As you wander the soggy city streets of Victoria you feel that fall is in the air. You’ll see the changing leaves, the falling horse chestnuts and the determined runners getting all set for the Royal Victoria Marathon http://www.royalvictoriamarathon.com/ that happens next weekend. It raises the question "Is running healthy?"
If you watch the finishing of any given run it's fantastic to see all the different people who are completing their chosen distance. If you stick around to cheer the very last runners you’ll see people who are giving their all in order to just finish. While I find it inspiring and exciting to watch these brave soldiers I do get quite concerned about the effects running may have on their bodies.
While running is a fantastic form of cardio exercise, it can be destructive to the knees, the hips, the ankles, feet, and sometimes the neck and back. But… here’s the good news… running is a very natural form of movement for us homo sapiens. In fact, we are able to ‘run down’ many animals because of our ability to sweat and stay cool!
So why are there so many running injuries? I see plenty of muscle tears, shin splints, tight muscles, and pulled soft tissue injuries in my acupuncture practice. The problem with running is that people typically build up their mileage too quickly! I have seen 18 week marathon programs that take you from walking to full 42kms! The human body is very adaptive but if you want to run and stay injury free you must slowly build up your distance.
Take your time and don’t be too easily influenced by others progress. Listen to your body. If you ever have to take pain killers before or after a run your body is trying to tell you something and you best listen to it!
So laces up those shoes, put on some flashing lights, and go for a nice run in the beautiful fall air!
~Think Vitality!~
If you watch the finishing of any given run it's fantastic to see all the different people who are completing their chosen distance. If you stick around to cheer the very last runners you’ll see people who are giving their all in order to just finish. While I find it inspiring and exciting to watch these brave soldiers I do get quite concerned about the effects running may have on their bodies.
While running is a fantastic form of cardio exercise, it can be destructive to the knees, the hips, the ankles, feet, and sometimes the neck and back. But… here’s the good news… running is a very natural form of movement for us homo sapiens. In fact, we are able to ‘run down’ many animals because of our ability to sweat and stay cool!
So why are there so many running injuries? I see plenty of muscle tears, shin splints, tight muscles, and pulled soft tissue injuries in my acupuncture practice. The problem with running is that people typically build up their mileage too quickly! I have seen 18 week marathon programs that take you from walking to full 42kms! The human body is very adaptive but if you want to run and stay injury free you must slowly build up your distance.
Take your time and don’t be too easily influenced by others progress. Listen to your body. If you ever have to take pain killers before or after a run your body is trying to tell you something and you best listen to it!
So laces up those shoes, put on some flashing lights, and go for a nice run in the beautiful fall air!
~Think Vitality!~
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