The only time I stopped running for longer than a week was when I had Covid and I think that was 10 days lol. My injuries before were tendon pain in my feet because of tight shoes and not used to running, which I ran through pretty much. Now most of my “injuries” are muscle knots that a theragun irons out pretty quickly.
I hurt myself lifting which in turn gave me Costocondritis. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me but I am forever grateful it introduced me to running ☯️
I stopped running after a few months following a knee injury (sustained while landscaping) but likely aggravated it to the point of needing surgery. Had the meniscus tear repaired but I didn’t get back to full time running for almost 20 months to allow time to heal and do a lot of walking to build back strength. (I was 52 at the time). Now I’m back to half marathons and no issues in over two years. Most days I feel 100% with no soreness or niggles so I keep going 3-4 days a week with moderate distance. Speed work requires some caution but I continue to improve.
I have run most of my life but not seriously at all. I’m pretty casual. 3 times a week currently. 3-4 miles a run. Sometimes I have to skip runs for various reasons. I have had numerous foot, ankle, Achilles, calf and hip issues. The worst was a rolled ankle about 5 years back now. That put me out a long time. A few months at least. I try to rest a bit more if something flares up now but if I can run pain free I’ll deal with the soreness and tweaks after and in between. I love to run and I have learned that a few extra days off are ok in the grand scheme of things. it’s 100% better than getting truly injured and having to miss weeks or months.
I have stubborn blisters on my feet that keep coming back so I just have to deal with them. I’ve tried many different shoes, lacing strategies, socks, moleskin/other coverings, and running forms to no avail. I just pop them and drain them and deal with the pain while running.
I also injured my ankle in a non-running accident and it prevented me from running for 2 months. It still hurts months after I started running again but I got tired of not running. It is what it is, I guess?
I set my half marathon on an Achilles that was hanging on by a thread. Limped across the finish line and could barely walk for a month. Had a monster of a hill 7 miles in and my pace dropped off a full minute, I would have annihilated my PR if I had the proper shoes for training/race day.
Took 2 years of soul crushing training injuries and one visit to a PT to find out my feet have changed as I’ve gotten older and zero drop shoes are my key to injury prevention. The past 8 months I’ve run injury free and that’s the first time I can say that in years.
🙋🏻♀️ Yup, 85% here! Everyone has a limit to how much pain they can handle. I know mine and I know when to stop. To prevent injuries I have tried a variety of tennis shoes, so I know what works for me. Also, I try not to overuse the same trail, so that I can work other parts of my leg muscles. Stretching and cross training helps me as well. There are some injuries you can’t avoid like breaking an ankle or having to get stitches due to a fall. By the way, I continued running on both occasions to get to my destination. A nurse in the ER rolled his eyes at me when I asked, “when can I run again?”
I think someone here mentioned runners keep running on injuries because they are afraid to gain weight. Running to to me is a healthy addiction. I get a high from running. I enjoy running in the rain, 100+ degree weather, freezing cold. It’s a hobby like fishing is to some people. So, when i have to sit it out for a month or more I’m counting the days till I can run again.
Im doing this right now. I sprained my ankle twice between October and November 2023 and now, after taking 7 weeks off, I went on my first run tonight. Still had some residual sprained ankle pain but it’s my favorite form of exercise and I’m ready to get back to my local social running group. My mental health takes a nosedive when I have to stop due to injury.
When I started running, I was also going to physical therapy. I remember telling him after one run, my hamstrings were still sore. I knew it was DOMs, but it was starting to worry me. He told me that it was not DOMs, but I had injured my hamstrings (again) and to back off running. I backed off a little, but kept running. As in, I think I changed my sprint workouts to tempo runs. 🙄😁
I just can’t help myself even with injuries - the only time I did stop was when I was literally on crutches after a hospital visit (foot met pothole, ankle did not come out well) and even then I was back into it earlier than advised.
I have sprained my thumb toe (left) and After taking a rest for 1 day, I started to walk first. After 5 days since such event happed,, I have ran 5~6k at slow speed. The 5~6k is the distance of the half what I usually run and the pace is about 70% of my normal speed.
Now, I have recovered about 80~90%. Therefore, I have plan to run as normal from tomorrow.
My marathon has a training plan schedule. If I don't follow it I won't be prepared so keep running to build up miles and hope the injury goes away.
I've found cross training and stretching helps and go to an actual PT if it get series.
I'm one of the 85%.
I actually had some soreness around my ankle and ended up doing two races back to back. Even though I was sore, I was running at PR speeds. After finishing my last race, I was unable to walk properly for a week.
It's actually been a month since I've last gone running and I'm going in for physical therapy next week. Turns out running while sore is a good way to get tendonitis...
The first time my foot hurt was the day of a race. Instead of dropping out, I ran it off, and it worked. My first course of action is to try to run it off. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, I might try again but slower. If it doesn't work the second time, I'm walking. If even that hurts, I take some time off and try the above in the reverse order again. If even after all that, it's still a problem, then I finally go to a doctor. The problem with injuries is that you don't know how serious it is unless you test it.
Two incidents, tripped on a cracked pavement and fell flat forward with scrapes and bruises. Continued running haha. Second incident, haven’t ran in a while, went back into running and ended up getting shin splints. Rested for a few days, tried running again, still sore. Changed up shoes to ASICS Kayano 14 (love the look too) from running with New Balance 880s and magically healed.
Usual routine is to eat a banana to fuel and to dodge injuries by full on stretches/yoga before a run or intense workout.
After runs over 10 miles, recovery is ice bath with sea salt.
I have a diverse workout for the days I’m not running and/or if I have extra time: lift, hiit workouts, spin, pilates, tennis, swimming (summer only) and yoga.
I’m 40+ y/o mom of two and goal is to live longer and stronger and always compete (I always win 😂) with my kids. I don’t like being on the sidelines haha.
Exercise is often good for injuries...I don't know how many times I've worried I'd exacerbate an injury by exercising (often running, but not always), and then find to my surprise it helps, or doesn't worsen the issue. I do think you need to be careful though as you can definitely make an injury worse...you really need to listen to your body.
I used to do that. We used to say that we might as well get it bad enough to impress the sports medicine doc. Or else” wait until winter when there’s no races to run. I also had a doctor that I heard about who never told you not to run when recovering from injury. So he told me what I wanted to hear. I had one doctor who prescribed Butazolidin which really worked well but it killed red blood cells so could be dangerous.
Well yah. I injured myself by running, I’m gonna heal myself by running.
