Stress Fractures - Reduce your Risk
Bone Stress Injuries (BSIs) can occur in any bone that is asked to absorb a lot of weight. Although these can occur in upper body bones, they are far more common in lower limb bones, especially sports and activities that require running. Some risk factors for BSIs are: a previous history of BSIs, very low body weight, recent spike in running or related activities, and hormonal imbalances.
BSIs are currently known as stress fractures, which is a much more commonly used term by the public. Stress fractures describe micro cracks forming in the bone. Although the human body is usually good at adapting to increased stress on bones, if we apply too much stress for long periods of the time, the bones don’t have time to heal, which can then result in an injury that can leave you on the sidelines. When this pain is ignored, and activity continues then the result may be a complete fracture of the bone. It is often seen taht people will mask the pain with painkillers until the point where the bone fully fractures and then potentially requires surgery or the invasive medical help.
How Can you Reduce your Risk of Getting a Stress Fracture?
1. Don’t Increase Load Too Quickly
A stress fracture doesn’t occur because someone is a runner. A stress fracture occurs because someone;’s body i used to a particular amount of loading, and that loading is increased too quickly. An easy rule of thumb is the ’10% rule’. Although this isn’t perfect, it can be helpful when planning your training. This rule states that when increasing your running mileage, it is helpful to limit an increase in mileage by no more than 10% in a given week. For more seasoned runners, they may be able to withstand larger increases in running due to their body’s training history, but for most people, the 10% rule may be helpful to reduce injury risk.
2. Build the Miles Before Your Speed
It can be very tempting to increase the speed of your runs to match your friend’s pace on Strava, but it may be more useful to play the long game. Incrementally building up your weekly mileage as a first step is both beneficial for your cardiovascular fitness and your bone health. After a period of building up ‘slower’ miles and being comfortable with taht volume of running, faster runs can then be introduced to your training.
3. ‘Have a Day Off’
This may be a lot more than a day in most cases. By this, we mean take time away from running. If you’ve been building mileage and speed for 3 months, then take a week off from running. This week doesn’t have to be a complete rest from running, but you can stretch, do Pilates, do a light run on a weekend, spend time with family, do a strength training workout, go swimming. The world is your oyster. A mental and physical break from running every now and again is great for recovery, and gives some breathing space to set some new goals, or focus on the other things happening in your life.
4. Take Note of the Variables
Things can change that can have an effect on your running. These can be variables such as stress, poor sleep, new running shoes, a new running route, increased or decreased temperatures, or a new running surface. All of these variable can have both positive and negative effects on your running. Be mindful when inserting yourself into a new running environment as you may have to tailor your running to suit the new situation.
If you have any questions on whether physio is the best option for you, or you have any questions about MVMNT in general, feel free to contact via email.
- Jay Towolawi, Specialist Sports Physiotherapist and MVMNT Founder.