Reds Medical Director Offers Advice on Running Injury Prevention

May 25, 2011

Living an active lifestyle is a great objective. However, occasionally injuries can happen. It is, therefore, crucial to learn a few tips for activities like hiking, biking, swimming, and running injury prevention. If you are living or moving toward a “Get Up and Go” lifestyle, and face a minor running injury, here are a few tips to help ensure a healthy recovery. If you ever face a serious injury, please stop immediately and consult a medical professional.

Dr. Timothy Kremchek of Beacon Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine is in his 15th season as the Medical Director for the Cincinnati Reds. In his opinion, a big key to preventing common injuries while running is the discipline of spending a few minutes warming up. This could mean a brisk walk or spending a few moments on a treadmill or exercise bike before beginning a run. Stretching both before and after a run will help prevent additional injuries as well. Sometimes applying heat before a run is a great way to reduce swelling or pain because is causes your body to loosen up.

“When you hurt something, stop,” states Dr. Kremchek in his usualy matter-of-fact way. “When you hurt it, it will usually swell.” He recommends elevation, compression, and usually ice.

Dr. Kremchek also noted that pacing yourself during runs is a good idea. Try to avoid over-working your body during training. If you experience high levels of soreness, that is usually a good indicator that you are pushing yourself too hard. Lowering the intensity is a good idea, but extending the warm up and stretches can often help, too. Kremchek offered that stretching for as little as five minutes can prevent weeks of pain or discomfort.

When asked about getting professional baseball players back on the field after an injury, Dr. Kremchek had this to say, ‘We work with them twice a day in physical therapy. We put them on the right medication and make them understand how important rehabilitation stretching, strengthening, the medications are to get them back to play. That’s the same for everybody. But for them it’s much more noticeable because everyone knows when they’re out.”