You may be prone to running stress fractures in your feet, ankles and legs if you are a regular runner because the repetitive impact can be hard on your bones.
They tend to occur most often in runners that participate regularly in this exercise routine.
Running stress fractures are what we will address in this article.
Stress fractures can be defined as broken bones that occur because of additional wear and tear on your bones from regular running. Over a period of time, the bones in your feet, ankles, shins and other parts of the legs can experience deterioration until they finally fracture from the stress that regular running can cause.
When they do occur, there may be little notice because they worsen undetected, as time goes on. More stress occurs from the routine that regular runners go through for this form of exercise.
As a runner, how do these stress fractures most likely occur?
Your bones will gradually start changing as they try to adapt to the constant repetitive nature of regular running. While bones are attempting to get stronger, increasing your running routine may cause a fracture.
Your bones may not be able to keep up with a change in the running routine that results from adding additional mileage too quickly or doing tougher terrain and inclines than you normally undertake, while running.
As a result, your bones are more likely to experience stress fractures or breaks because they cannot keep up with the strength level they need to, in order to be able to endure a tougher routine that includes more difficult conditions.
Your diet can play a role, if you are not keeping up the nutrient levels that are necessary for the running routine you have and a stress fracture could result.
Recommendations For Healing Your Stress Fractures
If you experience stress fractures, you will need to anticipate being on crutches for awhile and limited activities will be necessary, after you seek medical attention or visit the emergency room.
Until your doctor approves any activities, the best thing you can do to heal your fracture is to get plenty of rest so the bones can heal quicker.
Even then, a gradual increase in activity will be required, so you won't be able to get right back into your regular running routine until you are healthy again and your bones are strong enough to withstand it.
The Best Prevention of Running Stress Fractures
The best prevention is a gradual increase in the difficulty of your running routine. You need to keep in mind that it can take awhile for your bones to catch up to the additional strength level they need to withstand the increased impact and activity.
It is much better to stretch out the increases in your routine because changes in a short period of time are often the leading cause of these types of injury.
You also need a diet that contains enough nutrients, calcium, protein, calories, vitamins, minerals, etc., because this is an essential part of healthy bone growth and overall good health.
Every bit of prevention should be considered because when you overdo it, your entire body can suffer and you will be more prone to stress fractures.
So, add your mileage to your running program conservatively.
This can help reduce the impact running has on your bones and will help reduce the risk of getting stress fractures.
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