Running Consistency Affects Odds Of Injury In Several Lower Limb Regions

Running-related injuries (RRIs) can prevent full participation in the sport. Improved understanding of RRI risk factors, such as running consistency, may inform training programs that reduce injury risk. GPS watches paired with injury monitoring make large-scale investigations of RRI risk factors feasible and cost-effective. PURPOSE: To determine the relationship between running consistency and RRI risk. METHODS: GPS watch data and injury status via weekly surveys were collected over 12 weeks. Runners were classified as injured if they reported pain that reduced or stopped their running. Injured runners were further classified based on pain region (lower back, hip, upper leg, knee, lower leg, ankle, foot) reported at first injury. Using watch data, runners were classified as consistent or inconsistent based on the frequency and distribution of recorded runs [1]. For each day of the 12-week study or up until first injury report, we assigned a consistency score equal to the number of recorded runs in the previous 7 days. We then calculated an overall consistency score equal to the percentage of days with a daily consistency score ≥ 3. Runners with an overall consistency score ≥ 75% were classified as consistent and those with lower scores as inconsistent. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals for overall and region-specific injury risks were calculated, and Fisher’s exact test was used to determine whether ORs were different than 1 (p < 0.05). RESULTS: 812 runners (416F/396M, 42 ± 11 years, 172 ± 9 cm, 70.9 ± 21.3 kg) were included in analysis. 333 runners were classified as injured, and 399 were classified as consistent. Odds of RRI at the knee were lower for consistent runners (OR = 0.46 [0.27; 0.78], p = 0.003). However, this group had greater odds of experiencing upper leg (OR = 1.86 [1.03;3.37], p = 0.04) RRI. Odds of RRI overall and in other regions were unaffected by consistency. CONCLUSION: Consistent running may protect against knee RRIs but not upper leg RRIs. Future work should expand this dataset as well as control for potential confounding variables such as distance, duration, or intensity between groups.