Running Injuries: When Your Body Can’t Keep Up With Your Running

Running is simple — put one foot in front of the other and repeat it thousands of times.

Unfortunately, that repetitive nature is also part of the reason running injuries are so common.

Research suggests that around 40% of runners experience a running-related musculoskeletal injury, with the knee, lower leg, and ankle being the most commonly affected regions. At The Physio Co., we regularly help runners with conditions such as patellofemoral pain (runner's knee), shin pain, Achilles tendinopathy, and plantar heel pain.

Repetition isn’t the problem. Capacity is.

Every step places load through our muscles, tendons, bones and joints.

That is not a bad thing. Load is how our bodies adapt and become stronger.

Problems tend to arise when the amount of load we ask the body to tolerate starts exceeding what it is currently prepared for.

Think:

More kilometres. More days. Faster running. Longer runs.

Sometimes all at once.

This is where the classic “too much, too soon” comes in. There is no magical 10% rule that prevents injury, and running injuries are far more complex than training volume alone. But sudden changes in training can contribute to that mismatch between load and capacity.

Why are overuse injuries so common?

A 10km run can mean thousands of individual steps.

One step may be perfectly tolerable. So might 100.

But repeat that load thousands of times — particularly alongside increased training, inadequate recovery, previous injury, poor fuelling or other individual factors — and things can start to add up.

This is why most running injuries cannot be blamed on one weak muscle, one pair of shoes or one “bad” running technique.

The current evidence points towards running injuries being multifactorial — involving a combination of training, previous injury, health and lifestyle, biomechanics and individual capacity.

Our bodies change, and our training should too

The runner you are at 20 may not be the same runner you are at 40, 50 or 60.

Strength, power, tendon and bone properties, recovery and running mechanics can change with age. That doesn’t mean running suddenly becomes bad for you — it simply means your training needs to evolve with you.

So, how do we keep running?

There is no perfect shoe, running technique or exercise that guarantees an injury-free running career.

Instead:

Build gradually. Recover well. Strength train. Fuel properly. And give your body enough time to adapt to what you’re asking it to do.

Running injuries do not necessarily mean your body is fragile or that running is damaging you.

Often, they simply mean:

The demands of your running have temporarily exceeded your current capacity.

And good rehabilitation isn't just about getting rid of pain.

It’s about rebuilding that capacity so you can get back to the running you actually want to do.