The vast majority of runners suffered injuries and lost training every year. Chiropractic therapy can help prevent running injuries by bringing the body into proper alignment and balancing the distribution of pressure.
How chiropractic can help limit running injuries
Incredibly, according to statistics reported by the New York Times, as many as 90% of runners could lose training each year because of an injury. The question, then, is how to prevent injury in runners. The answer, simply put, is chiropractic care.
Chiropractic treatment is particularly helpful for preventing running injuries because this medical approach is focused on maintaining proper alignment of the spine – and in turn, balancing the body as a whole.
New York chiropractor Scott Duke says that the most common running injuries in runners are kneecap tracking issues, hip bursitis, Achilles tendinitis, IT band syndrome, and plantar fasciitis. The key to giving people who get these injuries the best possible treatment is to look for any misalignment. If the body is out of balance, the pressure is then also imbalanced, so certain parts of your body get more than their share of tension.
"I can't take care of anyone's chronic IT band problem without making sure their pelvis is in as perfect alignment as it can be,” says Duke. “Otherwise, it'll continue to wear, tear, and put strain on that one particular body part."
In other words, working toward an equal distribution of pressure is critical to the chiropractic care that can prevent injury in runners.
Reasons why misalignment occurs
A very common reason that a runner will experience misalignment is simply repetition: running the same way on the same “path” each day. Another typical issue is running somewhere that is tilted, such as a beach. Runners also sometimes don’t replace their footwear as often as they should – about every 300-500 miles, according to various runners featured in the Times.
Here are a few tips to avoid these misalignment issues and prevent injury in runners, other than the obvious approach of chiropractic care:
- Try more diversity with running surfaces, and take different routes.
- When on a beach, get as close to the water as you can so it’s level.
- Use two sets of running shoes, going back and forth between them.
- Get into a different sitting position every half an hour throughout your work day if you can. For example, go back and forth from a stability ball to a chair.
- Be strict with yourself about warmups and stretches. "You need to warm up the hip in circular patterns, and you need to warm up the spine in rotary movements," says Duke. Also, “[y]ou need to wake up the outer buttock muscles, called the glute medius, in order to keep your pelvis stable when you go for a run.”
Help to align the body & prevent injury
Are you a runner wanting to keep your body healthy and avoid any gaps in training? At Envista Medical, we’ll show you the natural way to better health and injury prevention. Learn more.