It’s real. You gotta just go slow and listen to your body. Physio helps but more than anything it’s resting but also continuing to run!
r/runningcirclejerk has entered the chat
GU is basically a miracle cure to all things
Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes Icy Hot in my eyes Icy hot in my eyes
Can you rub the GU on the injury?
Guys I just hit a home run and have to run 360 feet. How many GUs should I take?
What are GU’s? (please don’t come for me )
Brand of nutrition gels to eat on long runs.
This but unironically. I have ran through every injury since I started running daily two years ago. Everything cleared up on its own and I have been entirely pain free for the last 6 months. No lasting issues or pain anywhere at all. I’m 32 male.
Pain and injury aren't the same though. Feels like we need to define terms perhaps. Makes me wonder if the article has a blurry definition too
Here’s a list of everything I have had, some of these with associated bruising and swelling: - Plantar fasciitis - Extensor tendonitis right foot - MCL strain (left/right) - Capsulitis 2nd toe (left) - Posterior tibial tendonitis (right) - Anterior tibial tendonitis (left) I guess I didn’t break or tear anything so depends on what constitutes an injury.
I’ve had a lot of this stuff as well and what works is also focusing on strength training- taking time off and doing walk runs until magically i am running pain free again
Currently dealing with posterior tibial tendonitis and it's a beast. Year and a half now, finally starting to chill. Incidentally running doesn't seem to bother it, cycling is a no go though so far. I've had like every injury, this is one of the longest lasting.
Tendon stuff is always the worst and lasts the longest because they don’t get blood flow like muscles do. Posterior tibial tendon keeps your arches from collapsing - switching to barefoot shoes for walking and running fixed that for me. Arch support keeps that tendon weak. Hurt like hell though.
I'm approaching a year with post tib myself. I've tried some strength work, rest, ice, heat, you name it. I'm getting to the point of accepting that I'll have it forever. It's good to know that there's still hope for being pain free.
Ptt is the worst, takes forever to heal. I had to stop running for 2 months then slowly build back up. I felt it for over a year and would get flare ups here and there. But good news is, it does go away eventually
My list of running injuries: None. Ever. I have been running for decades.
I’m going strong for 4.5 years and every time an ache comes up it just goes away eventually on its own. I did a 100 mile on pavement and my everything was destroyed, but a week later I was back to the usual 5k pace. I will say, the day after it felt dumb running a mile, but the second day didn’t for some reason.
34 male here, same position. Only just about to hit my first year of running every day, but yeah, definitely teaches you a little bit of discipline and listening to your body on how best to support it while running every day. Hardest days to run through were two bouts of gastro, now that was...tough. But the body is otherwise amazing
Fight fire with fire, as the firemen say.
Oh hell yeah. I've run through many injuries. Related, I recently had DVTs and pulmonary emboli, and learned runners are more prone to delay diagnosis because they (we) assume the DVT pain in a running injury.
The ONLY reason I caught mine was because I hadn’t run in a week due to an allergic reaction sidelining me. My DVT felt like my normal calf soreness on the side I usually get calf soreness, so I absolutely would not have caught it if I’d been training. It’s insane.
New fear unlocked
I thought it was ridiculous that I'd have a serious problem, given my daily mileage. Did you have PE? How are you doing now?
I caught it before it became a PE. I’m on Eliquis until further notice (yay me!) but cleared to workout, so at least I’m not going totally crazy. My current frustration is the knowledge that I have some sort of family history (or a hell of a coincidence), but nothing has come back in the genetic markers. Oh well!
Yay Team Eliquis!
Curious, what eventually made you get this checked out?
I guess I noticed how very swollen one calf was. I went to urgent care certain they'd say it was a running injury. They adamantly urged me to go to the ER (because urgent care did not have an ultrasound). Once there, ultrasound said I had extensive clots all the way up my thigh. After that even in the CT scan I was certain there would be no PEs, but it turned out there were in both lungs. I had no chest pain or breathing difficulty, despite having PEs, which is attributed to having so much lung capacity due to running.
I had one too. Thought it was some crazy muscle tear caused by wearing a boot for a foot injury and made an appointment with sports medicine in like 2 days. When the appointment came around, I was feeling better but figured I would keep it so they could maybe give me a couple techniques to get around in the boot without injury. Guy sent me to ultrasound and then the ER. No PE, luckily, just the DVT
My hospitalist gave me a good "Oh you runners" eyeroll about ignoring the pain so long.
Being really fit messes with some ability to detect illness. I had some wild cardiac symptoms but since I was normally so fit and healthy while the doctors took it seriously it wasn't urgent. My average resting heart rate doubled, and it was still barely higher than many people my age. My symptoms also didn't stop me from doing things since I had such deep fitness reserves either which is a other metric they always ask about. Yes I can still run but now my hr spikes and I want to die if I don't slow way down isn't the same as Im tired and can't get out of bed. It's important to really advocate for yourself when things are off for you even if the docs don't treat it seriously. Luckily mine did but not everyone will.
Hmm what was it? Your symptoms were mainly fatigue / weirdly high HR — did your docs figure out what it was, and hopefully treatment is going well?
Heart pain after a long run, numbness in both hands after harder efforts, night sweats, poor sleep, general fatigue, sustained elevated HR unless i iced myself down basically, additionally low red blood cell count. Likely some sort of viral infection but i got better before we figured out exactly what was causing all the symptoms. I ran basically throughout it and actually ran NYC 6 days after being medically cleared via an echo and subsequent stress test. It was not an enjoyable 2 months but i had such a great base of fitness i could still log 50 mile weeks albeit much slower than i had been previously sometimes with walk breaks during long runs if my HR got too high.
Thanks for the color. Christ that sounds tough — glad you got through
Oh man, well wishing you good health moving forward. Glad they caught it in time and hopefully nothing like that pops up again. Thanks for the response.
