#injury-prevention

Articles tagged: injury-prevention

24 articles

Pickle juice for cramps: 49 seconds shorter in the lab, zero change in the blood — what we know about the shots McDonald's handed out before the Chicago Marathon

Pickle juice for cramps: 49 seconds shorter in the lab, zero change in the blood — what we know about the shots McDonald's handed out before the Chicago Marathon

Before the Chicago Marathon McDonald's gave away free 60 ml bottles of pickle juice, and at IRONSTAR Sirius, a Russian triathlon series, coach Suren's team handed out brine with and without vinegar in random order for a study. We look at what is known: a reflex in the mouth rather than “topping up salt”, a fresh meta-analysis of cramp risk factors, and how much pickle juice to drink.

runningtriathloninjury-prevention
Dmitry Volkov•
Read more →
Runner's knee: 188 marathon runners, the Q-angle and hip exercises that turned out to be no better than standard care

Runner's knee: 188 marathon runners, the Q-angle and hip exercises that turned out to be no better than standard care

Pain under the kneecap is the most common running injury, and the standard answer to it goes like this: “weak glutes, train the hip, the Q-angle will correct itself”. A study published in September 2026 compared exactly such a programme with standard care in 188 marathon runners: over 16 weeks both groups improved, and no difference between them was found. Here is what a runner should take from that.

injury-preventionrunningscience
Dmitry Volkov•
Read more →
Heel spur and plantar fasciitis: 63 RCTs, 4,170 people and a ranking of the treatments that really take the pain away

Heel spur and plantar fasciitis: 63 RCTs, 4,170 people and a ranking of the treatments that really take the pain away

Heel pain is one of the most searched-for running problems, even though the bony outgrowth behind the popular name turns up in a third of people whose heels never hurt. A 2026 network meta-analysis compared seven treatments for plantar fasciitis not with placebo one by one but with each other — and it turned out that each has its own horizon: one works for the first month, another for a year. Here is where a runner should start.

injury-preventionhealthscience
Olga Marchenko•
Read more →
Meniscus after a marathon: +38% extrusion on ultrasound in 100 runners and a return to normal by day four

Meniscus after a marathon: +38% extrusion on ultrasound in 100 runners and a return to normal by day four

Orthopaedic surgeons from Hokkaido University scanned the knees of 100 amateur runners before the start, right after the finish and on each of the next five days. The medial meniscus shifted outwards by an average of 0.44 mm, stayed there for three days and was back in place on the fourth. The shift was larger in runners who were heavier, ran more and loaded the inner side of the knee harder.

runningmarathoninjury-prevention
Maxim Belyaev•
Read more →
Back to articles