Running is an extremely popular activity these days. It is likely that everyone knows someone that is training for the next race. It may be a 5K, a half marathon, or even a triathlon. There are a few things that you can do to help avoid injury to your feet if you are a runner.

4 Tips to Avoid Injury:

1. The magic number is somewhere between 300-500. Runners should trade in their shoes every 300-500 miles. That may sound like a long way to run, and it most definitely is. However, running causes the material in shoes to compress and loose their strength and support. After 500 miles, the risk of injury goes up significantly. Stress fractures and tendonitis can be prevented if shoes are replaced at the proper distance. The downside to changing your shoes that quickly is that they still look new. If the shoe looks worn out, it is lway past time to get a new pair of shoes.

2. Cross train. Pounding the pavement repeatedly can be hard on your knees, ankles, and feet. Swimming and elliptical machines are ideal low impact ativities that will give you a super workout. Cross training will significantly lower the risk of running injuries.

3. You can run through many pains in your feet. However you should not run through a stress fracture. If you have pinpoint pain in the forefoot, swelling just behind the toes, and increasing pain in the ball of the foot with activity, then you may have a stress fracture. You need to get in to see your podiatrist. Your podiatrist will be the best one to diagnose this problem for you. If you try to tough out a stress fracture, then you may end up with an injury that takes months to heal. If you take it wasy on a stress fracture in the early stages, it will heal quickly.

4. Educate yourself: Dr. Jason Knox put together a series of videos talking about common running ailments such as Achilles Tendonitis, Plantar Faciitis, shin splints and stress fractures.

Doing Everything We Can to Keep People Running

Runners are often their own worst enemy and like to treat themselves or each other. In my experience, that is due to the fear of a doctor telling them they cannot run. In our practice, we do everything we can to keep patients running. Rarely will we tell a patient to stop running, unless it is absolutely necessary, because we are runners and we understand the importance of running to a runner.