My experience with this is VERY recent, but I am absolutely speaking from my own experience here. I’m sharing what worked for me and what I generally think to be good advice. However, I am not a health professional. I’m a mom who used to be an athlete, still tries to do athletic things, and have recently come back from injury. That being said, if you try general advice, and you’re still in pain, GO SEE A DOCTOR. 

Here’s the first thing that should be pretty obvious but sometimes is the hardest to hear: rest. If you are injured or in pain or have the start of an injury, your body needs to rest. I think of pain and soreness as information your body is giving you about what it’s experiencing. If the issue is inflammation, a common running woe, rest is absolutely imperative. Ice and ibuprofen are also your friend to reduce inflammation. If a couple of days of rest, ice and ibuprofen don’t reduce your pain, see a doctor or physical therapist. 

The thing about resting is how antsy one can get while not running. If the injury doesn’t interfere, biking is an amazing way to stay in great shape while being unable to run. Being injured is actually a great time to break things down and focus on strengthening areas that often get ignored, like core, low back, arms, etc. So to make rest time go by a little faster, set some new goals! Instead of a running goal based on distance, set a workout goal based on time, like 30 minutes a day of strength. OR try yoga, if that’s new to you. Yoga increases flexibility and can often improve strength if you do it consistently.

After you’ve rested and recovered, meaning you’ve gotten to a point where you no longer feel pain, you still have a little ways to go before really being “back.” Don’t get discouraged. This is the worst part, but it’s also super important: ease back in. Start out with active stretching. Here are some examples: As you walk, stretch your quads by pulling one foot up behind you with your heel to your butt. Then take a few steps and stretch the other one. Stretch your hamstrings in the same pattern, putting one heel on the ground in front of you with your toe up and your back leg bent a little and leaning over the front, straightened leg. I also really like deep lunge stretches, both straight forward, maybe with a side bend, and to the side to stretch the inner thigh. I do this constantly in my neighborhood, before and after every run, injured or not. I’ve long since stopped worrying if my neighbors think I’m nuts. They all already know.

Here’s what just happened to me: I ran and ran and ran and didn’t stretch well enough. My knees started feeling like they weren’t going to support my weight anymore. They hurt no matter what I did, even while I was sitting or lying down. I continued to run long past the time I should’ve stopped and rested. I finally rested and then had to decipher what was wrong. I stretched, but I was too tight for that to be much help. I started foam rolling a ton, especially the muscles right above and below my knees all the way around my leg. It HURT. I’m pretty sure what happened was that my hamstrings and calf muscles got so tight, they started pulling on the tendons around my knees.

In addition to foam rolling, I iced and elevated my legs in the evenings. I’m not totally certain that did anything, but I figured it couldn’t hurt. Once I got to the point where I wasn’t in pain just standing there, I started going for walks and doing HIIT workouts. Then one week, I ran ONCE and stretched and foam rolled like crazy the rest of the week while I went back to walking and HIIT workouts. I did that same thing again the next week. Then I allowed myself to run/walk every other day, still alternating with walking and HIIT. I would walk a quarter mile, then run a quarter mile. The first time, I only did 2 miles. Gradually, I added running distance but kept the quarter mile walks, and during these walks, I would be stretching as I went, looking awesome (read: crazy) to passers by. I continued this pattern for 3 more weeks. I’m telling you, it took a long time, but I wasn’t going to take any chances on causing a set back.

From the time I finally admitted I was injured until this week, when I finally ran consecutive days again, it took 6 weeks to be “back.” This was partly because I took WAY too long to admit that something was wrong. I thought I could run through it and be fine. I finally came to terms with the fact that I’m no longer 25 and am, in fact, mortal, despite my fanciful delusions of grandeur.

Don’t be like me. Be better than me. Listen to your body. Rest. Recover. Treat yourself well. Love your body. It will love you back.