My coach, he's pretty rough tough and crazy. But he saw me at one of my soccer games and told me he wanted me to join his track team. I never expected myself to be a runner let alone a fast runner at all. But I found out yesterday I'm the 2nd fastest girl so far in my grade and I can do the 500 meter dash... I think thats what he said something meter. But we went to this college olympic thing where I saw my brother toss that 35+ ball. North Carolina won, yeah! Hott college boys oh yes. But um I noticed some people that had ice around their legs and stuff. Can you get serious inguries from running? I want to be able to keep my legs lol. Just wondering...
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Track!
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A lot of athletes use ice, most pro athletes use it after every game. There will always be a chance of injury, but on the whole it will be much better for your health to run than not running. Besides, what you normally only risk is a torn muscle (which will heal pretty easily) and that's only if you don't stretch properly.
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Like JoeBloggs said, most professional athletes ice. There is ALWAYS a risk of injury in sport. But then when you think about it, theres a risk in injury in almost anything you do. If you like doing track, then dont stop because you are worried you may get injured, unless of course you have a health condition that may say otherwise. The ice is used to decrease inflamation around the muscles and joints. If you watch baseball, the pitchers generally have ice around their shoulders in between innings and after the game. It is completely normal and is most likely used to get that person ready for another inning, or run, etc....
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Theres more chance of you doing damage to yourself in football (or soccer, same thing) as there is the physical contact factor as well as doing self damage. If you enjoy running and are good at it keep it up!
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Well I really don't find running a favorite sport of mine. He won't let me join the football team but yet he's dragging me into his track team. Ugh. I'd rather stick with soccer though. I didn't think running was that serious but I guess I was wrong.
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I'm by no means a good runner, but I've had shin splints from pushing myself too hard. Since they're so painful and annoying, I read up on it. From what I've read, and I'm not positive on this, ice helps in the treatment and prevention of shin splints. I wish I'd have known that before I had to experience the pain.
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If you're going to start running more, the most important thing to invest in is shoes. Good running shoes (that are good for your particular shape and size of foot) will go a long ways towards preventing injury. The biggest concern with running is that you have a lot of pressure being repeatedly put on the knees and ankles. Sometimes this leads to swelling that presses on tendons or ligaments and causes soreness and stiffness. Applying something cold (like ice) will reduce swelling if this happens. Generally, injuries can be avoided with proper running shoes, good form, and giving yourself enough extra recovery time if you start to feel something.
I can't give you tips on form without actually seeing you run because there's so many small details that can be misinterpreted, but your coach should be able to tell you if you're doing anything wrong. The two main areas of concern are how your foot lands on the ground (in sprinting, your heel shouldn't even touch the ground, in long distance, you should have some forward roll from your heel to your toe), and how you are pumping your arms. With the arms, imagine there's a center line on your body that your arms can't cross since you want the force of your arms to be pushing you down the track instead of side to side. A few other tips are try to keep a straight body (running requires a lot of ab support) with hips in line with your body (as opposed to being slouched over), and don't move your upper torso when your arms pump. That's a lot to take in, so don't worry too much about it, but if you do choose to run and have some concern with anything I've said then ask your coach about it and see if he has any suggestions for improving your form.
Running doesn't have to be serious, but running will help with your soccer. My cousin, she's a few years younger than me and a very good soccer player, she's been running lately and apparently it's really helped with her endurance. Same thing with her younger sister.
Oh, and another note about ice. You should never apply it for more than about 20 min, and you shouldn't be applying it directly to the skin either. While cooling an injury will reduce swelling, it is damaging to the tissues to chill them too much. I've never actually seen an athlete use ice just for the hell of it and I can't imagine doing that all the time would be good for wherever they're applying it.