If there is one downside of being a runner (and the only one we can think of) it’s the risk of injury.
We all know a runner who is injured or just recovering from injury - but it’s time every runner knew that injuries are NOT a given as a runner.
There are several things you can do to prevent picking up injuries and “Pre-hab” exercises are vital in the fight against niggles.
Take a look a the video above to give you a visual of what happens during the gait of so many runners who end up inured.
You’ll see for yourself why “pre-hab” is so important and see really clearly the effect that weak muscles can have and how that weakness can lead to injury.
The dysfunction / weakness of the runner in the above video is perhaps more extreme than most, but if you were to analyse a 100 people currently training for a marathon, you’d probably find at least 60%+ would demonstrate signs of glute weakness and a real need to perform weekly pre-hab exercises.
Injuries are not a given - most are preventable!
Ultimately, it is all about balance.
By ensuring the body is balanced during your running gait, you can help to protect yourself from injury. By performing simple “pre-hab” exercises any muscular imbalances which are caused by tight and or weak muscles can be both identified and treated.
Throughout the course of your training, muscular imbalances can create a “pull” on a range of joints and structures such as your pelvis, knee, hip which may well be unaffected in the early stages when your weekly mileage is low, but can start to present themselves as sites of pain and inflammation as your training progresses.
The “old school” approach of treating injuries when they present themselves is all well and good but with pre-hab, we can now identify these areas of weakness and imbalance and make sure they never reach the stage of causing pain and therefore requiring rehabilitation
As is the case with most running advice, different advice will benefit different people depending on their individual needs and physiology.
However, there are a selection of key pre-hab exercises that are suitable for nearly all runners.
Along with the stretching of tight muscles, the following five exercises pack a big punch and, if performed regularly, can help prevent injuries:
Videos on how to do these exercises (properly) and many more can be viewed on the GH Training Video Library, which is available free of charge to all subscribing Charities who use our Running and Cycling Training Resources.
For more information, please get in touch.
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