Sport injuries: ankle, knee and foot injury master

Injuries are part and parcel of an active life. The risks of becoming injured can be minimized. Almost everyone who runs regularly will have an injury at some point. It is important that you learn to recognize the injuries in their early stages and how to eliminate the causes and prevent injury.

Typical of running injuries are the so called chronic over exertion injuries: through continuous repetitive running movements an injury eventually occurs. This is in contrast with, for example, football, in which an acute injury often occurs following a sudden twist of the knee or a collision with an opponent. We know from running injuries that they are tough, with a large chance of recurring. This is why it is important to try to address the cause of the injury. The cause can be due to personal factors, the training or the environment.

Knee injuries occur the most frequently in runners, followed by ankle injuries and injuries to the upper leg.

UnitedRunning developed the Injury Master. With this tool you find information about sport injuries. This tool can be of great value in learning to understand how one can reduce the risk of getting injured, recognize early symptoms of sport injuries and help to recover.

Some of the injuries explained in this master are:

• Muscular pain: Muscular pain is due to damage from waste products in the muscle tissue. Muscular pain usually disappears after around four days.
• Groin injury: Groin injury is a painful damage in the groin area. This can be caused by damage to the muscles on the inside of the thigh. This is also known as an adductor. The injury can be a strain to or a (temporary) tear to the adductor. Irritation to the tendons of these muscles is also common.
• Knee injury: The knee joint is quite sensitive to injuries. Knee injuries can occur through twisting and strange movements or through over straining. Damage and/or tears can occur to the knee ligaments (cruciate ligaments and inner/outer ligaments), capsule and meniscus. Irritation can also occur to the tendons, ligaments and kneecap.
• “runners knee”: This is a typical running injury, also known as runners knee or iliotibialis friction syndrome, but it can also occur in other sports. People experience a nagging or stabbing pain on the outside (lateral side) of the knee. The complaints appear only after finishing physical exercise, but by continuing or over exertion the complaints appear earlier.
• Ankle injury: A sprained ankle is the most common sports injury. If the ankle joint is sprained, the ligaments around the ankle are pulled and in severe cases can be partly or completely torn, a sprain.

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