Back in the day…When I trained runners for a living (circa 2008-2014), I conducted extensive research on the topic of endurance training and its effects on the human body. I presented it in PowerPoint form at venues all across NYC, including New York Road Runners, Lululemon, and Jack Rabbit stores (now Fleet Feet).
New York Running Company, Time Warner Center, NYC
Sometime around 2010, I created a program I called Ready to Run (Total Training for Runners). Its tag line and objectives were to “Keep Runners on the Roads and Out of Rehab”. And I don’t say ‘rehab’ lightly!
The running community is a physical therapist’s dream. The running industry sucks in new runners, then spits them out like Russian soldiers on the front lines in the war against Ukraine.
I used the term ‘running industry’ because it is indeed an industry, having emerged in the 1970s, partly due to the infamous book “Aerobics” by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, first published in 1968.
The BIG CITY MARATHON
Fred Lebow Statue in Central Park
From 1970 through 1975, the NYC Marathon was held entirely in Central Park. However, in 1976, then-NYRR president and race director Fred Lebow took the race to the streets of the city. This allowed the massage population of NYC to see the runners up close. It’s often estimated that as many as 2 million people line the streets of the 5 boroughs just to watch the marathon. The race was also televised on national TV, adding to the myth of the marathon.
Since then, the course has started in Staten Island and takes runners through each of the city’s five boroughs. Having run this event 4 times in my life, I can truly say it is a “Race Like No Other”.
OK, why am I telling you all this? Well, if you’re not as old as I am or you haven’t been running for a quarter of a century, you may not know the history behind what it is you like to do. Run road races. And I think it’s important to know how you got here.
The INJURED RUNNER
As a consequence of this boom in running, and more specifically, running long distances, there has also been a corresponding increase in orthopedic injuries among participants.
- A 2010 Runner’s World.com poll revealed that 66% of runners suffer from training-related injuries.
- Injury amongst those training for a marathon has risen to a staggering 80-90%!
- Research has shown that 6 out of 10 females who begin a distance training program will eventually experience an injury.
- Female runners are 4 to 6 times more likely to experience a serious knee injury than their male counterparts.
“Talk to a runner, I guarantee that within 30 seconds, the conversation turns to injury.”__Christopher McDougall-Author of Born to Run
So if we are all “Born to Run, why are so many runners getting injured?
BE AWARE – REASON NUMBER 1
The number 1 predictor of injuries in runners is previous injury. This goes for all non-contact sports injuries. So, if you twisted this, or tweaked that, or broke your (fill-in-the-blank) when you were a kid, these previous insults to your body become the weak link in the chain. Especially if you did not have a complete rehabilitation.
What is complete rehabilitation? Complete rehabilitation goes beyond sports massage, dry needling, cupping, stim, and ice, etc. These are just modalities that treat a symptom or the site of injury. All of these are necessary to take the pain away and make you feel better, but they fall short of the true definition of rehabilitation.
A good therapist will not only treat the site of pain, but will investigate the why behind it, AND prescribe exercises to improve the efficiency of how your body moves so you don’t injure the same spot again.
END OF PART 1