Common Running Injuries: Causes, Symptoms and How to Prevent Them

The uptake in running over the last couple of years has grown massively, with stats of over 1.3 million people entering the 2027 TCS London marathon ballot, as well as lots of run clubs popping up in all towns and cities, creating an amazing running culture.

Running is one of the most accessible sports to us all and has many benefits for our overall health and wellbeing and can be a huge outlet for most people. However, running can take a toll and leave us susceptible to many common injuries. Running is a high impact sport, and when you run your body absorbs ground reaction forces of up to two and a half times your body weight, and this can be why up to 50% of runners report having suffered an injury while running.

There are many common injuries we see in clinic and understanding some of the common injuries can help you identify symptoms and reduce the risk of further injury:

• Patellofemoral pain syndrome: ‘Runners Knee’
  

  Runner’s knee presents with symptoms of a dull aching pain at the front of your knee and can be aggravated with downhill running and walking upstairs. It causes pain around the front of or behind the kneecap due to the patella not tracking within the groove of the femur.

  Common Causes:

• • Sudden increase in training and mileage
  • Weak glutes and quad muscles
  • Poor running mechanics

• Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome: ‘Shin splints’
  

  Shin splints refers to pain that presents around the medial edge of the tibia (shinbone). Symptoms can include tenderness along the shin and pain when running.

  Common Causes:

• • Increased training loads too quickly
  • Repetitive impact on hard ground
  • Incorrect or poor footwear

• Iliotibial Band Syndrome: ‘ITB Syndrome’
  

  ITB syndrome presents as pain on the outer aspect of the knee, due to irritation. The ITB is a thick band of connective tissue that runs along the outer part of the thigh from your hip to your knee. Symptoms may include sharp pain on the outside of the knee, pain that gets worse with long runs, and tenderness.

  Common Causes:

• • Muscle imbalances
  • Weak hip muscles
  • Increased downhill running

• Plantar fasciitis
  

  Plantar Fasciitis occurs along the bottom of the foot when the thick band of tissue becomes irritated and inflamed. Symptoms can include sharp pain in the heel, discomfort with the first steps in the morning, and increased pain with prolonged standing.

  Common Causes:

• • Tightness in the calves
  • Increased training volume
  • Incorrect or poor footwear

• Achillies tendinopathy
  

  Achillies tendinopathy occurs when there is degeneration or irritation of the tendon, which connects the calf muscle into the heel bone. Symptoms may include stiffness and pain, tenderness, and pain that worsens with activity.

  Common Causes:

• • Tightness in the calf muscles
  • Increased or excessive uphill running
  • Speed work
  • Poor recovery

These are just some of the common injuries we see in runners.

Why do these injuries occur?

Well, most injuries occur due to a combination of reasons, the main ones being doing too much too quickly, poor understanding of recovery, inadequate strength training and muscle imbalances.

If you are suffering from an injury or a niggle while running and you are unable to run or are running through it, get yourself booked in to see one of our physios today to get to the root cause.

We want you to be back running pain free! Book an appointment online.