Beginners and Beyond

12

Is it possible certain people are just more injury prone than others? (Read 110 times)

Nata2011


    Yes. Some of it may be biomechanics (hip angle, bone density, arch, etc). Weight plays a role. Stride plays a role (which is a function of biomechanics)

     

    a lot of it due to personality type - I.e. I don't run through any real pain (pain of a 5k is also real but I'd run through that). There are plenty of people that won't let aches and pains heal, same people usually try to race their runs

     

    there is also a mileage issue as well

     

    so yes, there are some people that are more prone, due to both genetics and type A "I will push through anything " peraonality

    LRB


      I have been injured and taken significant time off each of the three years I have run.  Am I injury prone?  Who is to say,  I just chalk it up to shit happens and try to determine what caused it.  Afterwards, I do the things necessary to get back at it, however long that takes.

       

      The Mother Hen at my work was convinced that running is bad.  Her hubby dealt with knee problems years ago as a runner, and during a period in late fall this year, three people she knew (including yours truly) were all sidelined with injury.  She was on a rant about it one day and I had to stop her telling her look, people get injured.  Whether it is the knees, hips, shoulders or pick a body part, I have seen dozens if not hundreds of injured people in physical therapy during my sessions there, none of whom run.

       

      She reluctantly agreed because she also knows people who have had issues who in fact, were not runners.  Hey, shit happens.

       

      As far as PT's, I am a more informed runner because of my interactions with them.  Is everything they say the gospel?  No, but they are usually speaking from experience.  The thing about that though is what happened to another runner, for whatever reason, may not be happening to me for the same reason.  So you take what they are telling you and weigh it against what you know about yourself, no different that what we do everyday on these forums.

       

      Just because my achilles tendonitis resulted from tight muscles, does not mean yours did as well.  There could be one of a hundred other variables at play, your job is to try to determine what those are.  All I can do is post my experience with it, but just like physical therapists, it is not the gospel.

       

      What is cool about the forums and specifically the interwebz, is that there are a multitude of experiences and opinions on any one particular injury.  So if you are diligent enough, you most likely will come across that one post out of a thousand, that provides the answer to your problem.

      Nevrgivup


        Kristin, none of us run for a living.  Some are better able to fit it into their lives than others.  Here's a reality.  You will never earn a living by your running.  Me neither.  Given that reality, you have to run as you can without making it the number one priority in your life.  In reality, maybe that means you can only run 35-40 miles per week.  Well, so what?  Maybe that means you need to limit yourself to half marathons.  Well, so what?  None of us have to prove anything to anyone else.  Here's another reality.

         

        If someone goes from sedentary to active, the curve of health benefits climbs very steeply up to about 25 miles per week but it flattens out significantly after that.  There is no evidence that you get any additional health benefit from running more than 50 miles per week and there is some evidence that the curve starts declining for those running more than 50 miles per week.  It's not a steep decline and the evidence isn't strong enough to be conclusive but the evidence is there.  My point is that, from a health perspective, there's no real reason to run more than about 25 miles per week.  If living a healthy lifestyle is your primary objective in running, then you can do just fine on that reduced mileage.

         

        If that's not acceptable to you, then you just have to make compromises somewhere.  Maybe you have to skip that glass of beer in the evening because you are out getting in a few extra miles on your 2nd run of the day.  Maybe personal emails just have to wait until the weekend.  Maybe you aren't willing to make those kinds of sacrifices in your personal life just to satisfy your running life.

         

        I don't have an answer for you.  What I do encourage you to do is to make a conscious decision.  Life is all about making choices and every choice we make has both positive and negative consequences.  I think too many people make themselves unnecessarily miserable because they try to avoid the negative consequences of their choices.  Well, you can't.  That's part of life.  I'll give you my example.

         

        About five years ago, I had to decide whether I wanted to put in the time and effort it would take for me to have a chance at getting promoted to Colonel in the Army Reserve.  A promotion would allow me to extend my career for another three years and would increase my retirement by a decent amount.  On the other hand, taking the kinds of jobs that get you promoted and enrolling in Army War College would have essentially meant me spending 2-4 hours every single day performing military related tasks as well as being gone on military duty 3-4 weekends a month rather than 1 weekend a month.  In the end, I decided it wasn't worth it.  Between the lost three years of pay and retirement difference, I probably cost myself and my family about $50,000 - $100,000.  I don't know about you but in my world, that's not walking around cash.  However, I also have two young children and I wanted to be able to spend time with them every evening rather than having to devote nearly every evening to military duty.

