Running elevates heart rate, improves bone density, and keeps us feeling positive. In addition, running demands no inflation of tires, no special equipment and can be done almost anywhere. The only downside of running is the trauma on our bodies.

The impact of striking the ground repeatedly places a lot of stress on the feet, shins, knees, and hips. Runners can reduce the incidence of common injuries such as Iliotibial Band Syndrome, Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction, achilles tendonitis, knee problems, and hamstring and other muscle strains by taking a few simple precautions.

1) Wear footwear appropriate for your arch height and runnng style (its best to get fitted at a running store by someone who can do a proper evaluation) and replace shoes when cushioning has broken down (shoes are usually rated for X amount of miles).

2) Gradually increase intensity during each workout. Be sure not to start out too fast.

3) Increase intensity and distance gradually. Beginners might start by alternating between walking for a minute and jogging for a minute for a total of 15 minutes the first week. Fitter individuals could start with a mile jog, gradually increasing distance by a half mile to a mile per week. Listen to your body! It will tell you if you are doing too much too soon.

4) Avoid running on shoulders and other banked surfaces, which will put undue stress on the hips and knees on one side of the body. I ran on a shoulder in a half marathon once and my knee hurt very badly for two weeks afterward.

5) Integrate cross training into your program. Low or non-impact activities such as swimming or cycling are ideal.

6) Stretch and use a foam roller to lengthen the IT band post-run. It tends to shorten and contract during and after running and cycling. When this band of connective tissue gets too tight, it causes pain on the outside of the knee and hip. To stretch, lay on back, legs extended. Place yoga strap under right foot, extending leg up and gently stretching over body toward the left. To roll, position yourself on your side over foam roller and roll up and down the outside of the thigh. Avoid rolling over the knee joint or the hip bone. A soft roller will work best. I purchases a green one from OTPT that works very well.

7) Stretch hip flexors, hamstrings, quadriceps, IT band, and low back after every workout.

If your running style is awkward, hire a running coach or pick up a copy of Danny Dreyer’s Chi Running. His book offers great suggestions on how to adjust your posture, foot strike and running style so it is less traumatic on the body.

Are you ready to get out there and enjoy your workout? I know I am. I’ve got to don my running shoes now, too, before it gets too hot. Tucson in June is hot, hot, hot!!

Far too often, my more senior clients arrive at the gym in open-toed or street shoes. I typically ask them, “Why aren’t you wearing the right shoes?” Often the response is “These shoes are really comfortable.” I empathize with them. Comfort matters. And these people grew up in an era when comfortable exercise shoes were hard to come by and the idea of wearing them might strike them as unpleasant (as does the idea of me listening to my teenagers’ hip-hop music in the car instead of my favorite and familiar 70s and 80s tunes). Believe it or not, “gym shoes” really can feel great on your feet if you select the right pair. Not to mention the fact that proper footwear protects you in more ways than one.

Wearing a closed-toe shoe in the gym is imperative because bare toes are very vulnerable to the drop of a dumbbell (by you or someone else) or the end of a piece of equipment (surely I’m not the only one who has broken a toe more than once at home in bare feet)? A shoe with proper cushioning and support minimizes trauma on muscles and joints and reduces post-exercise discomfort.

A shoe worn for lifting weights need not be as “high tech” as one worn for impact activities such as walking, jogging or step aerobics. A weight lifting shoe should cover the entire foot, enable comfortable movement in all directions, and offer enough cushioning and support so the floor doesn’t feel too hard beneath your feet (low back and lower extremity joint discomfort often indicate inadequate cushioning).

If you run or engage in other high-impact activities regularly, you should buy very high quality (expensive) exercise shoes. Also buy the best footwear if you wear your shoe soles unevenly. A reputable sporting goods or running store won’t recommend a shoe without first having someone observe you walking or jogging on a treadmill, measure your arch height, and study your posture. Try on the shoe to make sure you get the proper fit (sizes vary from brand to brand), wearing your normal socks and orthotics.

Shoes worn for activities that include lateral movements, such as step aerobics and tennis, should provide lateral support so they don’t “roll over” when you move side-to-side. Running shoes are a poor choice because they are designed exclusively for forward movement. I prefer owning two pairs of shoes—a pair for running and a separate one for aerobics—over buying a once-size-fits-all “cross-training” shoe which doesn’t work optimally for either activity.

Exercise shoes should be replaced regularly. Once the cushioning in a shoe is broken down, it fails to do its job of protecting you. Get in the habit of replacing shoes every six months or about every 350 to 400 running miles to avoid unnecessary injury and pain.

There is a comfortable shoe out there waiting to be found. So when the shoe fits…buy it (and then wear it)!

Sometimes we let our goals and our bull-headedness keep us from using good judgement when it comes to training and exercise. A knee is swollen and hurting but we still go out for a morning run. Our rotator cuff muscles hurt long after we stop swimming, but we dive in the water and workout as if the shoulder pain didn’t exist. Before long, we end up in rehab. If only we had listened to our bodies sooner, we could have avoided weeks of physical therapy and rehabilitation later!

I have had more nagging injuries than I’d care to mention, only one of which escalated to a point where it required physical therapy. In the case of my recent shoulder tendinosis, which took three months to rehabilitate, I knew I should back off, but I was in the middle of a 2 day swim meet and I just kept on going, despite what my better judgement was telling me to do. In the cases where the injury mended within days, I adjusted the way I taught my classes so I wouldn’t overly stress the tender area and adjusted my workouts so the muscles had time to recover. Often figuring out the root of the injury was beneficial.

In 2008, I pulled an adductor muscle on my left leg 3 weeks before the USMS Long Course swimming nationals. Despite the fact that breast stroke was my main event, I had to stop swimming that stroke altogether for nearly two weeks and also iced the muscles three times a day and took anti-inflammatories to reduce swelling. I determined that I was tighter in the glutes and piriformis on the left leg and, which resulted in too much strain on the adductors when swimming breaststroke. When I resumed swimming breast stroke again (a week before the championship), I always stretched the piriformis first. I have never had a problem with my adductors since.

My point? Listen to your body. If something is hurting, something about your training needs to change. Determine why the injury is happening, reduce your training and ice, and pursue training that is non-traumatic on the injured site. When my shoulder was at its worst, I increased my running and often got into the pool and did long kick sets with a board. I was able to stay in shape without hurting my shoulder. This morning, once I take my kids to school, I will swim rather than do my normal Tuesday run because my knees ache after wading nearly 8 miles up Sabino Canyon in my bare feet. Every day, I think about what kind of training will work best for my body given its current circumstances.

Here’s some more tips on how you can prevent injuries”
- always warm up before and cool down after high intensity exercise
- find different modes of exercise (crosstraining) to avoid putting the same stress on the body day after day
- stretch after every workout
- adjust training whenever something starts to hurt and ice inflammed areas regularly
- strength train appropriately for the activities you pursue
- assess the source of the injury and aim to remediate the problem. A common problem is too much strength or tightness on the dominant side of the body. Strength train and stretch to minimize these imbalances.

Follow these principles and you’re likely to enjoy many more enjoyable and injury-free workouts. Well, I gotta go – the pool is calling my name right now!