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Lead Stories: Thursday, August 21, 2008

ASK LARA:Plantar Fasciitis and 3 Ways to Cross Train

Posted September 3rd, 2007 at 6:00 PM by Lara Johnson

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Columns, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise, Ask Lara

Need advice? Injured? Confused? Overwhelmed? Bored? ASK LARA!
ASK LARA is a free advice column to help you with all of your running, fitness and nutrition inquiries. To ASK LARA — simply fill out the form at the conclusion of the column.

Q. I think I have plantar fasciitis and have a marathon coming up in 2 weeks. I’m not sure how much running I can do between now and then. Any advice on how I can keep my fitness level up? I already bike indoors once a week but I’m not sure if biking can take the place of running. Anything you can suggest is much appreciated.
~Darlene from Boise, Idaho

A. Plantar fasciitis is a pesky problem that affects numerous runners. With a marathon so close, you certainly don’t want to make matters worse, but you do want to maintain your fitness level. The good news is that you are only 2 weeks out from the marathon, and thus the work is done. As you have already accomplished your training over the past weeks, now is the time to begin a taper and thus decrease your training anyway. The severity of the problem should dictate how much you are able to run. If it’s painful to run, it’s not a good sign and you should focus mostly on other activities. Adding some good cross training to the mix can help you heal the problem while maintaining your fitness. First, let’s take a look at the injury.

Plantar fasci-what?
Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the band of tissue, the plantar fascia, that connects the heel bone (calcaneus) to the forefoot, supporting your arch. When this area is strained through overuse or weaknesses, it causes irritation and inflammation, often causing pain in the heel first thing in the morning and …
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Running:
The cause or cure for stress?

Posted June 6th, 2007 at 2:33 PM by Jessica Galvano

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

Work. Errands. Overgrown lawns, full laundry baskets, and empty bank accounts. With countless concerns and unrelenting responsibilities, where is the relief? For many, exercise provides a much needed reprieve from life’s incessant demands. If your exercise of choice is running, however, you could be unintentionally creating rather than alleviating stress.

While running may seem the “safest” of athletic endeavors, its non-contact allure oftentimes conceals its high impact risks. Each meeting of foot and pavement introduces the possibility of new stresses, or more specifically, stress fractures.

No strangers to injury, distance runners are often intimately acquainted with this dreaded affliction. Inevitably, over time, constant pounding predisposes shins and feet to fracture; these tiny cracks cause point-specific pain and occasionally, mild swelling. The areas most susceptible to stress fractures include the foot’s delicate metatarsal bones, calcaneus (heel), and tibia (shin)—all essential areas in a sport that requires limber lower limbs.
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Hip Tendonitis: Causes, symptoms, treatments and prevention of this dreaded, athletic injury

Posted May 30th, 2007 at 3:30 PM by Alexandra Haller

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

All athletes have a dark, furtive, and silent fear of getting injured. It haunts all athletes; from professionals like Meb Keflezighi who was forced to drop out of last April’s Flora London Marathon at mile 16, to casual runners like myself.

Recently, I was sidelined with tendonitis in my right hip a month before I was to participate in my first half marathon.

When I told my sister, she instantly identified with my anguish by saying “So, it must be like going to write a big term paper and having your computer break down the night before it’s due.” Exactly.

When your body seemingly and unexpectedly fails you, you are frustrated, confused, and scared. Fortunately, you can minimize your worries and expedite your healing by educating yourself on the potential pitfalls of regular training, proper care for your athletic body, and ways to prevent such injuries.
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Q & A: What’s the best way to treat stress fractures?

Posted February 26th, 2007 at 11:41 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Bone stress fractures are very common sports injuries. Any trauma to bones, such as repeated pounding when your heel strikes the ground during running, or landing on your feet after grabbing a basketball, can cause small cracks on the surface of bones called stress fractures. In healthy athletes, they can take from 3 to 12 weeks to heal, forcing an athlete to lose valuable training time.

A study from Tulane University shows that intravenous pamidronate can heal these fractures quickly and keep you playing (Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, March 2005). Bones change constantly. Calcium is carried from bones by cells called osteoclasts and carried into bones by cells called osteoblasts. Bisphosphonates such as pamidronate prevent osteoclasts from carrying calcium from bones. The athletes received five weekly intravenous infusions of pamidronate and were able to continue training.
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When to stop running from injury…and how to start again

Posted January 22nd, 2007 at 9:00 AM by Paul Petersen

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

If you browse through any running magazine, website, or forum, you are sure to see a menagerie of articles and posts about overuse injuries. Stress fractures, tendonitis, “runner’s knee”, groin strains, and that beast, plantar fasciitis, all come up with surprising regularity. Let’s face the unfortunate truth, injuries can be a part of running.

Many of us have lost significant time due to injury, time loss that I argue is preventable. Often an injury starts as a minor problem that we ignore and try to train through. Perhaps the next big marathon is coming up and we can’t “afford” to lose the training or the $80-$100 entry fee that we’ve already paid. But the minor injury soon grows into a major injury, and all that we sought to salvage is lost: training is down the tubes, entry fees wasted, and beyond that even more money lost on doctor bills and physcial therapy. Who has been down this road? I have!
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Lance Armstrong: A Classic Case of Too Much, Too Soon?

Posted January 7th, 2007 at 7:00 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

A guy is the world’s best athlete in a non-weight bearing sport. He was once a triathlete, but hasn’t really been a runner for many years. He decides to run the New York Marathon. His training program includes modest mileage, long runs that barely reach 18 miles, and cross training to minimize the pounding on his body.

Then, with the aid of pacers, he runs the marathon in goal time of sub-3:00. He receives lots of well deserved kudos for his ability to “come off the couch” as a runner, ramp up quickly, and run a very impressive marathon.

Ten days after the marathon he learns from tests that a “shin splint” problem that nagged him during his training and in the marathon is really a stress fracture. He must now avoid impact-related training for 6-12 weeks as it heals.

Of course, the athlete in question is Lance Armstrong.
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Do high arches cause running injuries?

Posted December 1st, 2006 at 4:00 PM by Martha Jones

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

Runners with high arches are at increased risk for suffering stress fractures, small cracks in the bones of their feet and lower legs; and those with low arches are at increased risk for knee cap pain. When you run at six miles per hour, your foot hits the ground with a force greater than three times body weight. The faster you run, the harder your heel strikes the ground. This force can break bones, damage joints and tear muscles.

The human body is designed so you never land flatfooted when you run. You land on the outside bottom of your heal and roll inward toward the big toe. This helps to distribute the force of your foot strike throughout your foot and leg and protect you from injury. The further you roll inward, the greater the protection against this force. However, when you roll in too much, your lower leg twists inward excessively, causing your kneecap to rub against the long femur bone behind it and cause pain. This is called Runner’s Knee.

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