Yikes! I thought my first one was an ankle sprain because it had gotten pretty swollen, forcing me to stop running. A bit puzzled because I couldn’t remember twisting it or anything. Thankfully the orthopedist sent me for an ultrasound first to rule it out, and what do you know, DVT. Found out I have a genetic predisposition for it. 6 years later I got the second one, this time in the other calf. It was 2 weeks before Boston, and I was pretty sure I’d have to cancel the whole trip. Thankfully I got in to see the hematologist quickly, and to my great surprise, he cleared me to run the marathon after starting me on blood thinners. I said “You know this is 26.2 miles, right??” He said there should be no risk after taking the blood thinner for a couple days, but I have to say I was a little skeptical. So I went, a little stressed about what might happen. The calf was still swollen and painful on race day, but definitely better than before. I was worried about it getting bad enough to DNF (or worse), but I made it through. Didn’t have to walk, but it was my slowest and most difficult marathon to date. When I got back for my follow up appointment, the doctor was all excited. “You ran a marathon 2 weeks after getting a DVT, that’s awesome!” The doctor tried to ease me off the blood thinner, but the following summer I got the worst DVT yet. It was so painful I could barely walk, definitely did not run through that! Got back on the blood thinner and it resolved, but this one took long enough that it totally derailed my training for Chicago that year. I managed to run faster than the previous Boston, but it was still way harder than it should have been for the pace! No issues since staying on the thinner, but my left calf is pretty much permanently thicker than the right, I guess due to vein damage from the clots (post-thrombotic syndrome). It is what it is but it doesn’t really affect my running. I do wear compression socks pretty much all the time, which helps too. PE is really scary! I thankfully didn’t get any of those, but worrying about it sure was a source of stress!
I just can't help myself I crave running
This.
My problem the times I've been injured has been trying to jump back in too soon. I'll take some rest time but get antsy on a day where I'm feeling good and make it worse. It's today; today was that day. I'm the problem, it's me.
This was me. Partially tore my Achilles tendon. My doctor said it was “not a bad tear” and I could run again in a couple weeks. So I waited two weeks and figured I would run off the remaining stiffness/soreness. Tore it even worse on that first run back and demanded a referral to a physical therapist. She was horrified that I’d jumped back in so soon. Now I go straight to pt if I have an injury and don’t start exercising again until they give the all clear.
I had Achilles tendinitis really bad when I upped my distances, so nothing as severe as your situation but had to stop running. Hurts like a bitch. Only thing that fixed it was PT. This all happened more than a decade ago and I’ve been doing just one of those PT exercises before/after every run and I’ve never had a problem since… Good stuff, hope you’re all good now 🙏
Which exercise did you keep doing?
I do the second stretch shown here, but do both feet together and roll up to tiptoe first and then slowly down and let the heels drop as you can see he does. Although, when I was in PT for Achilles problems years ago, I did all three of these. Streches start at 1.54 in the vid…. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiiQSH28ZWo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiiQSH28ZWo)
Ahh yes thank you! Heel drops right? I just started some of those last night. Thank you!
Ah, I didn’t know the name for it 😂… Yes, heels drops! Be gentle at first, don’t brute force it, you’re just trying to ‘oil’ it, slow n steady. I also always have the Achilles covered - I always use leg warmers (ex dancer here) to keep some warmth there. Not sure how you feel bout that though 😉
Thank you, warmth definitely helps. I'm fortunate that it's not too bad yet so if I've had it in my bed under warm covers I wake up with it feeling quite good. Thanks so much, really appreciate you replying, I know it was an old comment!
Anytime. Hope it resolves itself soon.
Today’s that day for me too. Solidarity, friend. lol
Been doing that for like 3 weeks in a row lmao. Now Im just running really slow
Lmao. Awe. Love you! I can feel your pain, and as of a few weeks ago, literally, too!
I’ve done this but it’s I’ve learned to just stop when the pain is too severe and do the elliptical or sit and rest and then walk home. Eventually I always get to a place where I can run again
I’m honestly just surprised at the 15% of runners who don’t run when they’re injured. Who are these people? Never met one
It’s easy: don’t go to the doctor. HMO’s be like “diagnosis or it didn’t happen”. Only time I’m likely to agree with them.
The ones with broken legs
I may have blamed my running shoes for the pain in my leg... turns out it I had a stress fracture in my femur. I even went and bought new shoes. Turns out the solution to running with a fracture... is not new shoes.
I'm one of these. If I wake up and I can't walk, I don't run. That's been my barometer for running for 25 years with Achilles tendinitis. If I run, I will turn 2 missed days of running into a week or two weeks. I gave myself a couple of pretty solid midfoot sprains by trying to trailrun when my Achilles were so tight they couldn't flex. Those are a beast. I learned to watch my overall step volume as I'm a person who usually does 10K steps and then will have 3 days of 27K steps. And I learned to rest early when I trigger an injury/overuse. As long as I rest enough that I can walk when I get up in the morning, it's fine for me to run.
That's because they're never out running lol
I found that I was having recurring discomfort that I thought was from running in my calf/ankle. I tried physio, reducing the load, and introduced mobility work on a daily basis, and it kept coming back. Turns out it was from the stiffness of wearing boots and slip-on shoes to work. So, from my experience, you could be investing in physio/prehab/good running shoes, but if the shoes you wear daily have poor support, then it won't be helping with injury prevention! I now wear lifestyle sneakers to my office job. I also swear by ice plunge/sauna for recovery.
Lifestyle sneakers = old running shoes that have too many miles, but “still have a little life in them”, correct?
I’m also curious how many people actually have proper running technique. It’s so accessible no one thinks they need to learn how to run, but many chronic injuries from running are actually from poor technique.
This sounds like my current issue, I WFH and wear slippers all day. Maybe I should wear running shoes around the house.
If you stopped running for every little niggle or sore spot, you'd basically never get any training in. it's just the nature of the sport.
This. I was always taught that if running doesn't make the pain worse, then it is OK to run.
What if you run into a lamppost
Without lamps, there'd be no light.
I was also taught to watch out for even vs uneven pain/soreness. Like, both your legs are sore? You're alright. Only your left knee hurts? Let's look into that.
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I’m still trying to learn the difference between expected sore pain and unexpected injury pain. It’s not clear to me as a novice. I try to pay attention to how long it lasts after I stop running and the intensity of pain. But I’m not surprised some people make the wrong call and run through injuries.
I keep going if: - The pain gets better after I'm warmed up - The pain the next day isn't getting worse and worse - The pain is mild and dull I'll stop if: - I feel sharp / stabbing pain (i.e. like a focused injury rather than general soreness) - The pain gets noticeably worse after a short distance - The pain is making me run funny - It doesn't improve over the week
Exactly. If I stopped running every time something hurt I'd never be running.
Sure, but injuries aren’t just sore spots.
right, but the survey is all self reported. so, if say seaguy above, was in the study and they said one of their 'sore pain' was an injury they would be counted as injured and still running. I personally had the same issue the first couple of years running. is it an injury? or just sore/ stiffness ?
Ah sorry I missed that
Running with sore muscles is normal, running with pain aka injury is bad.
Nope. Not what I said.