         

        Which decision I reached is almost irrelevant.  The point is that I considered all factors in that decision and made it with full understanding of the negative consequences of that decision.  But, and this is the important thing, I decided that the positive consequences of that decision outweighed the negative so I'm OK with it and I can live with those negative consequences.  Just make whatever decision is right for you.

        Kristin, I'm sorry that you are injured. I do agree with a lot of what has already been said regards to being injury prone. Personally, the most I've ever run was a 30mile week. The marathon plan I'm doing peaks at about 36-38 miles and that is it. I'm running it to finish without getting injured. I know that I'm more injury prone than others so I avoid running high milage weeks. I'd rather run that than nothing at all. I LOVE how LTH said that as recreational runners, we have nothing to prove. That is so true. I alway said I'd never run a marathon as my love is in the shorter distance, but had a great opportunity to do so this April so I jumped on it. 

        I seem to agree with almost all of LTH's posts lately. Hmmm. Wonder why? Smile I agree that we have to make compromises to get our runs in. So many of us work, go to school, have families, yet train to be prepared on race day. There are so many times that I could count not wanting to run in the dark, on the TM, after working a 13-14 hour day on my feet at the hospital, but I do it and my race times and preparation thanks me for it. Good luck with healing and don't let this get you down too much. You will be running before you know it.

        Running is my mental-Ctrl-Alt-Del. 

        kristin10185


        Skirt Runner

          Thanks LTH that was a really insightful post. That is true....we do what we can. If I had noother things to do in my life I'd be able to run 70mpw but I have a lot of other things in my life.....the most time and energy consuming being 3 jobs.

          PRs:   5K- 28:16 (5/5/13)      10K- 1:00:13 (10/27/13)    4M- 41:43 (9/7/13)   15K- 1:34:25  (8/17/13)    10M- 1:56:30 (4/6/14)     HM- 2:20:16 (4/13/14)     Full- 5:55:33 (11/1/15)

           

          I started a blog about running :) Check it out if you care to

          happylily


            I am not apt to give an opinion on whether some people are more prone than others to injury. I don't know enough about the subject. But I do know that no matter how hard I'd try, I would never excel at many things. For example, I am very poorly flexible. If I stretched a lot and did yoga regularly, I would definitely improve my flexibility by a lot. But still, I would always remain not that flexible compared to most people. And because of that, I could never become a gymnast. I'm sure I would be constantly injured if I tried. With the children I have at daycare, I can tell which ones will be very flexible later in life, which ones will be strong, which ones fast, which ones agile, etc... We can all improve in all those spheres, with proper training, but we are also born with some natural abilities, while some things we will never excel at. In fact, trying again and again when it seems that our bodies are not liking certain activities seems a bit mean to our poor body parts... :-( I also have poor coordination and slow reflexes, so if I were ever trying to become a race cyclist, I would end up with a cracked skull and broken legs, pretty sure of it.

            PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013

                    Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013

            18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010

            MarjorieAnn3137


            Run to live; live to run

              I have recently become very skeptical of PT's.  I'm betting not a damn one of them would view the running of Priscah Jeptoo or Paula Radcliffe without opining how horrible they run.  Yet, all they do is win.  Hmmmm.

               

              I'm a PT and I would say you are wrong.

              PTs that run and understand running would not say how horrible they run.

              Marjorie

              redrum


              Caretaker/Overlook Hotel

                Well, I think they actualy would still say they run horribly.  (Really they do.  Paula Radcliffe looks darn near massocistic!!)  However, I think a PT might still be able to explain away a bit as to why they do what they do if it's biomechanically instinctive for them.

                 

                That said........I also wouldn't agree that just because they "win" doesn't mean it justifies their running weird.  Who knows what their joints might feel like after they hang up the shoes?  Maybe they'll be an orthopedic nightmare in their 50's? (shrug)

                 

                 

                I'm a PT and I would say you are wrong.

                PTs that run and understand running would not say how horrible they run.

                 Randy

                Love the Half


                   

                  I'm a PT and I would say you are wrong.

                  PTs that run and understand running would not say how horrible they run.

                   

                  Please tell me why it's bio-mechanically correct for a runner's feet to kick out like a damn duck which accurately describes Priscah Jeptoo.  Hell, Paula Radcliffe looks like a demented chicken.  Very nearly the worst gait I have ever seen on any runner at any level.  Compare their awful form with the sublime form of Kenenisa Bekele who looks like he's gliding on rails.

                  Short term goal: 17:59 5K

                  Mid term goal:  2:54:59 marathon

                  Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life.  (I started running at age 45).

                  12