Injury and the comeback

This week I spoke with my fiancee about injury and how she has overcome injury to return stronger to her running. You can hear the interview on the media player on the right of this post.

To accompany that interview I thought it would be useful to give some tips for any runners suffering with injury. Whether it is blisters of a strained muscle the quicker you attend the problem the sooner you can return to full training.

R.I.C.E

We all may have learnt the basics of first aid when we played sport as a kid. My experience came from playing rugby and learning the benefit of ice and elevation when we took a big knock. For those that don't know it stands for rest, ice, compression and elevation. It is not advised to do all four as this can severely reduce the blood flow to the affected area. The goal is to reduce the amount of swelling that the body naturally produces at the injury site. By reducing the swelling and inflammation the body can still perform its repair process, but will also mean that recovery time is reduced as mobility is maintained around the injury. I always have an ice pack in the freezer in case of injury.

Visit a specialist

Doctors know a lot about medicine. But they don't know everything about sports injuries. Otherwise why would we need sport physios or sport massage therapists? My advice for any injury is to follow R.I.C.E and then seek the most suitable specialist for your injury. It's common sense. If your break your leg whilst out running, you go straight to Emergency. If you are performing a speed session and you feel a sharp strain in a muscle then you follow R.I.C.E and then visit a sports physio or sports massage therapist. There may be times when you are unsure on what to do. Always err on the side of caution and visit the doctor first. Once they have given you the all clear on broken bones and serious medical issues, then you can book into a sport physio. The importance of getting to see a specialist within the first week of an injury can't be exaggerated enough. The quicker you are assessed and treated, the less time you spend away from running and the quicker you can work on mobility, flexibility and strengthening before returning to full training. The added benefit of a specialist is that they can give you a program of exercises or activities to speed your recovery. If they are decent then they should take into account your mental wellbeing. If you are a super keen runner and can't run for four weeks then you will need assurances via a plan of rehabilitation that all will be ok and that you have the best information to keep you focused and positive.

Make a plan

As I said above a good sports physio should give you advice or a plan of rehab to help you through your injury. If however your injury is something smaller such as blisters, chafing or over training (technically not an injury) then you will have to make a plan yourself and act to prevent an injury. On this week's podcast Catherine talks about how she took a week off running because of her blisters from Coastrek. She substituted running for activities that didn't cause further damage to her blisters, whilst allowing them the time they needed for the new skin to toughen. She was quite low in her mood, but because she could still cycle and do yoga she kept some positivity and maintained her fitness. If anything it has helped to freshen her legs before this weekend's 32km long run!
Depending on the injury process you may want to try other activities. Use your time away from running to try out low impact sports such as cycling and swimming. Perhaps even switch to kayaking or a completely different activity to keep you positive and stop you going mad!
There is plenty of advice online from runners that have experience with the insidious things like blisters, chafing etc. It is worth reading over as the small things can become worse if they are not given the adequate time to repair.

Remember why you run

Whether you run competitively or run for enjoyment it is always worth reminding yourself what you are running for. What is your motivation? Is it a 10km personal best or do you just run every other day to relieve stress? Now consider how you'd feel if you couldn't run at all. With that in mind you can help yourself to focus on the long game and not just the immediate moment in time. A small injury might slow you down in the short term and not seem significant enough to warrant rest or attention. But without that attention it could develop into something more serious that prevents you from running altogether. Like the cars we drive and bikes we ride we too need a little service and repair to keep us doing the thing we love.

Ease back in

When you do get back to full strength from injury don't beast yourself! Remember that you may have lost some strength and fitness and your body will need time to get back to your previous fitness level. However if you do this right you may well find that you are stronger because of a good rehab program. I would look to do some manageable distances and small races for fun. Just enjoy being able to run whilst you are building back up towards race fitness.


There are many running forums and blogs where you can meet other runners. Twitter is an excellent way to meet other runners that will have experienced a variety of injuries and thus be able to offer advice. More importantly these runners will be able to offer support to keep you positive through the injury process. Sites like Runner's World or Running Bug are two great places to visit.

Until next week, stay healthy,

Tom :)