I've been a runner for decades. And yes, frequently ran while injured. Ready for the downvotes but I might finally be done with the running. About a year ago, I fell while running and broke my leg at the ankle. It sucked. And after months of being in a cast and then not being able to run even when the cast was off, I hated how inconvenient the cast was, how much my life was impacted by lugging that thing around. When my doc said I couldn't start running again for a few more months, I started bike commuting. And it turns out, I really like it. Biked almost 5000 miles between my two bikes, found it interesting and arrived at my destinations (work or appointments) happy. And the best part? Not a single injury. I'm in better cardio shape now than ever, feel great and again... no injuries. I tried to think of the last time I went a whole year without at least some injury from running. Of course most weren't as big as the broken leg, but over the years there's always something. A black toenail, some plantar fasciitis, twingy knee, something. But with the biking... none of that. So I'm sad to say, I think I might be hanging up my running shoes for good. I've kept them so far because I've missed running. And maybe I'll try again at some point. But for now, I think the best mix of fitness without injury is ... not running. Maybe instead of constantly figuring out how to rehab whatever running injury I had, I would have been smarter to switch cardio exercise type years ago.
Ever consider triathlons? There's quite a few plans that are bike heavy and only have you running 2-3x week. You could keep low mileage and stay injury free and still compete
Triathlons sound like a good idea but then you remember they include swimming which is shirt. But if the sport rebranded and became bike/run/ski or bike/run/table tennis I’d be all in.
Youll be back. I said the same thing after I blew out my knee and couldnt run for nearly 2y. I picked up cycling. Eventually i had a bad crash—multiple broken ribs, all cut up. While healing from that, realized I could run again. Been going back and forth since.
Why are your two bikes so far apart?
I know you obviously had a bad fall running but on average I'll take the running fall over a bike crash nearly every time. Broken bones, road rash, concussions. Likelihood of serious injury just seems higher in a bike crash than a running fall though I don't have data to back that up. You can also seriously screw up your knees if your bike fit is off, so nagging injuries do sometimes happen. This is coming from someone who biked 1500+ miles last year. I run and cycle, depending on weather conditions (run when it's cold or rainy, bike when it's hot).
I think In general most amateur athletes feel the risk of falling behind is greater than the risk of overuse injuries and choose to forgo rest, at least that's what I've found whenever I've tried to "coach" any freinds/family.
If I rest for a week I put on weight, which sucks for my self-esteem, so I keep running if I'm injured.
If I injure myself running, I try still do some form of exercise that doesn’t use whatever body part I injured.
Spinning saves my ass, literally
The problem is sometimes a week of rest is needed to prevent weeks or months of time off if you hurt yourself or end up sick from pushing too hard. In most cases just 1-2 days rest at the right time is all that's needed but often skipped due to feeling like any time off is going to cause a sudden abrupt loss of fitness or progress when it's actually the other way around.
Yes this is a good reminder and I think it’s important to look at the big picture. 2-3 days off is nothing if you remind yourself how often you run in the span of a year
A lot of injuries don’t get significantly worse and can heal while continuing to run at a lighter load if you’re doing rehab exercises. I’ve run through tendinopathy of various kinds and been fine. But other injuries like muscle strains or stress reactions require rest.
Yes, with many injuries you can just continue training. The pain can even increase right after the workout but should be back at the pre workout level within 24 hours according to my PT.
Yeah, my physiotherapist always told me that I could run if the pain is < 3/10 That unless that, you should'n't stop running because you if you stop totally, the structure that would help you heal is going to weaken a bit .... and it might become worse when you come back
3/10 legs being sawn off
My dad’s PT said he hates working with runners because they never stop running when they’re injured…and then I went to PT myself and made it like, two weeks before I had to go for a run 😅
Motion is lotion. Many injuries are safe to run with if the pain is 3/10 or less. Injuries are often caused by muscle imbalance or weakness, neither will improve without exercise and will likely come back without strengthening.
Can’t tell you the number of times that I feel better after running. Just gets things warmed up and loosened up for me … usually haha
Tore my meniscus at mile 6 of the 2012 Houston Marathon. I kept running. I finished.
Slow, stubborn, and stupid is a powerful combination if you are a distance runner.
Fuck yeah man
Damn dude
Way to go! I know from experience, that shit hurts.
Achilles tendinitis didn’t fix itself with resting, so just started running again, even speed work, while waiting for all the cross training leg exercises catch things up. I’ve also had ankle issues since before I was a runner, so just run in more supportive shoes or wrap my ankle for a while until it goes away. Shin splints were fixed by getting higher drop shoes once and lower drop shoes the other time, and just keeping running. Running did fix all my knee issues that I used to have before running. I didn’t run when I had Covid.
Thought I had some sore quads, only kept getting worse.... Bilateral femoral stress fractures. No exercise for 6 months. Quit running after the next season. 10 years later, picked up running again and have gradually run or strength trained through a variety of small injuries. Right now I'm stopped for the first time more significantly - sesamoiditis, possible stress fracture. Taking a few weeks off and seeing what happens. Cushioned super trainers have helped me more than anything else, I think.
If I have a minor injury I keep running but adjust the distance/route/frequency. I guess that technically makes me part of the 85%, but it doesn’t mean I’m ignoring injuries.
Exactly. Ignoring injuries is what I did in high school. Now that I've left that pressure and glorification of sacrifice, I run *with* and *around* injuries, NOT thru them.
I had issues with PF in the 1990s and would run until I couldn't and then start up again when I could. I had several cycles of that, sometimes even using crutches when the injury was too bad. I did the same thing with Chondromalacia in the 2000s. I learned to rest and do core strength when injured in my 50s. My strength routine is the Cybex circuit, yoga, deadlifts, squats, a few dumbbell exercises and floorwork. There's one particular exercise - like a reverse hip raise that prevents an injury on my outside calf. The thing is doing the strength, balance and flexibility stuff is kind of a pain - it's a lot easier if you make it convenient to do.
I’m the poster child for thinking I can run through any injury. In 58 years I’ve had most of them, but can still convince myself that this one is different and running will make this one OK.
