Starting Your Spring Running Routine—5 Tips
As we have more and more days when the temperature creeps up into the Spring zone, we at Goldsmith Podiatry know that many of our Manhattan patients are looking forward to getting back to outdoor running. Running is great exercise with many health benefits. However, it also comes with a certain amount of risk to your feet. Common sports injuries associated with this activity include:
Stress fractures
Ball of foot problems
Fortunately, there are ways to decrease your risk of sports injuries from running. Follow our 5 tips below.
Start gradually. Hopefully, you’ve been doing some conditioning over the winter either with cross training or using a treadmill. But even if that’s the case, take it slow at first. If you’ve spent the winter on the couch, all the more reason to begin with shorter and less intense runs and build up gradually to longer ones in order to prevent injuries.
Know your terrain. One of the more common injuries associated with running—ankle sprains—often occur due to uneven outdoor terrain. Walk your route the first day so you can see if there are areas you need to be particularly careful about. If you’ve suffered previous ankle sprains, consider wrapping your ankle before running.
Check your shoes. You may love your old running shoes, but they might not return the favor. Running shoes have a lifespan of about 300-500 miles. At that point, even if they still look good, internal components and padding may become compressed, increasing the risk of heel and foot pain as well as injury. If you can bend your running shoes completely in half chances are it’s time to replace them.
Stretch it out. Take the time to warm up and stretch before hitting the running trail. Don’t overlook this important step to helping muscles and tendons loosen up and prevent injuries.
Don’t wait to get pain evaluated. If after your first few runs you notice pain in your ankles or feet, it’s important to get it checked out before it becomes more serious. Don’t continue to run on hurting feet. Contact our Upper West Side office by calling 212-877-1002 so that our podiatrists, Dr. Howard Goldsmith, Dr. Rosanna Troia, and Dr. Kristina T. Ruff can examine your feet and determine the best course of action to get you back on the track.