| Injurious |
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One thing never discussed is the injury rates and types among the Kenyan and Ethiopian elite and developing elite runners vs. the Western world. Also, how the injuries are managed, ie, do they run through aches, what kind of rehab do they do, etc. Can anyone shed some light on these matters? Coaches often mention that the fewer the injuries, the better the chance of reaching full potential. How much of a factor do you believe this is in the East African success? |
| wedzs |
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they don't get injured because of the pristine dirt roads they run on in the Rift Valley. If you saw Americans move away from running on roads, and even worse, sidewalks, you'd see much lower rates of injury among top Americans. Also Kenyans tend to be leaner and have healthier diets. Even top Americans can't get away from the temptation of occasional pizza or ice cream it seems. This contributes to the injury rate as well. |
| Eb55 |
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This is a serious problem in Ethiopia... I will give you some specific examples. Abebe dinkessa was a top runner who has a 26:35 to his name ... Very powerful xc runner as well. But when he started to run track he got injury after injury. In an IAAF article.. He talked about using holy water to cure his injury. Agents like jos just treat these guys like dirt... They will cut them off from any assistance.. And move to the next guy.. Million Wolde also had a similar issue. Orthopedic medicine and MRI machines are not available.. So even an athlete like deres mekonnen who was 2009 silver medalist at 1500.. Is resting out his injury. Some of the top athletes who have money pay to see Dr's in europe and many kind Dr's lend a hand but there is no system to help them out. |
| Queton C. |
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I am not exactly sure about the injury rates but I think they get injured more than you would think it is just that you only hear about the lucky guy who don't because they are the ones who win. The soft dirt roads are very important to preventing injuries and when you are putting up serious mileage the surface you run on makes a big difference. I think that also most of these athletes have such a huge base from childhood where they were constantly running without shoes that their bodies have adapted to cope with the stresses of training. |
| Rx |
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So you're stating you have no clue, then. If you're a Kenyan, a modest injury can be a career-ender, as their medical infrastructure is substantial lower than that in the West. The smart ones do the one-and-done thing (Boston, Berlin, London, Rotterdam, etc) then call it quits & take the money and run...well, walk home. Based on commentary I've read from some elite African runners, few plan to run recreationally. It's strictly business. |
| Injurious |
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Do you think that because they don't have modern medicine to treat the injuries, they are much more conservative about training through some new aches and pains? Perhaps the lack of good medicine works for them rather than against them in this respect. |
| Fitzwell |
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I have no data. But from casually observing their habits, at least the Kenyans, they seem to really ease into running with a lot of warm up. That might play a big role, assuming they actually do have lower injury rates. Also, I would assume the softer surfaces and generally laid back lifestyle have an effect via less overall stress to the body and mind. Plus, they're more genetically fit for distance running. |
| douglas burke |
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they travel to where they can get treatment, i think t. dibaba and sihine and geb have all gone to germany for treatment, defar has been treated in USA hospitals. problem no good doctors and specialists in your country solution get on a plane and go to where you will have excellent doctors and specialists. |
| Injurious |
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but only very few have this luxury. |
| runn |
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I think the numbers of runners has something to do with it, too. Survival of the Fittest- if a proportional number of Americans ran, coaches could run them into the ground and the strongest would survive. We would have a lot more great runners. Most Americans don't even get to that stage. Try getting high schoolers to take on the demands of serious running. Even at 40 mpw many will break down, quit, whatever. |
| Injurious |
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I'm not so sure that is the biggest factor though. In this country, there comes along maybe only one new sub 2:10 marathoner every couple of years, whereas in Kenya there are probably several dozen new sub 2:10 guys every year. I know that in my growing up experience, there would not have been that many more kids excelling in distance running if everybody went into running instead of the other sports. Most of those other kids were clearly not showing any talent for distance running before they dedicated to other sports. |
| juan pelota |
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"More genetically fit..." What do you mean by this, racist? |
| smd |
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Only someone who hasn't run on them would call them pristine. |
| Injurious |
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So does anyone know if they get injured as much as westerners or not? Do they train more sensibly? |
| Fitzwell |
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Yes, I mean it in a discriminating way. Noakes, for one, noted slowtwitch propensity in certain African runner populations relative to white runners. There are also known correlatIons of certain genotypes with successful distance running populations. Also, there are theories that Africans, in general, are superior physically because natural selection has worked better there than in other environments. Africa has been a hard environment to survive in historically. So species that do so may be more robust than those that can survive less hostile environments. Plus, look at the skeletal structure of, particularly, the east Africans. Their longer legs and shorter torsos plus thin, tapered limbs would seem to work very well for distance running. And they kick the shit out of the rest of the world in head to head competition. Intuition would seem that genetics play a statistically significant part. But who really knows? This is just how I'm reading things. |
| Injurious |
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a lighter, smaller torso and more efficient leg design and muscle type for distance running would likely result in a lesser rate of running injuries, but also a greater degree of competitive success regardless, if you are correct. |
| The MonBRO Doctrine |
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Just off the top of my head, Bekele, Geb and Lagat have all had injury problems over the years. |
| Azaleas |
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Bekele missed stretches over 6 months to injury in the past couple of years, Geb dropped out of a race because of runner's knee (and nearly retired, too), and the African winners of marathons are always mentioning time they had to take off for injury. I don't think they get injured any less than western runners. Maybe more: Kenyans are known for running two or three times a day, usually very fast, and employing a survival of the fittest workout style. |
| The MonBRO Doctrine |
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I was thinking too of Geb in 2000; if I recall correctly he missed almost a month of training before the Games and sort of pulled that win out of his @ss. I recall him saying that if Tergat had gone with 5 laps to go like he did in 1996 instead of waiting til the last lap he would have won. |
| Night Runner |
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A certain famous running doctor, was it Dr Noakes, wrote that nine out of ten of them fall by the wayside because of injuries. Running is a way out of poverty for them much like pro football or BB is here. And there is nothing wrong with that. |