Today, I want to talk about bones and stress fractures. 🦴
🙅🏽♀️ Absolutely no one wants to be injured. So how can we prevent an injury to the bone?
✔️ Stress fractures are a small “break” in the bone which usually occur from repetitive force to that area of the bone. Running is notorious for stress fractures because of the repetitive nature of the sport. One foot in front of the other for hours each week… it adds up! 😓
But we know that bones respond to jarring impacts with a growth response. 💥
Multi-directional movement patterns stress your bones in different angles/ways. So cross training and sports are great for your bones! 🤾♂️⛹️♀️
Bones are constantly being damaged and repaired – if the balance stays in check, you maintain healthy bones. Yay! But if the balance gets out of whack, and you train more than you repair, this can lead to stress fractures. 🤕
Other things that affect this balance are:
✧ Diet (low levels of Vitamin D and Calcium or a calorie deficiency)
✧ Prior stress injuries
✧ Poor biomechanics
✧ Other health conditions like osteoporosis
✧ Low BMI
✧ A change in running surface (think road to trail)
Ways to prevent stress fractures: (The first tip is for non runners, and last three for runners)
1. Don’t fear jumping! Start with light bounces if you haven’t jumped in years. Remember, this stimulates the bones to respond by building layers. McGill researchers suggest jumping 10-20x, 3 times per day, 3 times per week. This strategy was the winner in a meta-analysis testing bone health in adult women. Interestingly, bones stop responding after just a few jumps! This is why they suggest spreading out the jumps. If you’re a runner – add some multi-directional jumping into your life!
2. Runners, avoid any sudden changes to your program. Like only ever running on the road then signing up for a trail race with no training. Or attempting any race without training!
3. Slowly increase your weekly mileage by about 15% and then…
4. Remember to recover. Every 3-6 weeks, reduce your weekly mileage. This varies person to person and how hard/often you’re training, what you’re training for, how you’re feeling etc.
👌 I’m always trying to encourage my clients to try out a bit of jumping. You can gauge how many, how high, how often – I hope this information has empowered you to do just that! 💪
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and then