For everything from:
- niggles you get over in a week to serious injuries that drag on for months
- relapse injuries to unfamiliar pain
Not for things you know are nothing.
Disclaimer: this advice is for me. It’s based on my experience and what I’ve read, heard and seen. I’m not an expert of any kind.
1. Rest up front
- One to three days (straight after the injury)
- Light cross-training only, if anything. Resist the urge to jump into heavy cross-training. Let your body direct all its resource to healing. Also, cross-training may confuse pain messages
- Up or maintain usual protein intake
- Apply ice (even if just to reduce pain)
- Possibly tape (if it doesn’t confuse the signal)
2. Find a starting point for activity
Running or endurance cross-training
- Find a relatively pain free starting point for the most running-similar activity possible that you can do nearly every day (i.e. running, run/walk, hiking or walking; e.g. 20′ running with breaks every 5′, 60′ hiking or 45′ easy running on the flat)
- Two indicators for this point:
- Pain not worse or better at end of run
- Pain not worse or better 24 hours later
- Supplement the running or running-like activity with cross-training if necessary (i.e. you’re doing hardly anything)
- If you can’t do a running-like activity, cross train until you can
- If you can’t cross train, rest until you can
- Tape as necessary
- Train consistently (every day if possible)
- Build up training to normal running
Lower-body strength training
- Find a starting point for general, running-specific and rehab strength training
- Rehab exercises probably won’t be necessary for niggles
- Train consistently (every day for the rehab exercises)
- Build up to normal strength (for serious injuries or weaknesses you discover through niggles)
Other training
- Right from the start (in the first three days), turn up the volume on body weight and kettlebell training: pullups, dips, snatches, Turkish get-ups, swings, cleans and presses. This will give you another focus
- Strength training and exercise in general may trigger protein synthesis. So training another body part may help heal your leg or foot injury
Tendon versus muscle injuries
- Muscle injuries can cause more pain in the beginning but will heal quicker. So pain can be a good guide as to when to restart activity
- Tendon injuries may hurt less early on, but the pain can last longer and will often still be there when you can run again. So don’t pay as much attention to pain with tendon injuries once you are training consistently and building up sensibly
Niggles and light injuries
You may discover after a few days rest that you don’t have anything serious. This should be the case most of the time if you take days off whenever new, sudden and unfamiliar pain occurs.
If you only have a niggle, still follow the above protocol. The manageable starting points will just be toned down or adapted versions of usual training until most signs of weakness have gone. This may only be one day.
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