Bone Health for Runners
Bone health is a crucial aspect of a runner's overall well-being
There are over 200 bones in our body comprising of one fifth of our body weight.
Bones protect vital organs, provide support, help us move, store minerals, and produce blood cells.
Bone come in all shapes and sizes, they include long bones in our limbs that allow movements of our arms and legs and smaller blocks of bone in our spine, hands and feet for flexibility and support.
Each bone is the perfect shape, mass, and density to withstand the loads it normally experiences in day-to-day life - no more and no less
This means our skeleton is as strong as it needs to be for regular activities whilst still weighing the least it can.
Bone is a living tissue; it’s packed with cells and has an extensive blood and nerve supply which is vital for keeping bone tissue healthy.
Bone cells can repair micro-damage that occurs from normal wear and tear to prevent fractures.
Bone has a very high tolerance to overload, unfortunately, sometimes the demand of too much hard, repetitive training & racing can outstrip the capacity of bone adaptation.
Bone stress injuries describe a number of painful conditions that can occur from prolonged repetitive loading
Bone stress injuries range from inflammation of the periosteum, (a membrane that covers the outer surface of all bones) to inflammation of the bone itself to the development of actual cracks within the bone (stress fractures).
This process can occur over a few days if highly intense loading is experienced, but more commonly it occurs over time.
Running and weight bearing exercise is vitally important for bone health
Bone is a Goldilocks tissue, there needs to be a balance somewhere in between the extremes of not enough running and too much!
To see what happens without exercise think about what happens to bone when it is unloaded for periods of time i.e., when a limb is immobilised in a plaster cast; at these times, bone rapidly loses mass.
As a runner how can you improve your bone health & reduce injury?
Following adaptive, training plans, combined with proper nutrition and cross training helps stimulate, strengthen, and maintain bone density.
Adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D is also vital, as these nutrients contribute to the development and maintenance of strong bones.
Too much caffeine, salt and alcohol are bad for bone health.
As a coach how can you ensure your athlete is looking after their bone health?
Recommend a well-balanced diet with adequate protein for the health of all connective tissues including Calcium and Vitamin D
Understand how Oestrogen is crucial in bone development especially for female athletes as bone density declines in perimenopause/post menopause.
Being aware that not having a menstrual period may indicate that a female athlete’s oestrogen levels are low, if this is the case their bones may become weaker and more susceptible to stress fractures.
When constructing training plans encourage high impact and resistance training sessions.