How to run without injury
Running is a popular form of exercise practiced by millions every day. It's also one of the most injury-prone sports, with about half of regular runners reporting an injury in the previous year that kept them from running.
A popular belief is that running injuries are "overuse" injuries, which implies they can't be avoided if you have a daily running routine. But a recent study shows that most injuries happen when the runner is exceeding their regular distance by more than 10%. So say your regular workout is 5 kilometers. Then a friend invites you to run a 6k on a different course. It sounds fun and you agree. This distance is 20% more than your regular distance so you are risking injury.
To reduce the chance of injury, you must gradually increase your distance in small increments. Each increment should be less than 10%. So for example, 10% of 5 kilometer is 0.5 kilometer. Not very much!
What's interesting is that our cardiovascular system can adapt to longer distances faster than our musculo-skeletal system. So aerobically we feel like a 6k is no problem. But it takes much longer for our joints and tendons to adapt to longer distance. So we must be patient and take our gains in tiny doses.