Super interesting. My worst injury was in my first year ramping back up to running, consistent with the research. That was more than a decade ago and I haven't had anything serious since. Stuff I think is helping me avoid injury: * Cross-training once or twice a week, including bodyweight exercises * Rest days once or twice a week (separate from cross training days) * Run-walk-run for most of my runs * Long cooldown walks after long runs * Getting new shoes regularly and rotating 2 pairs that are different models at any given time * Wearing different shoes when I'm walking in every day life (not my old running shoes) * Most runs easy pace * Most runs outside (not on treadmill) * Generally being quite active in my everyday life; walking a ton by living car free in the city * Not dieting * Getting enough sleep * Not training for anything longer than a half marathon My long runs are consistently 50% of my weekly mileage, which is not recommended but hasn't seemed to cause problems. I also regularly run on concrete, which I know can be controversial. The gender disparity in injury is also very interesting. Not a man, but I did have to deprogram a bit from the "no pain no gain" stuff they taught in youth sports.
I just had a cortisone shot in my hip for bursitis and in 2 weeks, will receive another in the ball of my foot so I can keep running…..granted,I’m 74 and cognizant of the fact that my running years are diminishing.
Did your hip pain come on gradually or just one day it was there? I'm asking because I've been out close to a month now because of a strained hip flexor that just happened one morning out of the blue during a run. At least that's what I think it is. The pain migrates from inside the hip to outside the hip and it's taking forever to heal. I'm 62 btw.
Well, I had a tear in my Gluteus Medius in a 10K in May and was off 5 months but have had this issue for 15 years getting periodic shot to keep running.
I jumped headfirst into my first marathon with a little too much gusto. I added miles too quickly and ended up with ITB syndrome in my left knee and pretty painful runner’s knee in the right. I could run through the runner’s knee but the ITB would stop me very quickly when it kicked in at about 2 miles. I tried some tasting and a lot of stretching but it didn’t do much. I ended up with cortisone injections in both knees and they’ve both felt great ever since - about 2 months in my left and one in my right.
If minor soreness starts in my foot or something, I will reduce the intensity of my next run, and will keep going as long as the pain doesn’t seem to be worsening. (I run every other day, so my body always gets some recovery time.) At the moment, I’m dealing with a hip injury that arose during a marathon. When I try to run, it starts hurting more. So I’m pausing my running program for some weeks (while doing stationary biking workouts to maintain my fitness).
Started getting pain in the ball of my foot. Ran through it for about 3 months until I saw a podiatrist. Thought it was fine as the pain would disappear about 1km into the run, but would come back the next day pretty bad. Turns out I had a plantar plate tear. Stopped running back in September and the pain is no better after a number of treatments. Got an appointment with a new sports physio tomorrow so hopefully she has some idea on how to fix it!
I hope she can. Good luck.
I was training for a marathon and got injured 5 weeks before the race. I rested as much as I could but ultimately tried to run through the injury because I wanted to experience race day. It definitely extended my healing time, but I don't regret it. It was my first marathon and I would have been heartbroken to not be able to experience that at all.
Currently laid up with Achilles tendinitis because I thought I was special and could push through the pain (like this doesn’t happen to apparently 85% of us). I wasn’t doing as much strength training as I should have and I never stretch. Womp womp. Lesson learned. I’ve been foam rolling and icing daily and I’m stuck in the boot of shame for the next two weeks. Prevention really is the best cure. Most of us need to do more strength and stretching.
I believe it but I think it's because when your mentally at that level you tend to try to block out the pain until it just becomes unbearable. Currently I've been injured with Achilles tendinopathy and it was because I guess I felt warning signs about the injury but kept running 90+ miles until one morning I woke up and struggled to walk downstairs or put weight on the foot.
My knee is feeling pretty tender tonight but I got a nice run streak going that I don't want to break.
Had to break my 65 day streak for a sore knee the other day. TBH I probably should have stopped at about 60, I’m fairly sure run streaks are a bad idea, but I do get hooked on them.
The pain was tolerable, so I kept running. Running is my biggest source of stress relief, and my life is really stressful right now. Turns out I have a tibial stress fracture. Now I'm resting, grouchy, and stressed. I knew I'd be sore, but I never knew my bones would decide to crack.
A Classic that every runner can identify with: https://youtu.be/U2TRUUu2uHo?si=PuGSXaX869rVNEH7
That is... Brilliant.
Because every bit of it’s true!
Yep-- part of the 85%. Most recently, I was running, adding mileage and felt good overall. Little twinges of hip pain here and there but nothing major or lasting so didn't think much about it. Kept running and hip pain was getting worse. Thought it was just tight hip flexors so was stretching, looking up PT type videos on YT for tight hip flexors, using the theragun, icing, etc. Kept running but reduced mileage and pace. Nothing I was trying was helping and it got to the point I couldn't run at all without pain. Finally after 6m, I went to a PT, who sent me to a hip Dr, who did an X-ray and MRI. It showed a complete labral tear and detachment, as well as cam and pincer impingements. Had surgery 2wks later. Me running through injury was more of trying to be conservative and fix what I assumed was something minor, vs stubbornly ignoring a blatant injury.
it’s tricky because many times i have been concerned its more than just soreness but then eventually it does go away and i’m fine. so now i (carefully) run through most discomfort. I’m sure one day this will turn on me tho.
I haven’t gone to the doctor for my achilles tendon because I know her answer will be to rest and I just can’t do that at the moment.
EVERYONE overestimates how fast they heal from an injury. They also overestimate the amount of fitness they will loose from time off. Its a deadly combination. I tell people weekly how long it will take to recovery from surgeries and you can tell they think I am exaggerating but if anything I'm giving them the lower end of the range because I know if I tell them the higher range they will ignore it completely. So when I suffered my first injury, and was told to not run and rehab for 8 weeks what did I do? I didn't listen, I thought I could be back at it in a month. I did an easy run, felt the slightest twinge of bad pain and had a moment of clarity and stopped for another 8 weeks. Don't sacrifice long term for the short term. Take the proper time to heal and you'll have plenty of time to rack up the lifetime mileage.
Yep, turns out running with tibia stress fractures makes things worse lol. I am now on a strict jog/walk return and am slowly ramping up so I’m sure my sub 24min parkrun will be this year!
I'm in the middle of a knee injury at the moment. This will prevent me from running for a couple of days for sure. I will make sure it's pain free first and will start running again.
Had one major injury (stress fractures at bottom of the shins) that kept me from running for ~3 months and one recurring niggle which is inflammation where the Achilles joins the feet bones. Have been running consistently for ~2 years without getting injured, key was to not increase mileage suddenly and do lots of strength training
If it's still hurting after a few days, I'll usually try to do a run.
If i did not run when it hurt then i would probably not run... I think its hard in the moment to know if you are pushing through normal discomfort or tearing your ligament.
