Beating Injury: When To Run, When To Stop

Imagine the scene. You are in good shape, you enjoy your race and suddenly something wrong. How do you know if you want to run through it - crying "no pain, no gain" - or to rest for five minutes; if you want to walk home immediately or go to accident and emergency?

THERE ARE SOME GENERAL RULES you can apply to pain.

If something hurts so bad you can not walk on it, do not try to run on it. That said, you learn to recognize the signs of your own body pain - so that you can run through heavy legs, for example. You learn to recognize the feeling of lactic acid build up through experience, and because the symptoms tend to come gradually.

In some cases, if you feel pain on a training course, it is quite sufficient to stop and stretch, change the surface you are running or going to the other side of the road, and see if it makes a difference.

Also - and the best immediate option in a race - try changing your rate either up or down for a couple of minutes.

Once you have the house, RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) is a principle that is applied to almost all wounds. If the pain has not disappeared the next day, do not try to run on it. The only time it may be beneficial to run through the pain during rehabilitation when you may need to overcome a small initial stiffness to recover the flexibility of the muscle.

If you've done all this and yet the symptoms persist, you will need to see a doctor or therapist.


You run the risk of an injury from becoming chronic and more difficult to treat if left untreated for more than 48 hours.

If an injury hurts as you can not even put weight on it, it is probably serious, and you should get advice immediately.

Posted in: Health and Fitness