We Teach Almost Every Sport. Except Running.
Running injury statistics reveal an uncomfortable truth about the sport we love—and raise a question the running industry rarely asks: Why do we teach almost every sport except running?
Running is supposed to be one of the simplest and healthiest things you can do.
Put on a pair of shoes. Walk out the door. Start running.
But there is a problem hiding behind that simplicity.
A systematic review of running-related musculoskeletal injuries reported an overall injury incidence of 40.2%.
That’s roughly 4 out of every 10 runners.
Think about that for a moment.
If approximately 40% of the people participating in another physical activity sustained an injury, would we simply shrug our shoulders and accept it?
Or would we start asking some serious questions?
Running Has an Injury Problem
The 2021 systematic review examined research involving thousands of runners. For the prospective studies used to calculate overall injury incidence, there were 10,941 participants, with 3,222 sustaining running-related musculoskeletal injuries.
The researchers calculated an overall injury incidence of 40.2% ± 18.8%.
The most commonly reported injury locations included the knee, ankle and lower leg. Specific injuries included Achilles tendinopathy, medial tibial stress syndrome (often called shin splints), patellofemoral pain syndrome and plantar fasciitis.
Yet runners have become remarkably accustomed to this.
Ask a group of runners about their injuries and you’ll hear about knees, Achilles tendons, shins, plantar fascia, hips and IT bands.
It’s almost a badge of membership.
But why have we accepted injury as such a normal part of running?
Wait—Haven’t We Heard That “80% of Runners Get Injured”?
Yes.
You’ve probably seen claims that somewhere between 30% and 80% of runners are injured every year.
There’s a reason that range is enormous.
Historically, running-injury researchers haven’t always used the same definition of an “injury.”
One study might count pain.
Another might require missed training.
Another might require medical treatment.
Studies have also examined different populations for radically different periods of time—from weeks to years—which makes simple comparisons difficult. The 2021 systematic review found substantial differences in study methodology and injury definitions.
Researchers have even attempted to solve this problem by developing a consensus definition.
A 2015 expert consensus defined a running-related injury as lower-limb musculoskeletal pain caused by running that restricts or stops running for at least seven days or three consecutive scheduled training sessions, or requires consultation with a health professional.
That’s why we aren’t going to tell you that “80% of runners get injured.”
We don’t need to exaggerate the statistics.
Forty percent is alarming enough.
The Running Injury Statistics That Should Really Get Our Attention
Researchers have also looked at injury incidence based on actual hours spent running.
A systematic review and meta-analysis found:
Novice runners: 17.8 injuries per 1,000 hours of running
Recreational runners: 7.7 injuries per 1,000 hours of running
In that analysis, novice runners experienced more than twice the injury incidence per 1,000 hours compared with recreational runners.
That raises a fascinating question.
What are we doing to prepare people before they become runners?
Usually?
Not much.
We Teach Almost Every Sport—Except Running
Want to learn to swim?
Take swimming lessons.
Want to ski?
Take a ski lesson.
Want to play tennis?
Hire an instructor.
Want to improve your golf swing?
People spend thousands of dollars on golf instruction.
Even children learning baseball are taught how to throw, catch, hit and move.
But decide to become a runner and the typical advice is:
Buy some running shoes and start running.
Running is treated as if proper movement is automatically programmed into every human being.
Maybe that’s an assumption worth questioning.
What If Running Is a Skill?
This is where the conversation becomes uncomfortable.
What if running isn’t simply cardiovascular exercise?
What if running is also a movement skill?
That doesn’t mean every running injury is caused by bad technique. The science does not support such a sweeping claim.
Training volume, previous injury, recovery, strength, tissue capacity, sleep, terrain, training progression and individual anatomy can all matter.
But running also involves forces interacting with the body thousands of times during a workout.
How we interact with those forces deserves attention.
And yet most runners receive considerably more guidance about which shoe to buy than about how they actually run.
The Shoe Industry Has Become Our Running Instructor
Walk into a running store and you may receive an impressive amount of information.
You’ll hear about:
Cushioning.
Stability.
Heel-to-toe drop.
Carbon plates.
Foam technology.
Motion control.
Energy return.
All of those things can have a place in running.
But there’s an important question missing:
Who’s teaching the runner?
A $180 shoe can change what’s underneath your foot.
It cannot watch you run.
It cannot explain what you’re doing.
It cannot give you feedback.
And it cannot teach you a movement skill.
Maybe We’ve Been Asking the Wrong Question
For decades runners have asked:
“What shoe should I run in?”
Maybe another question deserves equal attention:
“Has anyone ever actually taught me how to run?”
That’s the question behind FreeToRun.
Our position isn’t that there’s one magical fix for every running injury.
It isn’t that technique eliminates every injury.
And it certainly isn’t that runners should ignore pain and keep training.
Our argument is much simpler:
If running has such a substantial injury problem, teaching people how to run deserves to be part of the conversation.
Running Doesn’t Have to Be Something You Just Figure Out
At a FreeToRun clinic, we treat running as a skill.
Runners see their movement on video, learn specific running concepts and drills, practice them with coaching and receive feedback while they’re actually running.
The objective isn’t to turn everyone into an elite athlete.
It’s to help runners better understand what they’re doing every time their foot meets the ground.
Because there’s something strange about an industry that analyzes shoes down to the millimeter…
measures watches down to the second…
tracks heart rate, cadence, vertical oscillation and ground-contact time…
but often skips teaching the human being doing the running.
4 Out of 10 Should Make Us Ask Questions
Running is extraordinary.
It can improve cardiovascular fitness, take us places, create friendships, challenge us and remain part of our lives for decades.
This isn’t an argument against running.
It’s an argument for taking running more seriously.
When research reports an overall running-related musculoskeletal injury incidence of approximately 40%, we shouldn’t simply accept injuries as the price runners have to pay.
We should get curious.
We should study training.
We should study recovery.
We should study strength.
We should study equipment.
And yes—
We should teach people how to run.
Want to See How You Run?
FreeToRun clinics combine video analysis, instruction, drills and hands-on coaching to help runners understand and improve their running technique.
Learn how you run. Understand what you can change. Then put it into practice.
→ Learn More About a FreeToRun Running Clinic
Sources
Francis et al. (2021). A systematic review of running-related musculoskeletal injuries in runners. Journal of Sport and Health Science. The review reported an overall injury incidence of 40.2% ± 18.8%.
Videbæk et al. (2015). Incidence of Running-Related Injuries Per 1000 h of Running in Different Types of Runners: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Medicine. The analysis reported 17.8 injuries per 1,000 running hours among novice runners versus 7.7 among recreational runners.
Yamato et al. (2015). A Consensus Definition of Running-Related Injury in Recreational Runners: A Modified Delphi Approach. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy.