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Cross Training for Injured Runners

Running injuries suck. We all know that. However, just because you’re injured doesn’t mean you can’t continue training for that upcoming race. In this article we’re going to explore the theoretical and practical aspects of cross training for injured runners so that you can recover quickly from your injury and be fit enough on race day. Cross Training for Injured Runners Running is a form of training for the body. As you run regularly you train your body to be able to run for longer without breaking down. This training effect is the result of the body’s inherent ability to adapt to the stresses placed upon it. These stresses can be categorized as physiological and mechanical. Physiological Stress Anything that causes an increase in breathing and heart rate we can think of as a physiological stress. We often substitute the phrase “cardio” here when we are talking about this kind of stress. It’s when we are doing something that causes us to breathe harder. If we put our body under this kind of stress regularly then it will adapt and become more able to tolerate that stress in the future. A beginner runner may only be able to sustain a 6:00 min/km pace for a few minutes at first. As the runner becomes fitter by training regularly, their body will adapt and they could potentially sustain that pace for many hours. The reason is that the body makes certain adaptations in response to that physiological stress. I talked about these adaptations in more detail in my article How to Run Slow to Race Fast but to summarize the body will: Increase the output of the heart by making the heart muscle bigger Create better capillary networks to get more blood to the muscles Increase the myoglobin content of the muscles to provide emergency oxygen stores Increase the number and size of the mitochondria to allow better energy production in the muscles All these things will make a “fitter” runner. This is a big part of training, you need to get “fitter”, but that’s not the only thing you need. Mechanical Stress Anything that applies a physical force or load to the body we can think of as a mechanical stress. We often substitute the phrase “strength” when we are talking about applying a mechanical stress to the body. This is when we are loading the tissues of the body in some way. That might mean lifting weights or moving something heavy but it can also mean just standing up, walking or running. All of these activities apply a mechanical stress to the body’s tissues. A tissue is basically a collection of similar body cells. Muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments, skin, fascia, cartilage, all of these things are tissues. All living tissues will adapt to the mechanical stress applied to them. If we regularly load our muscles we apply a mechanical stress that they will adapt to. With repetition, the muscle will become stronger. Here again is that training effect. However, it is not just the muscles that will adapt to the mechanical stress. Bones, tendons, skin, ligaments, cartilage etc. they will all adapt. This also applies to bones. When you load your bones regularly they will adapt and become stronger. When astronauts go into space they will suffer from Spaceflight Osteopenia, which is when bones lose density in low gravity environments. This happens because they can’t load their bones properly. The same thing applies to tendons. Tendonopathy (aka tendonitis) occurs when the tendon is not strong enough to tolerate the mechanical stress placed upon it. In recent years we have made huge progress in the rehabilitation of tendon injuries by moving away from offloading strategies (like rest) and toward loading strategies like strength training (Malliares 2013). Now we focus on regularly loading the tendon during rehabilitation to force it to adapt to the mechanical stress. The tendon responds to the stimulus by becoming stronger and able to tolerate more stress/load in the future. We also see similar changes in joint cartilage. This is the cartilage in our joints that provides a smooth surface so our joints can slide easily as they move. Breakdown of this cartilage over time is referred to as Osteoarthritis. In recent years, it has become more apparent that joint cartilage will adapt to regular mechanical stress in the same way other tissues do. Regular loading of the joints through walking, running, weight training etc will cause the cartilage to adapt to the stimulus and become stronger (Musumeci 2016). Even our skin adapts to mechanical stress. I remember getting some pretty nasty blisters when I took up tennis a few years ago. After a few weeks the skin on my feet had toughened up and I could play for hours without any blistering. The skin on the bottom of my feet had adapted to the mechanical stress applied to it.