Written by Laura from our Leeds, Headingley shop.

Biomechanical

The way that you run is affected by how we are made and how we have developed. It can be the cause of injury and is a very broad topic area. Physiotherapists will look at the whole body to find imbalances and weaknesses that could attribute to injuries. Quite often a lot of gait problems can be addressed with the use of correctly prescribed footwear, using the foot efficiently can change your gait making you more efficient and reduce pressure on the surrounding structures and areas of the body higher up.

One of the key problems that may lead to injury is over pronation, this is the three dimensional inward roll of the foot, it puts a lot of extra pressure on the surrounding structures and can lead to injuries such as shin splints, runners knee and plantar fasciitis. There are shoes that are designed to stop this to differing degrees, your individual foot type determines what level of arch support you will need.

Some people do the opposite and stay with their weight on the outside of the foot thought-out the whole running gait this runner will need a different shoe again.

At your local Up and Running store we can examine your gait to see which shoe will suit your gait - more.

Training type

A common reason for injury is doing too much too soon, all training programmes should progress gradually by a maximum of 10% a week and incorporate a good amount of rest for the body to recover. If you have had a break from training the body will get used to exercise quicker than the first time but don't pick up where you left off.

Also make sure your training does not have too much of a repetitive nature, mixing training sessions up doing different things will stop too much repetitive strain on the same areas - more.

Predisposed injuries

If you have had injuries in the past it is important to look after them - not matter how long ago it was they can still effect us, if you were given rehabilitation exercises they need to be continued after the problem has gone.

Blisters

Blisters even when small can stop you training if untreated.
Once you have got one they can be treated with blister plasters that act as a second skin, to help them heal and stop the pain. The only problem is they slip off if your feet get a little sweaty so sometimes need to be held on with something like zinc oxide tape (always spot test this tape, as some people can have an allergic reaction).

Lubricant to stop the friction can help prevent blisters: Glide is the best for this as unlike Vaseline it does not sweat off or leave stains on your clothes.

High wicking socks that pull the moisture away from the foot (5 times quicker than a cotton sock) help avoid friction too.

Depending on the location of the blisters they could be caused by poorly fitted foot wear, commonly they are found on the inner arch of the foot and this can be due to the shoe having too much medial arch stability or too little. To see if this is a problem pop into your local store and one of the sales assistants will be more than happy to have a look at your shoes to see if this might be the case. (They might even end up putting you on a treadmill or looking at your arch type to test your gait.)

Conclusion

Injuries are common in running due to its high impact nature, here are my top tips to avoid them.
1) Get fitted for shoes by an expert
2) Progress gradually
3) Vary your training
4) Look after old injuries
And if this fails we are kitted out with advice for those who are injured including some trustworthy recommendations for local physiotherapists.