Marathon Running Injury Clinics London

 Atlas Sports Physiotherapists at the Tamworth Sports Injury Clinic near Lichfield Staffordshire are seeing an increasing amount of overuse running injuries from runners who are entered in the 2010 Virgin London Marathon.

 Atlas who have running injury clinics in Tamworth near Lichfield, Staffordshire and Solihull Birmingham are busy treating marathon running injuries like shinsplints and runners knee following the step up in mileage required in the latter stages of race preparation.

Common injuries can be viewed by visiting the website www.runninginjuryclinic.co.uk

 Many of the wounded are novice runners and have embarked on a 12 week London Marathon Training Programme which is very demanding.  Novice runners need more conditioning time and should be training at least 6 months before the race.

 Atlas Clinic Director John Williams who is a Sports Physiotherapist and Osteopath suggests a 12 month preparation for novice runners in order to complete conditioning and reduce the risk of injury.

 Before anyone undertakes running 26 miles they should undergo a full biomechanical assessment and review their footwear requirements.  Biomechanical faults can be absorbed up until about 13 miles but in the latter stages of marathon training preparation when the mileage increases the faults begin to cause problems.  This will eventually result in a running injury like shinsplints or knee pain.

 With only 4 weeks to go to the 2010 race time is running out and runners who are short of their elusive long run are taking chances.  Many are arriving at the midlands clinics asking for help.  The decision has to be the right one as runners are locked in to a big commitment with sponsorship and many months of hard training.  Make the wrong decision and it’s all over!

 Our personal rule of thumb is that we prefer a runner to arrive at the start line short of work but injury free.  It’s no good having completed the 18 mile run 2 weeks before the race and coming back in pain and limping.  If you are at the start line with this type of injury you will not finish and are likely to do more damage.

 There is however a bright side to this, some runners who are experiencing pain are not injured, they are just sore that’s all.  Only an experienced therapist can tell the difference and you need to trust them if they tell you to run when you are in discomfort.  However, if things get worse, change your therapist as he/she has got it wrong.

 The relationship between runner and therapist in the last few weeks of training for the London Marathon is generally a close one with trust being vital.  Much depends on following treatment plans and advice.  Wherever possible our injured runners complete the race successfully which is great testimony to our experience and expertise in running injuries and preparing runners for the big day.