A novel foot core strengthening protocol may help prevent running-related injuries, according to a new study.
In the study, “Foot Core Training to Prevent Running-Related Injuries: A Survival Analysis of a Single-Blind, Randomized Controlled Trial,” published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers tested whether foot core strengthening could protect against injury.
They wrote, “Running-related injuries are a pervasive menace that can interrupt or end the participation of recreational runners in this healthy physical activity. To date, no satisfactory treatment has been developed to prevent running-related injuries.”
Their foot core strengthening protocol is based on a ground-up approach for recreational long-distance runners to reduce running-related injuries over the course of a 1-year follow-up.
The randomized controlled trial included 188 runners who were either assigned to the intervention group (n = 57) or a control group (n = 61).
The intervention group took an 8-week training course which focused on the foot-ankle muscles, followed by remote training.
Outcomes included assessments from 3 separate biomechanical evaluations of foot strength and foot posture as well as weekly reports on each participant’s running distance, pace, and injury incidence over 12 months.
Overall, runners in the control group were 2.42 times (95% of CI, 1.98-3.62) more likely to suffer a running-related injury within the 12 months of the study compared to those who received the training (p = .035).
In addition, time to injury was correlated with Foot Posture Index (p = .031; r = 0.41) and foot strength gain (p = .044; r = 045) score.
“This foot exercise program showed evidence of effective running-related injury risk reduction in recreational runners at 4 to 8 months of training,” they wrote.
“Further studies are recommended to better understand the underlying biomechanical mechanisms of injury, types of injuries, and subgroups of runner who might benefit maximally.”