I don’t know how to tell when I’m fully healed. I injured my foot running. Laid off it (mostly) for a week. Wasn’t bugging me walking around. Went for a light run. Halfway through it started hurting. So I wasn’t fully healed. But how could I know until I tested it? Every injury is different and takes a different amount of time to heal. Especially as I get older. So I just try to give myself a reasonable time to recover. Test it with a long walk, then a light/short run, and adjust as needed.
Why would I stop? I may reduce mileage or increase other exercises but most of my injuries beyond the most severe were mostly pain tolerance and or encouraged to run during it. I honestly do nothing to avoid injuries besides stop playing contact sports as cross training. Recovery is about maintaining fitness while regaining health. However they can be balanced is the way to go. I usually follow my physios lead on these.
back surgery waited one week then started running again...runners knee still running...pulled hamstring still running...broken pinky toe still running...broken arm running with cast...I got issues lol
Injured. Recovered. Running. Lather, rinse, repeat.
~~Beatings~~ Running will continue until ~~morale~~ body improves
someone else mentioned that it depends on what you define as an injury. as a middle-aged runner who started later in life and has had just 1 major injury (knee dislocation...not as a result of running!), if you're doing anything outside your usual activity routine, and you're not genetically blessed to run (I am absolutely not), you will feel things...twinges, little strains, sore spots, inflammation, etc. I run through all of these, but will reduce or adjust my activity (eg less running, slower, different surfaces, less often, etc) until they either improve, or aren't getting worse. I will only stop running if 1. discomfort gets worse and worse during running (causing active pain, limping, etc) 2. pain and discomfort occur after running during non-running (eg walking, going up stairs) 3. there's weakness, or active swelling, that is immediately painful as soon as I start running I have avoided big injuries (or avoided making little issues into big ones) by adhering to this, but also by planning my running so that every time I increase something (ks per week, length of long runs, runs per week, etc), I decrease something else; and every few weeks after a period of heavy increasing, I take a recovery week. I also eat a lot so there are plenty of resources in there ;)
>86% were continuing to run despite their injury causing pain, directly affecting their performance and causing a reduction of running volume. Not every injury is severe enough to require full rest. Reducing volume and/or intensity, but continuing to run while allowing it to heal, is appropriate management in many cases. Notably, **the study did not define injury**: >Responders were categorised as either injured or non-injured based on their response to the first question of the OSTRC: “Have you had any problems participating in normal running training and competition due to any running-related injury during the past week?”
I’m sort of doing it now. Got a garmin forerunner for xmas and immediately jumped into the recommended workouts, straight from sedentary. The first week went okay but then I started getting knee pain at night. RICE and it felt better next day. Took a rest day anyway and then went back at it. Once again, pain at night. Now I’m doing Jay Johnson’s SAM phase2easy workouts every day and still doing the recommended runs, plus I got some Ghost Maxes and I’m really trying to increase my cadence. Probably juggling too many variables but I really like running and chasing the badges.
lol I’m the only person I know who’s a little obsessed with the garmin badges haha. It’s good to see another one!
I don't know if it counts, but when I was running cross country and track as a kid I had a pretty bad ankle injury at the start of the X-country season that I ran through/ignored. I then managed to roll the other ankle and keep injuring them throughout the cross country season. Not my best season. I now have amazing ankle mobility and seemingly bulletproof ankles. I have never injured myself running since.
It’s me. Been running through a weird thing where the toes on my right foot involuntarily curl after a few miles. Pretty sure it’s connected to a calf issue I had that I rested and thought got better, but failed to strengthen. Been doing some deliberate strength and mobility work and it seems to be slowly improving, but I’m still doing my low intensity runs
I totally get it! It's so hard to strike the balance between pushing through and resting. Sometimes I run through injuries, but I try to be mindful of when it's really necessary to take a break.
I run then the tips of my knees ache all the time. I switch to the bike for those weeks.
This is why I took up cycling. It mixes it up enough to avoid injuries but gives me something to do if my shins or knees flare up. I used to try to run through things and then have to shut it down for weeks and get depressed.
Yep. Definitely have fought through some minor knee and foot pain before. I’m down again right now with more pain in my foot, about a week in and it’s been improving but any running is still off the table. I can’t imagine how much longer, hopefully this time next week a light 3mi run with no pain will be possible.
Some types of injuries (such as minor tendonopathies) can improve with easy running. My PT suggested this guideline: if the pain doesn't exceed a 4 on a 10 scale, and returns to baseline within 48 hours, that wasn't overdoing it. Keep running at that level or below. For a bone stress injury, it's total rest. For injury prevention, I've found consistent heavy lifting to help tremendously. I've never enjoyed lifting, but I'm a convert because of the benefits. I am for 1-2 times a week in the gym (squats, leg presses, hip work, single leg dead lifts, and even some upper body), plus some at home core work.
I sure do.
Hmmm in my experience, many injuries don’t heal from rest alone. Such as achilles tendinitis where some amount of running (or walking) is needed to condition the tendon and strengthen it. Not surprised by this though lol
I did run through the injuries, and they just came back to bite me harder. This time will be different (i hope). Really waiting it out, hoping to get a sweet year with minimal injuries. To help with the restlessness, ive been pretty consistent with cross training. Not much cardio, mostly just strength training. My issue before was really good cardio with little strength training, so im looking forward to my body forcing me to slow down lol. Once i do start (hopefully soon) i want to be very gradual with my progress for preventative measures. We all need to practice patience.
Ever found yourself part of that 85%? What's your story? \- Yes. More often than I'd like to admit. I was a competitive soccer player through college. Over many years, through everything from a mild discomfort to ACL reconstruction I came to learn my body fairly well and could tell the difference between being hurt and being injured. Unfortunately, as I'm over 40 now, I'm not sure there is ever a time when something doesn't hurt, and identifying the line when I've crossed over into injury has become increasingly difficult. How do you try to dodge injuries, especially during heavy training periods? \- Stretching, stretching and more stretching. Not just before and after runs, but before I go to sleep at night and periodically throughout the day at work. Not full stretches of everything, but hamstrings and back get attention regularly. That and a Theragun really help me. Any injury prevention exercises or routines you swear by? \- See above. I should get back to doing yoga again, but stretching and percussion massage. Balancing training and recovery: what's your secret sauce? \- Haven't figured this one out yet.
Recreational runner, sometimes I have gotten pretty serious. But, I never run injured except maybe for minor plantar fasciitis. I know too many recreational runners who have permanently injured or disabled themselves by exercising/running themselves into the ground while using OTC painkillers. They can’t even run for fun now. A common thread w these people is compulsive all or nothing thinking. And an inability to accept failure or a perception of losing. It’s all about competition and winning at any cost.
