Injury Prevention – Spot the signs
For runners, walkers and anyone involved in activity spotting the signs that could lead to injury could be very helpful. To know when a pain is normal and when its not can mean the difference between continuing to do the activity or not.
By spotting the signs, I mean realising that something isn’t right with the way you function when walking or running. The way you all walk and run is determined by how your joints and muscles function together. Everyone is very slightly different in our build and structure, this means we function slightly differently to each other. The analysis of this movement is known as gait analysis.
If you think of people as machines then some of us are very efficient machines built for the activity we are doing and others are less efficient with perhaps not the best build for the chosen activity. We have evolved of many years to walk upright, but our feet and legs have to compensate for the hard surfaces we all walk and run on today. This compensation can lead to injury.
So how can knowing this help prevent injury?
Recognising recurrent niggles or aches when they are only small issues but seem to happen in a pattern or regularly when you walk or run is the first step.
The second step would be to get checked out, to book an appointment with a Podiatrist to check your body’s mechanics and look for any functional issues occurring when you walk and run. They will watch you walk or run and assess your joints for range of movement. The Podiatrist will then be able to discuss if you require any treatment just to make you function that bit more efficient to help prevent injuries from occurring.
Of course not every ache or pain needs investigating, but investigating anything that is recurrent and regularly happening after exercise may really reduce the chances of you suffering injury and preventing you doing your activity.
The best method of treatment for most injuries is trying to prevent it from happening in the first place. Remember to always stretch out before exercising, ensure you are wearing the correct type of foot wear, and if you are experiencing any pain or problems, don’t just exercise anyway and think it’ll be ok. You’ll often cause a lot more damage by exercising on an injury.
Last Updated: September 2021