INJURY INCIDENCE, DISTRIBUTION, AND SEVERITY DURING A MARATHON TRAINING SEASON AND THE IMPLICATIONS

##article.abstract##

Marathon runners and their coaches are concerned about the potential for injury during an individual season. No published studies of running injuries address this training season as a meaningful entity. This study reports the incidence of injury and the distribution of injuries for runners (n=75) on two established marathon training teams during an individual season. An injury was defined as affecting seven consecutive days or three consecutive workouts. The incidence/risks of overuse injuries, for marathon runners in a single season were found to be: anterior knee pain (20%), iliotibial band syndrome (29%), plantar fasciitis (1%), Achilles tendonitis (9%) shin splints (16%) and stress fractures (4%). This risk, overall injury distribution, severity and length of longest run prior to presentation of injury are of interest to runners, coaches and biomechanists.