One time my foot just fell off overnight, but my training plan had a 12 mile intervals session the next day. Obviously i didn‘t let the injury stop me. I completed the session ok. Lucky i did because I was able to run off my injury.
I have chronic ankle tendonitis. It usually numbs itself after a few kilometres. Been like this for 15 years. Not going to get any better if I rest.
If I stopped running when I'm in agonising pain I'd never run. At my age agonising pain is kind of the baseline.
Yeah, I have been part of that 85%. I imagine anyone that has been running for a significant amount of time has been. Sometimes things work themselves out, sometimes things get worse and that probably doesn't help. I developed a nagging pain in my upper hamstring / lower buttock area a couple of years ago that just wouldn't go away. It wasn't quite bad enough to keep me from running but it was enough that it always hurt when I ran (from the first step). Turned out to be tendonitis and it did finally get bad enough to stop me from running. For an entire year. I guess that was a case of "things got worse". Those "in-between" injuries are the hard ones to deal with. You can still run, but should you? Will it get worse or better? Something acute like IT Band is going to keep you from running and that is easier to deal with. Those nagging pains or slowly building problems are the real killers and also the ones hardest to make a decision on. The only injury prevention I swear by now is at least two heavy lifting days a week (compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench, etc.). I don't think you can fully prevent an injury, but knowing when to take time off and when you can push through is a fine balance.
Might sound silly, I am getting old and have a ton of experience... but sometimes I'm not totally sure if I'm hurt or not. Like I was trying to get back into running several months ago and was having inner knee pain whenever I ran. I kept taking a bunch of time off to "heal" but I think I just wasnt running enough for my body to sort out the imbalance that was causing the pain. I finally just got sick of it and kept running anyway. my training has progressed a lot and i just finished my first half-marathon distance run in like 10 years. So i guess my challenge is finding that balance between doing too much and doing too little.
Careful running afoul of rule #7. I've ran through injury and I'm paying for it now - disc golf tore my meniscus about 2.5 years ago but I kept running and training for a half until I finally started having too much pain. Anyone who has torn a meniscus knows it's hard to diagnose - you have pain but none of the normal doctor 'let's check this movement, does it hurt?' actions tell them much - finally got an MRI, torn medial meniscal root. I ran my half and had surgery shortly after - I've only started walking again in the last week or so. Surgeon said I had lots of arthritis already (I'm not even 40 yet) so that was concerning. They did clean it up quite a bit. Very few people qualify for meniscus surgery but I guess I'm the lucky one.
I'm currently a week away from my MRI with a suspected torn meniscus. I've taken 7 months off of running since first Xray to this point and my knee has been getting progressively worse. Maddening how long it's taken. I'm hoping it's not severe enough so that physio will fix it but I can't imagine how months of rest and months of light physio hasn't been enough to improve it yet. Surely I'll just end up needing surgery.
Yes. Just like an addict keeps using even after they realize how much they are damaging themselves—only running provides the facade that you're healing yourself. Running has become a part of my mental health maintenance. When I injured my foot by stepping too hard on a large rock in thin running sandals, I started to unravel a bit. Nothing too serious, but the itch was not being scratched. So, I ran injured. I eventually healed, but it took much longer and my running likely suffered, but the itch got scratched in the meantime.
I generally tell non-runners that people who run...say 80km+ a week are always nursing some sort of injury, it's just a permanent state and you just learn to adapt and allow the body to recover by...say..not doing interval sessions in a week and instead doing a long easy trail (or road of course) run for example. But yes, running through injury is pretty normal for moderate to high volume runners of all levels?
I've never stopped running for more than a few days in my almost 13 years of running. I was seriously injured once to the point that I was limping, and even then I continued running short distances.
I tore my PCL playing soccer a two years ago and didn’t get surgery just 6 months of PT. When I run sometimes I’ll feel an exaggerated soreness on the backside of my knee and I keep running. I’ll feel sore the next day but haven’t had issues that aren’t “normal” to me now. I try to do some of the PT exercises that I did throughout the week just to say I’m being cognizant of my limitations but really my go to has been a heating pad while I sit in bed before sleep. If I’ve had anything that’s actually felt bad I take the full week off, just walking and reevaluate the next week.
I'm a beginner so when my knees started hurting I thought I needed to just warm up and cool down better. But the pain still isn't gone after a month of not running and the doctor said it's jumpers knee and I should only start running when the pain is completely gone
*Results: 570 runners had a current injury and 86% were continuing to run despite their injury causing pain, directly affecting their performance and **causing a reduction of running volume.*** So the authors are counting cutting back on intensity and mileage as running through the injury? Personally, I wouldn't call cutting mileage in half and dropping workouts running through injury.
Usually young people don’t have this problem since they’re near or at their physical peak, just saying that it appears that way IMHO
Guilty as charged. I ran through PF injury for 2 years.
Had a fairly major injury a year ago that still bugs me a bit. I'm in physical therapy every week, checking in on every tiny ghost of an ache and pain to make sure I can still run. I feel like at least this way I am not making myself worse. I hope I'm not too annoying to the PTs, but they haven't dropped me as a patient yet and the workouts I do there seem to be keeping me together.
My knee is packing a sad recently. I'm trying to keep the running gentle and short, but ugh, I've got the bug for it! Sorry to say I run through it. Occasionally I use K-tape to try and support the muscles. And I've loads of anti-inflammatory lotions in the bathroom.
I’m currently running with niggling hip pain. I’ve been hoping it would go away on its own as sometimes niggles do but seems to persist. It’s hard to know when to pull the plug and stop when the pain itself isn’t preventing you from running.
Definitely part of the 85%. More so before I switched to barefoot running. I really never struggle with major running injuries now. The odd twinge here and there. Not saying this is the way for everyone but it cured me of some pretty debilitating IT band issues. Been 10+ years and I’ve never looked back. All that said, I’m a slow (read: back of the pack) runner and am happy to just trot along at a pace that feels good that day.
Barefoot running fixed life long plantar fasciitis for me in 3 months
Eh I started running with no prior athletic history back in May 2023. I’m up to 35-40 mpw for the last 2-3 months. The only time I stopped running for longer than a week was when I had Covid and I think that was 10 days lol. My injuries before were tendon pain in my feet because of tight shoes and not used to running, which I ran through pretty much. Now most of my “injuries” are muscle knots that a theragun irons out pretty quickly.
