Aches and pains usually signal a runner's body adapting to the demands of a training plan. Ways in which new runners can prevent and reduce neck pain are explained.
New runners will expect aches and pains in the first six months of starting running – generally as healthy signs of the physiological changes in your running body - as fat is burning, muscle is developing, legs and arms are toning and your aerobic ability improves.
If aches and pains appear on most runs, runners need to set out to understand how running is affecting key areas of their body, make minor changes and see if there is a difference. Improving running form as a new runner should fix persistent niggles of aching feet, a painful neck, arm fatigue, breast pain, back pain and stomach ache.
Understanding a Painful Neck
Long runs of 30 to 40 minutes on a weekday evening or Sunday can be tiring. Runners writing about fatigue in their training log may give reasons such as a stressful day, tiring week at work and so on. Runners can research why this is happening to them. If they ask someone to observe their running in the last 10 minutes of a long run, it could be demonstrated that when feeling tired they are lowering their head battling on to complete the run.
If any runner wakes up the day after a run with a painful neck, they are advised to check the positioning of your head when they are next running on a treadmill or outdoors. If a runner is looking ahead of their feet towards the belt or road, they are running with a lowered head. Straightening their head and looking at the gym mirror or at a point in the distance to run to should fix the neck strain.
Social Context of Running
If improving running form does not offer relief from a painful neck, a new runner should consider their own personal context of runs. If they go for long runs with a running group, perhaps the conversation lead them to turn their head to speak. This could be leading to neck strain. The decibels level and running forms of a running group in full flow of talking and running should confirm that looking straight on is the way to go to running free of neck pain.
Finally, the running route may be causing the neck pain. If a runner has a painful neck after running a route on roads where they stop to cross after traffic, the way that they stop and start running again could be causing neckache later. A runner can still run that route regularly. One solution for a runner would be to consciously slow down their cadence or leg turnover as they approach to the kerb.
Importance of Body Alignment
A new runner’s posture when they are resting is also known to be important in preventing neck pain and strain. Dr Paula Franklin – in the Runner’s World Guide to Running published in 2006 (NatMag Rodale Ltd) – says that when runners are asleep “Keeping the body in alignment…should be done by raising the head of the bed itself, or by making sure your pillow is at the current height,” (p.93) and recommends runners sleeping on their side to lie in alignment.
Seeking Help for Aches and Pains in Neck
Understanding the social context of long runs and improving running form as a new runner should mend a painful neck. Tightness, aches and pains can be relieved by a sports massage therapist. If neck strain or a painful neck persists, runners are advised to consult their family doctor and physiotherapist. More information on starting running can be found in Overtraining as a New Runner.
