INJURY RISK ASSESSMENT
YOUR TRAINING RISK CHECKLIST
Your doctor will give you medical options to treat your injury. In the meantime, you should assess your training risks. Look below and identify what you may be doing to cause or worsen your injury. Making smart changes will help you get back to your routine faster, and can teach you valuable lessons to help prevent injuries in the future!
- Check your mileage volume: If you are running 5+ days a week, or more than 40 miles a week, you at a high risk for injury from overuse.
- Check your mileage increases: sudden increases in mileage, more than 10 percent per week, will put you at high risk of injury.
- Are you doing too much too soon? New runners tend to put in too many miles before figuring out whether their bodies can handle the workload.
- Check your shoes: Your shoes may need to be replaced, or you may need shoes that better match your needs for support and cushioning.
- Check your terrain: running on hills, trains, uneven ground, wet/muddy/slippery surfaces can provoke or contribute to fatigue.
- Check your knees: disorders like arthritis, meniscus damage, or ligament tears may render your knees unable to handle the stresses of running.
- Check your diet: A diet that lacks in energy, protein, anti-inflammatory foods, or fruits/veggies leads to poor daily recovery and maintenance, increasing injury risk.
- Evaluate your goals: an overly ambitious race schedule may be harsh on your body, especially if there is a lot of long races or too many events scheduled close together.
- Check with a physical therapist: Make sure to correct deficits in your strength, balance, and core stability, the supporting cast for injury prevention that runners often neglect.
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