Urbanisation comes at a cost. With the development of infrastructure, we have lost many dirt roads and trails. We humans have been running since the beginning of our evolution, but the surfaces on which we run have drastically changed in a short span of time. Dirt trails, natural gravel and grass have been replaced with concrete and tarmac. It is needless to say that we still have access to dedicated mud and (synthetic) tracks. You might also find a hilly trail near your house. What is undeniable is the fact that it’s not as easy as it was.
We will talk about treadmill running in another article. Let’s focus on grass, synthetic track and concrete for now. Another noteworthy point is that the injury risk depends on various other factors like the running technique, type and intensity of running, the distance covered per week, the stride length and frequency, type and material of shoes, landing patterns, amongst others. So for now, we will be strictly looking at the surfaces to see which one fares the worst for us.
Many advise against running on roads altogether, due to stiffness and hence increased forces on the body structures, specifically joints of the lower body. The knee joint has been reported to be injured the most in runners and hence our focus would be on analysing the effects of the surfaces on the impact experienced at the knee.
Researchers have used accelerometers and specialised insoles with sensors which will help us quantify the forces transferred to the body. As expected, after comparing the results, we see that the forces of impact experienced while running on concrete and asphalt are significantly greater than that on grass and synthetic track. A few runners stick to athletic tracks. But since that is not possible for everyone, the majority of us run where we can. Most of the long distance running events are conducted on roads and the athletes competing in those events also train on similar surfaces.
What is more interesting however is that these forces have been found to increase when the runner is fatigued. This is due to the change in running patterns and reduced control provided by the muscles. When we link all of this together, the injury risk is higher when running on harder surfaces and even greater when you are tired. During races and training, runners are known to push themselves despite fatigue, but as we see here, that could make matters worse.
The bottom line is that although some injuries are inevitable, we can definitely reduce their risk by choosing the surface we run on and knowing our limits of fatigue to identify when we start to compromise technique. Effective training strategies would also help us prevent some injuries. What could be of significant use is increasing the frequency of strides (cadence) during your runs. This helps reduce the impact on the body and consequently reduces the risk of injuries like shin splints. Of course you can still run for events and training on whatever surface is available, but now you would be a bit wiser to control your running environment.
We will talk about treadmill running in another article. Let’s focus on grass, synthetic track and concrete for now. Another noteworthy point is that the injury risk depends on various other factors like the running technique, type and intensity of running, the distance covered per week, the stride length and frequency, type and material of shoes, landing patterns, amongst others. So for now, we will be strictly looking at the surfaces to see which one fares the worst for us.
Many advise against running on roads altogether, due to stiffness and hence increased forces on the body structures, specifically joints of the lower body. The knee joint has been reported to be injured the most in runners and hence our focus would be on analysing the effects of the surfaces on the impact experienced at the knee.
Researchers have used accelerometers and specialised insoles with sensors which will help us quantify the forces transferred to the body. As expected, after comparing the results, we see that the forces of impact experienced while running on concrete and asphalt are significantly greater than that on grass and synthetic track. A few runners stick to athletic tracks. But since that is not possible for everyone, the majority of us run where we can. Most of the long distance running events are conducted on roads and the athletes competing in those events also train on similar surfaces.
What is more interesting however is that these forces have been found to increase when the runner is fatigued. This is due to the change in running patterns and reduced control provided by the muscles. When we link all of this together, the injury risk is higher when running on harder surfaces and even greater when you are tired. During races and training, runners are known to push themselves despite fatigue, but as we see here, that could make matters worse.
The bottom line is that although some injuries are inevitable, we can definitely reduce their risk by choosing the surface we run on and knowing our limits of fatigue to identify when we start to compromise technique. Effective training strategies would also help us prevent some injuries. What could be of significant use is increasing the frequency of strides (cadence) during your runs. This helps reduce the impact on the body and consequently reduces the risk of injuries like shin splints. Of course you can still run for events and training on whatever surface is available, but now you would be a bit wiser to control your running environment.
Probably a more important factor of running injuries, i.e., foot strike pattern is discussed in another article. Click here to read that one.
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