How Mountain Ice Sports Recovery Gel Can Reduce Pain from the 8 Most Common Running Injuries
Running is a great self-directed exercise to help you stay in shape and maintain good cardiovascular health, but dedicated runners know the risks of leg injuries. Runners put enormous stress on their legs through repetitive stress, long practice hours, and limited recovery periods. Read on below to learn the most common types of leg injuries and how Mountain Ice Sports Recovery Gel can improve your training experience and recovery time!
1. Runner's Knee (Patellofemoral Syndrome)
A number of conditions characterized by pain in the kneecap (patella), including anterior knee pain syndrome, iliotibial band syndrome, patellofemoral malalignment, and chondromalacia patella.
- Symptoms: Aching, dull pain around or behind the kneecap. Often occurs when bending knees (running, climbing stairs, squatting) or sitting for long hours with knees bent. May also involve swelling or grinding of the knee.
- Causes: Irritation of the knee's lining and soft tissue, strained tendons, or worn or torn cartilage. Very commonly an overuse injury, although trauma like a dislocated kneecap can lead to this as well.
2. Achilles Tendonitis
Inflammation of the Achilles tendon, the band of tissue that connects your calf muscles to your heel bone.
- Symptoms: Pain and swelling in the backside of your heel while walking or running, sometimes also accompanied by calf muscle tightness. The skin on your heel might feel overly warm, a sign of inflammation, and your range of motion when flexing your foot might be compromised.
- Causes: Often an overuse or repetitive motion injury caused by excessive exercise, lack of warmup, and poor footwear. Sports like tennis that involve quick stops and sudden directional changes increase your risk.
3. Plantar Fasciitis
Inflammation in tears of the plantar fascia, the thick, weblike ligament that connects your heel to the front of your foot.
- Symptoms: Stabbing pain or burning sensation under your heel or the middle of your foot.
- Causes: Long-distance running; jobs that require long hours on your feet; being overweight or obese.
4. IT Band Syndrome
Pain and inflammation in the Iliotibial band, a long band of connective tissue that runs along the outside of your leg from your hip to your knee and shinbone. Most common among runners, cyclists, hikers, and other athletes who place a lot of stress on their knees, such as soccer players, basketball players, and weightlifters.
- Symptoms: Pain, irritation, tightness, and inflammation in the leg, as well as painful friction when bending your knee.
- Causes: An overuse or repetitive motion injury caused by repeated flexion and extension of the knees, typically exaggerated by poor training habits or excessive training without enough rest.
5. Hamstring Injuries
The most common sports injury, hamstring injuries involve pain and tearing in the muscles on the back of your thigh. These muscles are responsible for hip and knee movements in walking, squatting, bending your knees, and tilting your pelvis, as well as decelerating your lower leg during the "swing phase" (when your foot is off the ground) of the running cycle.
- Symptoms: Straining, tightness, and weakness in your hamstring that develops gradually, which can lead to a sudden tear. An injured hamstring might feel tender to the touch and look bruised at the site.
- Causes: Muscle overload, which causes strains and tears as the muscle lengthens and contracts during use. Can also happen suddenly if the muscle is stretched too far or strained too suddenly. Can be the result of poor conditioning and muscle imbalances, muscle fatigue, or exercising with tight muscles.
6. Shin Splints
Medial tibial stress syndrome, commonly known as shin splints, involves pain in your lower legs along your shinbone.
- Symptoms: Pain and inflammation in the leg between the knee and ankle, particularly along the front of your leg.
- Causes: A cumulative stress disorder, shin splints come from the repeated impact your legs take during running, particularly on hard surfaces. Most common among runners and competitors in stop-start sports like soccer, basketball, and tennis. Left unaddressed this can cause stress fractures.
7. Stress Fractures
Hairline cracks in your bones that occur with repetitive impact and stress.
- Symptoms: Pain that gradually worsens over time and gets worse during activity, often accompanied by swelling, bruising, or tenderness at the site of the fracture. The bones in the foot are particularly susceptible.
- Causes: An overuse and repetitive stress injury, stress fractures occur with repeated impact or stress on a bone, especially when the intensity, duration, or type of exercise is suddenly changed. Most common among runners or athletes who jump a lot.
8. Ankle Sprain
A sprained ankle occurs when you twist, turn, or otherwise move your ankle in an awkward way, stretching or tearing the ligaments, the connective tissue that helps connect your ankle bones.
- Symptoms: Pain and swelling in the ankle, as well as bruising and discoloration. Range of motion will be limited.
- Causes: A stretched or torn ligament due to the ankle being moved out of normal position. Although a common sports injury, an ankle sprain can be a sudden accident and not always the result of overuse.
How Can Mountain Ice Sports Recovery Gel Help Reduce Pain from Running Injuries?
Injuries are extremely common for runners and tend to develop gradually due to repetitive stress on the legs combined with poor or limited downtime after exercise. Mountain Ice Sports Recovery Gel is a unique formulation of high-quality, all-natural ingredients designed to reduce muscle, joint, tendon, and ligament soreness and strain after exercise! Our ingredients have been specially chosen to reduce inflammation and strain after physical activity:
- Menthol: Its cooling sensation numbs pain, providing immediate relief, while it widens blood vessels to improve circulation and deliver more oxygen and nutrients to damaged areas.
- MSM: Prevents breakdown of connective tissue like ligaments and reduces inflammation.
- Spearmint: Soothes pain and muscle contractions, reducing stress on the foot.
- Aloe Vera: Anti-inflammatory plant that promotes faster muscle recovery.
- Camphor: Cooling pain reliever that reduces swelling from injury and increases circulation.
- Vitamin E: Reduces muscle soreness and encourages muscle rebuilding, strengthening the foot's support.
- Green Tea Extract: Powerful antioxidant that reduces the oxidative stress that can cause inflammation.
- Arnica Flower: Relieves inflammation and muscle soreness while improving circulation.
- Turmeric: Inhibits inflammatory response while promoting deep absorption of ingredients, fighting pain at its source.
Are you looking for pain relief from running injuries? Click here to try Mountain Ice Sports Recovery Gel today to get back on your feet!