Can a number, a ritual or a pair of socks help you run pain-free and faster? Runners hear promises like these all the time. We took three of them and checked them against the available studies.
A silver bullet is the one remedy that solves a problem in a single shot. In training, the term stands for quick fixes, meaning a single measure against injuries, muscle soreness or slow times. These quick fixes are hard to shake off, because they make training look simpler than it really is.
We put three of them to the test: the 10% rule, stretching before a run and compression socks. For each myth, we look at what it promises, what isn’t true and what the research actually shows.
Does the 10% rule protect you from injury?
What does the myth say?
The rule is easy to remember. You never increase your weekly mileage by more than 10%. If you ran 40 kilometers last week, you’re allowed 44 at most this week. Stick to it, and you’re supposed to get injured less often.
What isn’t true?
The rule has actually been tested, and it did no better than a standard training plan. Novice runners who followed the 10% rule got injured just as often as the comparison group. In both groups, about one in five runners was affected. A large observational study also found no link between week-to-week changes in mileage and injuries. The trial, however, only included beginners.
What is true, and what’s the evidence?
That same large study, with 5,205 runners, shows where the risk is more likely to lie. Injuries were more common when individual runs were much longer than usual. The benchmark was the longest run of the previous 30 days. When a run was more than twice as long, the injury rate more than doubled.
Adding an extra session is less risky than making single sessions much longer. That’s why running.COACH doesn’t schedule any runs longer than 3 hours during marathon training.
Does stretching before a run prevent injuries?
What does the myth say?
Give your calves a quick stretch, and you’ll stay injury-free on your run. That’s the idea. It refers to classic static stretching, where you lengthen a muscle and hold the position. It’s supposed to prevent injuries and keep muscle soreness down the next day.
What isn’t true?
Review studies come to a fairly clear conclusion. Stretching before a run doesn’t measurably lower your risk of injury, and it barely reduces muscle soreness the next day.
That doesn’t mean stretching is harmful. There’s just no proof that it helps. It’s a bit like a lucky charm before an exam. It makes you feel good, but it’s no substitute for studying.
What is true, and what’s the evidence?
So stretching isn’t proven to protect you from injury. But it isn’t proven to be useless either. The problem is that there are only a few good studies, and hardly any with recreational runners.
For muscle soreness, there was at least a small effect. In one large study, people who stretched before and after exercise had slightly less of it. The difference was tiny, though: about 4 points on a pain scale from 0 to 100. Your sore legs will hardly notice.
Flexibility itself doesn’t seem to have a direct effect on injuries either. Runners who were followed over a longer period didn’t get injured more or less often depending on how flexible they were.
Do compression socks make you faster?
What does the myth say?
Tight socks that gently squeeze your legs are supposed to make you faster, make running feel easier and speed up recovery. The pressure is said to help push blood from your legs back to your heart. On top of that, your muscles are supposed to vibrate less, so your legs tire more slowly.
What isn’t true?
There’s no evidence that compression socks make you run faster or make the effort feel easier, and measures like heart rate show no difference compared with regular socks. Most of the studies were small, though. Often just a few dozen runners tested the socks, and only once. So no benefit has been shown, but researchers can’t rule one out completely.
What is true, and what’s the evidence?
So the socks won’t make you faster. A few small studies suggest you might be able to keep going a little longer, but that’s not enough to count as proof.
Recovery is a slightly different story. For compression garments in general, there are signs of less muscle soreness, especially after strength training. For compression socks worn while running, that benefit hasn’t shown up so far.
The studies didn’t find any downsides. So if you like wearing them, go right ahead.
Sources
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