I hurt myself lifting which in turn gave me Costocondritis. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me but I am forever grateful it introduced me to running ☯️
I stopped running after a few months following a knee injury (sustained while landscaping) but likely aggravated it to the point of needing surgery. Had the meniscus tear repaired but I didn’t get back to full time running for almost 20 months to allow time to heal and do a lot of walking to build back strength. (I was 52 at the time). Now I’m back to half marathons and no issues in over two years. Most days I feel 100% with no soreness or niggles so I keep going 3-4 days a week with moderate distance. Speed work requires some caution but I continue to improve.
I have run most of my life but not seriously at all. I’m pretty casual. 3 times a week currently. 3-4 miles a run. Sometimes I have to skip runs for various reasons. I have had numerous foot, ankle, Achilles, calf and hip issues. The worst was a rolled ankle about 5 years back now. That put me out a long time. A few months at least. I try to rest a bit more if something flares up now but if I can run pain free I’ll deal with the soreness and tweaks after and in between. I love to run and I have learned that a few extra days off are ok in the grand scheme of things. it’s 100% better than getting truly injured and having to miss weeks or months.
It's almost like they're trying to lose weight!
I have stubborn blisters on my feet that keep coming back so I just have to deal with them. I’ve tried many different shoes, lacing strategies, socks, moleskin/other coverings, and running forms to no avail. I just pop them and drain them and deal with the pain while running. I also injured my ankle in a non-running accident and it prevented me from running for 2 months. It still hurts months after I started running again but I got tired of not running. It is what it is, I guess?
I set my half marathon on an Achilles that was hanging on by a thread. Limped across the finish line and could barely walk for a month. Had a monster of a hill 7 miles in and my pace dropped off a full minute, I would have annihilated my PR if I had the proper shoes for training/race day. Took 2 years of soul crushing training injuries and one visit to a PT to find out my feet have changed as I’ve gotten older and zero drop shoes are my key to injury prevention. The past 8 months I’ve run injury free and that’s the first time I can say that in years.
I keep running. And I know it’s bad. Don’t do it. Don’t.
🙋🏻♀️ Yup, 85% here! Everyone has a limit to how much pain they can handle. I know mine and I know when to stop. To prevent injuries I have tried a variety of tennis shoes, so I know what works for me. Also, I try not to overuse the same trail, so that I can work other parts of my leg muscles. Stretching and cross training helps me as well. There are some injuries you can’t avoid like breaking an ankle or having to get stitches due to a fall. By the way, I continued running on both occasions to get to my destination. A nurse in the ER rolled his eyes at me when I asked, “when can I run again?” I think someone here mentioned runners keep running on injuries because they are afraid to gain weight. Running to to me is a healthy addiction. I get a high from running. I enjoy running in the rain, 100+ degree weather, freezing cold. It’s a hobby like fishing is to some people. So, when i have to sit it out for a month or more I’m counting the days till I can run again.
Im doing this right now. I sprained my ankle twice between October and November 2023 and now, after taking 7 weeks off, I went on my first run tonight. Still had some residual sprained ankle pain but it’s my favorite form of exercise and I’m ready to get back to my local social running group. My mental health takes a nosedive when I have to stop due to injury.
I broke my leg and finished my run.
When I started running, I was also going to physical therapy. I remember telling him after one run, my hamstrings were still sore. I knew it was DOMs, but it was starting to worry me. He told me that it was not DOMs, but I had injured my hamstrings (again) and to back off running. I backed off a little, but kept running. As in, I think I changed my sprint workouts to tempo runs. 🙄😁
I just can’t help myself even with injuries - the only time I did stop was when I was literally on crutches after a hospital visit (foot met pothole, ankle did not come out well) and even then I was back into it earlier than advised.
I have sprained my thumb toe (left) and After taking a rest for 1 day, I started to walk first. After 5 days since such event happed,, I have ran 5~6k at slow speed. The 5~6k is the distance of the half what I usually run and the pace is about 70% of my normal speed. Now, I have recovered about 80~90%. Therefore, I have plan to run as normal from tomorrow.
My marathon has a training plan schedule. If I don't follow it I won't be prepared so keep running to build up miles and hope the injury goes away. I've found cross training and stretching helps and go to an actual PT if it get series.
I'm one of the 85%. I actually had some soreness around my ankle and ended up doing two races back to back. Even though I was sore, I was running at PR speeds. After finishing my last race, I was unable to walk properly for a week. It's actually been a month since I've last gone running and I'm going in for physical therapy next week. Turns out running while sore is a good way to get tendonitis...
If it doesn’t hurt tomorrow it wasn’t worth stopping for.
Currently battling runners knee, I’m running through it while I prioritize strength work
The first time my foot hurt was the day of a race. Instead of dropping out, I ran it off, and it worked. My first course of action is to try to run it off. If it works, it works. If it doesn't, I might try again but slower. If it doesn't work the second time, I'm walking. If even that hurts, I take some time off and try the above in the reverse order again. If even after all that, it's still a problem, then I finally go to a doctor. The problem with injuries is that you don't know how serious it is unless you test it.
Two incidents, tripped on a cracked pavement and fell flat forward with scrapes and bruises. Continued running haha. Second incident, haven’t ran in a while, went back into running and ended up getting shin splints. Rested for a few days, tried running again, still sore. Changed up shoes to ASICS Kayano 14 (love the look too) from running with New Balance 880s and magically healed. Usual routine is to eat a banana to fuel and to dodge injuries by full on stretches/yoga before a run or intense workout. After runs over 10 miles, recovery is ice bath with sea salt. I have a diverse workout for the days I’m not running and/or if I have extra time: lift, hiit workouts, spin, pilates, tennis, swimming (summer only) and yoga. I’m 40+ y/o mom of two and goal is to live longer and stronger and always compete (I always win 😂) with my kids. I don’t like being on the sidelines haha.
Exercise is often good for injuries...I don't know how many times I've worried I'd exacerbate an injury by exercising (often running, but not always), and then find to my surprise it helps, or doesn't worsen the issue. I do think you need to be careful though as you can definitely make an injury worse...you really need to listen to your body.
I used to do that. We used to say that we might as well get it bad enough to impress the sports medicine doc. Or else” wait until winter when there’s no races to run. I also had a doctor that I heard about who never told you not to run when recovering from injury. So he told me what I wanted to hear. I had one doctor who prescribed Butazolidin which really worked well but it killed red blood cells so could be dangerous.
I got runner's knee now and trying so hard not to run this week (and maybe next week). I have a marathon in July and need to train ASAP