Have you ever thought, “I’m going to take off and start back up fresh in a few weeks?”
There’s something for runners to learn here — whether you’re injured right now or not.
As a Physical Therapist, I find most runners take one of two approaches:
- Run on something until they can’t
- Completely shut it down for a week or two and hope the problem goes away
Each solution lives on the extreme. So whether you’re “taking December off to heal” or have struggled with injuries, here’s what you need to know…
You need to be active in your recovery.
Imagine you’re struggling with knee pain, and the underlying cause stems from weak glutes or a stiff ankle.
After running on it for a few weeks (months?), you decide it’s time to shut it down.
The soreness improves after a week or two, and you’re thinking, “ok, I’m going to go out for an easy run to ‘test it out.'”
You probably know where I’m going with this, but after a short time, the pain comes back.
The scenario plays out all the time, but why?
It’s simple: taking time off soothes the painful knee but fails to address the cause — weak glutes and stiff ankles.
The time-off trap isn’t exclusive to one injury or body part, and I see runners following the same logic for most injuries.
So before you “shut it down” for a week or month, consider being active in your recovery by restoring your strength and mobility.
Deficiencies in strength & mobility are most often related to the underlying cause of injury.
If you need help figuring out where to start, jump to this link and start a free trial to RunSmart.
Not only will you get access to runner-specific strength & mobility exercises, but you will also get access to RunSmart Reset!
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