Runners Over 40 Injury Risk Reduction Part 1

 

Getting old doesn’t have to suck. Yet the reality is that as we age, our muscles lose elasticity, making them more susceptible to aches, pains and injuries. While these are some of the symptoms of aging, they don’t necessarily have to be the case.

It’s often said—you can’t get faster as you age. That’s a relative statement and it’s based on your level of running experience.  For someone that has been running only a short time, the chances that you will improve are much greater than those that have been running for many years.  I used to run in the low 16’s when I was in high school and it would be crazy for me to think I could do that now.

One of the easiest ways to improve/maintain your speed per your age range and prevent injuries, especially as a master’s runner, is to increase the amount of pliability and soft tissue in the muscle. Research is definitive on the benefits of increasing pliability and injury prevention. There’s simply no better way to prevent injuries.

One of the main reasons we slow down as we age is our muscles can’t fire or contract as forcefully. Research has shown that these declines in muscle power actually start in our 30s and decrease rapidly during our 50’s.

We use our muscles all day, every day, so naturally, they wear down — losing muscle pump function, causing soreness or stiffness, and becoming more susceptible to injury. Instead of accepting this as inevitable, pliability training will help you prime your muscles to absorb the forces found in running so that you can achieve more and avoid injury.

Pliability describes the state in which your muscles are long, resilient, and move without restriction, enabling them to absorb forces. Unlike short and dense muscles, pliable muscles allow you to perform and train at your best while avoiding injury. Pliability primes your muscles for efficient performance, so you can train better, recover faster, and prevent injury regardless of your activity level.

The words pliability and flexibility are often used interchangeably, though these are two different aspects of your overall performance. Pliability works to develop resilient, unrestricted muscles that can easily stretch to give your joints a wider range of motion. Flexibility, on the other hand, describes the range of motion of a joint – which is reliant on how pliable your muscles are, to begin with.

Essentially, you can have pliable muscles without being very flexible, though you can’t have flexible muscles without first making sure they’re resilient and pliable. Either way, these are two important aspects besides strength and conditioning that athletes too often overlook.

Deep-tissue manipulation as pre-and post-workout are essential for developing pliability. The goal is to obtain myofascial release to reduce stiffness in the fascia, which can relax and lengthen sore muscles.

Today we will look at the first of three techniques:

1.)    Graston Tool/Technique

For every 1000 hours of training, runners get approximately 10 injuries. The most common types of running-related injury are muscle injuries, and the knee is the most commonly affected area. These running-related injuries will recur 20-70% of the time and they can lead to a reduction in training or a cessation of training 30-90% of the time.

Graston Technique is considered Instrument Assist Soft Tissue Mobilization and is an extremely popular type of treatment in the world of sports. It is used in over 431 professional and amateur sports organizations, including half of the teams in the NFL, NBA and MLB. Amateur organizations that use it include Division I colleges as well as each of the Olympic Training Centers.

It involves using specially designed stainless-steel instruments to help treat areas that have scar tissue or fascial restrictions. Acute or chronic injuries can be treated with Graston Technique.

Watch the video example.