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Writer's pictureLuke Nelson

Beyond the Run: The Hidden Dangers of Non-Running Activities on Injury Risk

What are you doing in the 23 other hours of the day? How non-running load can lead to injury...🏃‍♂️🕰️🤔


Injuries arise when the stress placed on the body surpasses its capacity ⚖️



It's crucial to recognize that stress encompasses more than just running loads and to consider other daily activities that might play a role in injury 🤕


These factors include, but are not limited to:


👷‍♂️ Occupational demands:

For instance, standing for 30 minutes can accumulate a similar total knee joint load as walking and 56% of the knee joint load experienced during running. (Miller 2015)



🛌 Sleep:

💤 Endurance athletes getting less than 7 hours of sleep had a heightened risk of injury. (Johnston 2020)

💤 Athletes who averaged less than 8 hours of sleep were 1.7 times more likely to sustain an injury. (Milewski 2014)

💤 Middle-school cross-country runners who had inadequate sleep were more prone to injury. (Wu 2021)


😖Stress:

A significant life event can have both immediate and long-term effects on injury risk. Otter's 2016 study demonstrated impaired running economy even three weeks after a stressful event.



🥗Nutrition:

Insufficient caloric intake is a characteristic of Relative Energy Deficiency Syndrome, which can elevate the risk of bone stress injuries, among other issues 🦴


Thus, always remember that running injuries involve more than just running itself. 🍽️🛌💼🧠



👋 Runners, like & share this if you learnt something


🤓Health professionals, if you want to learn more about treating runners, check our upcoming Online & Face to Face “MAT Assessing the Runner” courses.




📚References

  • Miller RH, Edwards WB, Deluzio KJ. Energy expended and knee joint load accumulated when walking, running, or stand- ing for the same amount of time. Gait Posture. 2015;41:326-328. 

  • Harper-Hanigan, K. and A. H. Gruber (2022). "The Missing Link in Running Injury Research: Nonrunning Physical Activity." J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 52(11): 705-708.

  • Johnston, R., et al. (2020). "General health complaints and sleep associated with new injury within an endurance sporting population: A prospective study." J Sci Med Sport 23(3): 252-257.

  • Milewski, M. D., et al. (2014). "Chronic lack of sleep is associated with increased sports injuries in adolescent athletes." J Pediatr Orthop 34(2): 129-133.

  • Wu, A. C., et al. (2021). "Running-related injuries in middle school cross-country runners: Prevalence and characteristics of common injuries." PM R.

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