We often hear that people who don’t get enough exercise are going towards bad health. Everyone is aware that it’s unhealthy to be a couch potato, however, we often don’t recognize that it’s also harmful to overwork your body.
Research suggests, after a certain point, you’re no longer gaining health benefits from running. You won’t experience increased cardiovascular benefits once you’re running faster than 12 kilometers an hour.
Health isn’t the only reason people run. Most runners do it because they love it. You may not be getting health benefits when you beat these milestones, but you may not be actively hurting yourself either. How do you know where you draw the line?
How to Know if You’re Running Too Much
A key sign that you’re running too much is that you’re fatigued and plateauing. Of course, you have to put yourself through some degree of stress to improve, but if you find yourself tired all the time, you’re overdoing it. And if you hit a brick wall that you can’t pass, it may be that you’ve hit a physical limit that could be dangerous to pass.
To avoid running too much, one should not do intense running for more than an hour at a time. After an hour of hard running, do another activity that’s less stressful on your heart.
Also, be sure that you’re giving your body a rest for more than a day. In this time, you can jog, do low intensity activities, and be idle for at least two of the days.
Running Injuries Might Mean You’re Running Too Much
While there are many causes for running injuries, including using the wrong form, building intensity too quickly, wearing poor footwear, or your anatomical structure, sometimes even minor injuries are a sign you’re running too much. In fact, many runners often develop specific health problems, like “athlete’s heart.” This thickening of your heart walls is dangerous. Other injuries that are a cause for concern include:
- Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS)
- Shin splint
- Stress fracture
- Plantar fasciitis
If you or someone you know refuses to rest or break even during serious injuries, you could have an exercise addiction, which needs to be addressed to prevent long-term impacts on your health.
How to Recover from Running Too Much
If you’ve been running to the point of injury, fatigue, or undue stress, a Physiotherapist can come up with a plan to get you healthy again.
This plan might include:
- Rest to allow your body to heal
- Education to improve your form
- Taping for short-term relief
- Manual therapy to prevent and treat injury
- Stretching to prevent and treat injury
- Other right techniques of warm up, cool down and cardio workout
At PhysioRehab Group we love helping runners get over their hurdles and back outside. We can help you gauge whether you’ve been running too hard. If you have, we have strategies that can help you get back on track. Our Therapist who specializes in Sports related injuries will share more details to deal with these conditions.
Recent Comments