Running Injuries & ART®
Common Running Injuries and ART®
Dr. Sebastian Gonzales DC, CSCS, ART Huntington Beach, California
Runner’s Knee: Patellofemoral Syndrome and IT (Iliotibial) Band Syndrome
How to Prevent Running Injuries
It is no surprise runners have tons of injuries and fact is, they are more than likely from excessive “wear and tear” on the joints and soft tissues. Running is a repetitive overuse activity (your legs constantly move in the same motion) and it would only make sense to say the injuries are also overuse injuries involving the muscles and soft tissues surrounding the site of pain. If you have one of the following injuries, listen up. These are muscular problems and there is no way that a simple chiropractic adjustment or application of ultrasound is going to fix these problems. The pain you are experiencing is due to muscle spasm from excessive scar tissue and inflammation within the muscles. In order for these spasms to cease you need a very specific form of soft tissue treatment to basically go in and pull the scar tissue from the muscles.
ART® is the most effective form of treatment for these types of injuries and this is why it is the Official Soft Tissue Partner of Ironman® Triathlons.
Lets take a look into each injury:
Hip Pain: Hip pain is definitely an injury that can become very painful and develop complications with runners. There are many things that can cause hip pain but the most common in repetitive motion athletes is an overuse injury of the external rotators of the hip. The most famous of this group of muscles is the Piriformis muscle and it is the largest of the external rotators. Running through tightness of this hip muscle can lead to more serious problems, such as sciatica like pain. The condition known as Piriformis syndrome can cause numbness, tingling, and even shooting pain into the leg. It is also not uncommon to find lower back pain in correlation with Piriformis Syndrome, which could lead some medical professionals to diagnosis you with full blown Sciatica.
Hip injuries and the possible progression can be easily be fixed by treating the affected tissues and normalizing your hip extension. When the problematic muscles have been properly treated and the correct muscles have been “re-educated” to extend the hip, the injury will be resolved. Generally, this external rotator can become overused and damaged with excessive external rotation when running hills or even with running on flat ground.
Lower Back Pain Lower back pain is another injury, which can occur in the same fashion as an injury to the external rotators of the hip. When running with an abnormal hip extension motion pattern, the accessory hip extensor muscles, such as the lower back paraspinal muscles, can become overused, damaged and develop loads of scar tissue, leading to pain and a decrease in your running performance. It is not uncommon for runner’s to be out of training for weeks or even months due to this type of injury.
Many times this scar tissue cannot effectively be stretched out by yourself. One thing to remember is that when a muscles has accumulated large amounts of scar tissue, this tissue become less resilient, less stretchable and gives you the sensation of chronic tightness. Many times it is necessary to see an Active Release Techniques® provider to manually get rid of the scar tissue in order for the pain and tightness to resolve.
Runner’s Knee: Patellofemoral Syndrome and IT (Iliotibial) Band Syndrome Grouping these injuries of the knee together might seem negligent but I am going to do so because many times they are different symptomatic manifestations of the same biomechanical problems. With knee pain, it is foolish to only treat the knee since the knee is frequently at the will of the hip and the ankle. Injuries or biomechanical problems in these two areas can cause your knee pain.
Patellofemoral Syndrome commonly presents as pain just deep to the kneecap, which increases when walking down stairs. Local inflammation occurring under the knee will cause the pain but as stated before, it is more than likely caused by a problem elsewhere. IT (Iliotibial) Band Syndrome will present as pain on the outside of the knee, which gets worse with an increase in mileage.
Again, local inflammation is the immediate case of pain as the tendon rubs across the lateral femoral condyle during flexion and extension of the knee. However, as stated before, the real cause of pain can is commonly from spasm of the muscles controlling the IT band, such as the tensor fascia lata and the gluteus medius. Treatment should not only occur at the knee but also at the hip to completely resolve this running injury.
Shin Splints Shin Splints are extremely common amongst runners, especially when they start to increase their mileage from what is their norm. Increased tension of the muscles on the front and back part of the leg pulls on the covering of the bone (periosteum) and causes the constant inflammation and irritation to the area. The tibialis posterior and the tibialis anterior muscles are most common culprits in shin splints. As stated before, muscular tension is what causes the constant pulling on the periosteum and treatment of the muscles of the calf can help significantly decrease this tension and the inflammation, which results.
ART® is can significantly decrease pain associated with shin splints in about 3 – 4 treatments.
Achilles’ Tendonitis Achilles’ Tendonitis also is an overuse injury from running. Constant pull from the muscles of the calf on the tendon causes inflammation on the point of insertion on the bone. The tendon itself naturally lacks much blood flow and has a decreased ability for healing. One thing to remember about this injury is that if not addressed and continually trained on, rupture of the tendon is possible. Treatment of the muscles causing the increased tension on the tendon is extremely important in resolution of this problem. Increased tightness of the calf muscles is caused by overuse and scar tissue.
Plantar Fasciitis Plantar Fasciitis too is soft tissue injury. Plantar Fasciitis actually translates to inflammation of the planar fascia, but foot pain during running is not always due to an injury to the plantar fascia. Many times it is an overuse injury causing tightness and spasm in the small intrinsic muscles of the foot. Injuries to these muscle cause a very similar type of pain as inflammation to the plantar fascia and if not address properly, the pain will continue. Rest, ice and medication will only get you so far, but just as with the previous injuries if the scar tissue is not manually removed, the pain will continue.
Plantar Fasciitis or foot pain can be a chronic injury for many runners; in fact, some sources say with traditional treatment, it can remain for upwards towards a year even with conventional treatment. It usually develops from a biomechanical problem from the ankle or hip and when properly addressed, this condition can be easily fixed and training can be resumed.
How to Prevent Running Injuries
For more information about what ART® is click HERE
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Check out our other articles and information on Active Release Techniques® and Injury Prevention Assessments to see if it can help you or any of your loved ones get out of pain and prevent new injuries.
