One solution to get the most out of your sports injury appointments
Running injuries are a pain (No pun intended). And sometimes they are such a pain that it needs some expert attention. However, how many times have you had to wait to get a podiatrist appointment? There is also the consideration of that fee that comes into getting that appointment. How do we then, get the most out of this valuable session? The solution to that problem is simple, accessible, and most importantly, free!
Download Strava.
What is Strava?
Strava is a service that tracks your exercise with the incorporation of social features. You can start a run with the App and when you are done, it tells you several things such as your distance, elevation and calories burnt for your run. If you have a heart rate monitoring device that is Strava compatible, it can also track and record your heart rate. There are other fitness tracking apps on the market which does the roughly the same thing, but I personally use Strava so I can testify to what it has and what we can get from it.
This idea was first suggested by Ian Griffith which, correct me if I’m wrong, was in his podcast talk with the Marathon Medic. I found it really inciteful which made me want to write about the use of Strava in dealing with running injuries. I have personally loved Strava. Its ability to track your run and its social connectivity with other runners just makes the whole running experience so much more enjoyable. But what we are focusing here is Strava’s ability as an information source that can be used to find out more about your injury and tailor the advice and rehabilitation plans around your recorded data. Call it a pre-emptive measure, recording your runs can help you deal with an injury if you unfortunately have one.
Running injuries, in this case, are referring to injuries that can stop you from running. This includes tendinopathies, stress fractures or ligament sprains. We are not going into the direct factors of each injury but one of the main causes of injuries is errors in your running schedule. These are commonly referred to as training errors. Strava, presents itself as a tool that helps to identify these errors by recording your runs. These records are also used as clues to understand the current injury and develop effective strategies towards recovery. Below are examples of how Strava can do so:
Knowing your terrain:
Different terrains can be a cause of injury. One such example is prolonged uphill running which can be one of the main contributors to calf strain or tightness. Strava tracks where you have been on your runs and your podiatrist can then zoom in on certain segments of your run. What’s exciting about this is that if you are able to tell the podiatrist where in your run pain strikes, or is the most uncomfortable, your podiatrist can then relate this your injury to the terrain that you usually run in. This then helps with the understanding of how your injury might have took place. Although this might not be applicable for everyone, it could also help you remember certain events that might have happened on your run, such as you having to stop suddenly for an oncoming car or to accelerate quickly to skirt an oblivious dog. Something that can essentially help you jog that memory. These are all clues that help in understanding the mechanism of injury, which is crucial to formulating rehabilitation plans.
Training Load:
One of the most common reasons for running injuries are sudden changes in training load. Our body can be very adaptive but one thing it does not really do well with is sudden changes. But what is too sudden a change? Literature has dangled this figure of 10%, where any changes above this number, has been said to increase the risk of injury(Nielsen et al., 2012). But as we dig further, what in running makes up this load and consequently, its change? Does this load come from running frequency, distance, or pace? One way we can measure this is from Gabbett’s work(Gabbett, 2016), which has measured load in terms of internal and external loads. To discuss this further, external loads are measurements that relate to the actual run itself, which could be pace, distance covered, or frequency of runs. Internal loads are measurements of how you are feeling subjectively, which could be the perceived fatigue from the exercise. The two measurements of load then together form the training load. What Gabbett is proposing is that the training load should be a holistic metric that considers the actual running activity and how you feel towards it. Strava, can measure both these types of load. By being able to better measure these training loads, your podiatrist can then know whether you have pushed your body too fast by analysing the changes in load week by week. With this knowledge, your podiatrist can better advice and plan for your rehabilitation.
Recall Bias:
If you have the memory span of a goldfish like me, I would not have been able to remember all that information that your podiatrist would need. Even if I did, it would take some time, or I would not be able to recall it as accurately as I should. Strava is then a tool that can have all this information at the convenience of your fingertips. Personally, the greatest panacea to all running injuries, is understanding your running history. Strava remains one of the best underrated methods to record all this running history down for the benefit of your rehabilitation plan.
Training Plans:
An additional plus point is that Strava can help develop an efficient training plan. An efficient training plan can not only prevent injury but could be the simplest barrier towards injuries. This is encapsulated by the acute load to chronic load training ratio theory(Gabbett, 2016). Without going that much into it, the acute load refers to the training load that you currently are doing, which is simplified by the training load of the current week. While the chronic load refers to the training load of the average of the recent 3–6 weeks. It is proposed that if you keep the acute load and chronic load to a ratio of approximately 0.8–1.3, your likelihood of injury is lower than if your ratio is 1.5 or above. Again, this ratio is only a theory and we do not know the exact ratio to prevent running injuries specifically. But it does fall in line with what we were discussing about with training load changes. With the utilization of the data that Strava collects, we can bring in this ratio to make training plans safer for runners. Your podiatrist can then advice you accordingly with this data.
Alternatively, we can also use Strava to help plan running routes and training items for runners. Your podiatrist can then encourage you to mix up your running routes throughout the week, to vary the input. And as I have talked about in my first essay, varied inputs can reduce running injuries.
Rehabilitation plans:
A thing that would be great in the future is that if Strava had a rehabilitation version of the application. If there was a way to track rehabilitation exercises, which for example could be in terms of pain felt while doing the rehabilitation and strengthening exercises, or a social forum, where runners can encourage each other while in rehabilitation, injuries can be so much better managed. Rehabilitation is as important as the training activity itself, especially if we look at ankle sprain treatment. It would be such a great item to have for both the injured runner and the podiatrist.
Conclusion:
I cannot stress how Strava can be important for not just understanding injuries when it happens but also preventing the occurrence of future running injuries. Your podiatrist would definitely welcome this information and you will possibly leave the clinic more satisfied with your treatment. The power is literally in your hands. Well technically, in your phone but you get my drift. And even if it does not, at least you will always have a friend on Strava!
Again, I am not paid in any way to write this and I would welcome suggestions or pointers with regards to what I wrote!! I am aware that I might have misunderstood some things, so I’m always open to feedback😊
P.s: Do hit me up on Strava and we can follow each other on our runs! I’m not really a professional runner but I get around! Or at least I think I do.
Ian Griffiths podcast with Amy, the marathon medic, can be found here: https://marathonmedicpodcast.podbean.com/e/ian-griffiths/
GABBETT, T. J. 2016. The training-injury prevention paradox: should athletes be training smarter and harder? Br J Sports Med, 50, 273–80.
NIELSEN, R. O., BUIST, I., SORENSEN, H., LIND, M. & RASMUSSEN, S. 2012. Training errors and running related injuries: a systematic review. Int J Sports Phys Ther, 7, 58–75.
