Your Guide To Managing Pain and Injuries

I hate to say it, but at some point, you’re probably going to get injured. It’s a normal part of running and life. But how you respond to pain and injury at the first signs can play a huge role in how significant it becomes.

Pain and injury happen when the load you place on your body exceeds your capacity to handle that load. That load can come from running, strength training, time on your feet, emotional stress, lack of sleep, or a combination of everything.

When the total stress exceeds your current limit, pain often shows up.

The key to reducing injuries isn’t avoiding stress altogether. It’s improving your capacity while consistently training under your limit. Good training requires testing the limits and then pulling back appropriately.

I wish I could give perfect rules like “if x happens, do this,” but this post would be 500 pages long. So think of this more as a guide rather than fixed rules.

First: Determine Your Pain Level and Where the Pain Is

Low levels of pain (1–2/10)

Low levels of pain are often manageable, and in many cases, you can continue running. You just want to monitor symptoms closely and avoid increasing your load while things calm down.

Moderate levels of pain (3–5/10)

Moderate pain usually requires some kind of load adjustment. If pain is worsening, lingering longer than 1–2 weeks, or consistently showing up during runs, it’s probably more than just a small blip.

Take a look at your total load:

• Running volume/intensity

• Strength training

• Time on feet

• Life stress

• Recovery habits

Find meaningful places to reduce stress temporarily so your body has room to recover.

High levels of pain (6+/10)

Higher levels of pain often require rest from aggravating activities. Sometimes that means taking 1–2 weeks away from running to let the area truly calm down and heal.

Recovery is part of training.

*If the pain is in the same area as a previous injury, be more cautious with load management. One of the biggest risk factors for future injury is a history of previous injury.

Second: Improve Your Capacity

Once you’ve managed the load appropriately, the next step is improving the capacity of both the injured tissue and your body as a whole.

That usually means:

• Strengthening weak areas

• Improving tissue tolerance

• Building overall resilience

  
  

The goal is to help your body handle more so that when you return to higher levels of training, pain is less likely to come back.

Third: Reintroduce Higher Loads Slowly

Once symptoms improve and your capacity builds back up, you can begin increasing training again — but slowly. Probably slower than you think.

As you reintroduce running volume or intensity, consider temporarily reducing load in other areas like:

• Cross training

• Strength training

• Extra activity outside training

  
  

A lot of setbacks happen because people ramp everything up at once.

Fourth: Ask for Help If You Need It

Pain and injury are complicated. It’s rarely one-size-fits-all.

If something has been lingering for a while, keeps coming back, or you’re unsure how to manage it, it may be time to ask for help.

The answer isn’t always “stop running.” Often, it’s learning how to manage load appropriately and finding someone who understands how to keep runners moving while they recover.

-Eliana

P.S. If you feel like you're at this fourth step and need help, you can book a free discovery call here.