Loading…
Story
regulates · 2
Most running injuries are put down to training errors: the heart and lungs improve fast, tendons and bone adapt far more slowly, and ramping up too quickly leaves the slow tissues behind. The most consistent risk factor in studies is an injury in the past year. The popular rule of adding no more than 10% a week is only a reminder; a trial did not find that it prevents injury.
The evidence that changing your running form or shoes prevents injury is weak. For a beginner, injury prevention rests on building up volume gradually and adding strength training, which gives tendons and bone time to adapt; putting all your attention on shoes crowds out what matters more.
contrast · 1
≠Does stretching prevent injury
To get injured less, the main tool is strength training, not stretching before a run. In a meta-analysis of 25 randomized trials, strength training cut sports injuries by about two thirds (relative risk, RR, 0.32), while stretching had almost no effect (RR 0.96, with a confidence interval that crosses 1). For beginners, injury prevention rests on strength training plus building up volume gradually.
Mechanism · How strength training prevents injury
To get injured less, the main tool is adding some strength training to your running, not stretching longer before a run. Stronger muscles and tendons and better control of the legs let the body withstand repeated impact; static stretching does not bring that adaptation. Lauersen 2014 compared prevention methods one by one: strength training reduced injuries, while the effect of stretching could not be told apart from zero.
Numbers · The effect of each method
Lauersen 2014 pooled 25 randomized trials, 26,610 participants and 3,464 injuries. Broken down by method, the relative risk (RR) was 0.315 for strength training (95% CI 0.207–0.480), 0.550 for proprioception training, and 0.963 for stretching (0.846–1.095), which means stretching had no effect. All exercise programs taken together also reduced acute and overuse injuries, but those are separate figures, not the effect of strength training on its own.
In practice · A beginner's injury-prevention mix
A beginner runner's injury-prevention mix is alternating running and walking, building up gradually, strengthening the legs and leaving enough time to recover; shoes just need to fit well. Stretching increases range of motion and a warm-up is useful, but neither is injury prevention. Strength training brings the risk of injury down to about a third, not to zero; building up gradually is still the first strategy for preventing injury.