Running-related Musculoskeletal Injuries and Exercise Behavior

Dear Colleagues,

During the last decades, an increased number of runners are participating in endurance races. This increase is seen in recreational runners of both sexes and all age groups, not only competitive runners. The participation in such endurance races is beneficial for health, since it implies that the recreational runners are engaged in regular exercise training and the beneficial role of exercise for health has been well-documented by international health organizations. On the other hand, exercise is not without risks, especially for recreational runners who, unlike competitive runners, lack sport experience and the advantages of specialized and supervised training. In particular, an increased risk for running-related musculoskeletal injuries (RRMI) has been observed in recreational runners compared to their competitive counterparts. Consequently, recreational runners need specific guidelines with regards to their performance goal, exercise training and injury prevention in order to enjoy the benefits of exercise for health and well-being. The scope of this special issue is to quantify the optimal running endurance performance, training characteristics and physical fitness that results in the lowest incidence of RRMI by sex and age group. The aim is to attract papers that use incidence of RRMI, performance, training (experience, days per week, duration, intensity, recovery and mode) and physical fitness assessment in large samples of endurance runners. An innovation is also to focus on papers where exercise tests will cover all components of health-related physical fitness (body composition, aerobic capacity, flexibility, muscle strength and muscle endurance) and anaerobic components, and where training is quantified through questionnaires and devices such as heart rate monitors, GPS and accelerometers. Considering the increasing number of recreational endurance runners, the findings of the submitted papers will have a great impact on readers, who will gain practical information about the quantification of optimal levels of performance, training and fitness that are associated with the lowest incidence of RRMI.

Prof. Dr. med. Beat Knechtle
Dr. Pantelis Nikolaidis
Guest Editors

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