Give your body time to heal.
Running often causes mild discomfort as new training regimens take hold, and these symptoms usually subside on their own within a few weeks unless an underlying issue is causing more serious symptoms. Recovering from an actual running injury requires giving your body real time to heal, which may mean decreasing how often and how far you run while following a recovery plan built around rest, ice, physical therapy, and targeted exercise.
Rest, ice, compression, and elevation.
Rest is an integral part of injury recovery. It gives the body time to repair tissue that has been overexerted through excessive training or high-intensity work. Ice is an effective remedy for relieving inflammation and pain: applying an ice pack for about 20 minutes every two to three hours during the first 24 hours after injury helps ease discomfort, promote healing, and speed recovery.
Compression reduces swelling by restricting blood flow in and around the injured area, which helps speed healing time. Elevation, raising the injured area above the level of your heart, stimulates blood flow and supports the same process. This can be as simple as propping a leg on a table or lying on the floor with your legs raised against a wall.
Restoring motion, strength, and flexibility.
Physical therapy is an excellent way to recover from a running injury. It helps restore range of motion, strength, and flexibility. A good physical therapist starts with a detailed history and assessment to identify your current stage of recovery, then prescribes tailored care and treatment from there.
Generally, soft tissue injuries heal within about six weeks, though this timeframe is not set in stone, and your therapist works with you to ensure steady progress at your own pace. A physical therapist can also help you modify daily habits, such as cutting back on desk time or adjusting how your home or workspace is set up, to speed recovery and get you back to the things that matter most.
Supporting recovery between sessions.
Massage can be a valuable aid to recovery after running, particularly for injury prevention. It increases circulation within the muscles, improves flexibility and joint range of motion, and decreases muscle tension. It will not eliminate lactic acid from the muscles, so some soreness in the days after a hard workout is still normal.
Deep tissue massage is the type most commonly used by runners to loosen tight spots and connective tissue, and it can be incorporated into hard training blocks or used post-race to treat leg and foot injuries. Runners typically benefit from a massage roughly once a week to twice a month, depending on training volume, budget, and goals.
Strength training and a gradual return.
Running injuries are a frustrating obstacle to training and daily life, but staying injury-free is largely a matter of following some basic precautions. Start by warming up before every run, several minutes of activity to raise your heart rate followed by an easy stretching routine. Strengthening key muscle groups also helps prevent common running injuries; hip strengthening, for example, helps prevent runner's knee, which occurs when the kneecap is out of alignment.
If you do get injured, your doctor or physical therapist may recommend a period of rest along with cross-training or walk/run intervals to maintain fitness. Once pain subsides, gradually increase mileage and intensity, using ice, massage, foam rolling, gentle stretching, and strengthening as tolerated or as directed by your provider.