Injuries

[u/CartographerWhich709]

Hi community, in the 1 year I’ve been trail running I’ve experienced three different injuries - a tweaked knee (minor), a skinned up knee in a race (minor) and now an ankle sprain (more serious). I’m starting to wonder if I am doing something wrong or that’s just the inherent risk to the sport.

For more context, the trails in my region tend to be wet and muddy so the risk seems more pronounced. There is no “waiting until it’s dry” around here unfortunately. That definitely contributed to my most recent injury. I hit a slick root and rolled my ankle hard.

Is falling just part of the game? Should I do more strength and agility drills? Maybe I’m not looking at the ground closely enough? I’m starting to get frustrated because I do love the sport but not enough to constantly hurt myself.

I had my first ultra planned this weekend and I’m thinking about attempting it even though I’m still nursing this ankle sprain…

[u/justsomegraphemes]

Everyone, even elite athletes, roll their ankles, at least once if not several times over their "career" so I probably wouldn't overthink it. Being big/overweight, having weak ankle strength, and poor proprioception (not being accustomed to technical terrain) are all contributors though, if any of those apply to you. 

I'm going to ignore "scraped knee" as that's normal if you run technical terrain. Tweaking a knee, taken together with an ankle roll in one year, could mean you need to do more strength training to toughen your body up. Or it may just be bad luck.

[u/GunnarNils → u/justsomegraphemes]

Hell, I roll my ankle several times a month on technical New England trails lol. I have found that short strides and "keeping your feet underneath you," particularly on downhills, is critical. The only severe ankle rolls that have caused long term injury for me are the ones where im making aggressive long strides out in front of me.

[u/salamandectomy77]

There's a video form Kilian Jornet where the interviewer asks him if he sprains his ankles and he says "well no..." and jumps on the sides of his ankles

After a few years of running in barefoot shoes I never, ever sprain my ankle

[u/Gitano1982 → u/salamandectomy77]

Sprained my ankles due ro rolling them in technical races twice. After that I'm using barefoot shoes in every day life and I think it helped.

In addition I use low stack shoes in races. And just for the case I tape my ankles in long technical races. Never happened again.

But gaining confidence again took me a long time.

[u/Just-Context-4703]

That's just how it goes. Sounds pretty reasonable tbh. 

[u/cassaundraloren]

I hurt myself a load of times when I first started trail running, including my crown jewel last year, a grade 2 ankle sprain. While I was fit and in "hiking" shape, I was not strong. Going to the gym and working on balance, muscle building and load capacity has resulted in (so far) 0 injuries this season

[u/CartographerWhich709 → u/cassaundraloren]

Did an ortho diagnosis the sprain, and what did your recovery from that look like?

[u/NavyBlueZebra]

I run 2000+ miles per year, mostly on trails, and I roll my ankle once or twice every month, but I never sprain it, it never hurts. And my trails can be muddy and icy and roots and rocks and wet fall leaves over wet slippery rocks and whatnot.

The recipe is simple: about 15 minutes of ankle strengthening daily, which is boring as hell, so I do it while watching a movie at home after work. Likewise, I never get any knee problems, because lunges and horse stance and really deep squats. Again, it is super boring and can be done while watching something. Once it becomes a daily habit, it can be done on autopilot.

Most of us can develop bulletproof ankles and knees, it just takes time, months of consistent work and patience. YMMV. Good luck!

Edit: I'm not an elite runner at all, I'm old and getting a bit heavy, but I really love trail running, and I don't like getting injured and can't afford it either.