You’ve been injured, you’ve rested up and now you’re back, chomping at the bit to get back to where you were before, right? Wrong! Take it slowly and retrain your brain and body properly to make a safe and successful return to running

YOUR EXPERT

Emily Doyle is a rehabilitation and performance specialist at the Running School in London. She regularly works with runners of all abilities, athletes of all agesand offers rehabilitation to people who have had a stroke or have Parkinson’s (runningschool.com)

Running is a stressful activity. It’s simple but it’s not easy and, when you combine the ordinary stresses with previous injury or pain, it becomes more complicated. Many runners who have had an injury such as shin splints, iliotibial band syndrome or other aches and pains usually return to their normal running routine as soon as they have rested and have no pain. However, movement re-patterning and consistent strength work are of the utmost importance before any runner should put their trainers back on.

As humans, we are cross-lateral movers; we move the right arm with the left leg – and vice versa – when we learn to crawl, walk and run. This is how the brain fires the nervous system and then how the nervous system fires the muscles. Day-to-day walking and running are unconscious movements; we have learnt how to move in certain ways through habit, injury and the way that we train and practise.