Former Runners Who Have Stopped Running Due to Injury: What Injury Made You Stop?

Popped "something" in the lateral arch of my left foot, around the insertion of the peroneus brevis. (Not a Jones fracture.) Never healed. Permanent ex-runner, age 20.

After a year or two I was pretty much able to walk without a limp, though, so eventually turned to racewalking. Tough sport.

Patellofemoral osteoarthritis

Chronic hip impingement and labral tear

High hamstring tendinopathy. Two possible avulsions that begin to knot within a few steps plus compression issues. Waiting until it's safer to see a Dr. , to get an MRI and maybe get them repaired if necessary.

Achilles Tendonitis Blues wrote:

I'm pushing 60 and my both achilles have been giving me hell for 9 months. I'm starting to worry they will never completely heal. I hope I'm wrong. To former runners -- what injury caused you to have to stop?

Eccentric heel drops, also work to improve ankle and foot flexibility.

Chronic shin splints. Tried everything I could over the last 3 years of my college career. Could never get over 14 miles/week without incredible pain. 21 years old.

Achilles. Hurt it 5 years ago in the best shape of my life. Never got better. I still hobby jog a bit, but wouldn’t call myself a runner anymore

Huge dong

Hip osteoarthritis at 65 . New hip December 21 . Will I run again ? Maybe . But my days of sun 1:30 half marathons are over .

same same, achilles tendinopathy (what it gets called here in australia) after adjusting to a mid foot/forefoot landing - won't get into the arguments for the change now haha

the protocol of slow eccentric weighted achilles drops that worked for me was using the smith machine at the gym and do 3 sets of 8-10 with a 6 to 10 second slow drop, lifting as much weight as I could bear on the bar - got up to around 100kg + bodyweight. it took the best part of a year of me doing this religiously 3 x per week. concurrently a slow build in mileage so the achilles pain never worsened beyond a 3/10 or increased week to week. the heavy heel drops (especially taking at least 6 seconds per rep) really loaded up the tendon as opposed to a normal calf raise. it burned and was so uncomfortable and I haaaated it. dreaded it, and nearly gave up on running so. many. times. but just persisted and kid you not rehabbing it and getting back to a place where my body could handle the mileage is one of my greatest accomplishments in my mind, it required that much perseverance and discipline. hang in there!!!!

once you can handle the mileage with little to no pain I still recommend keeping the weighted heel drops in 1-2x per week just as 'prehab'

forgot to mention, the other things that were helpful are running in bear feet on sand, and skipping drills (even just little jumps without a rope mimicking a jump rope.

also there's one study with some early evidence indicating that collagen supplementation might speed up achilles tendon rehab - also followed this protocol supplementing with collagen peptides right before I did my heel drops. if it doesn't hurt, why not.

Fatness

kfieifkekfkfj wrote:

Fatness

That’s right. Treat the cause, not the symptoms!

Osteitis Pubis....a bear of an injury

60 yr old stiff here. About 5 yrs ago I had a complete rupture of the posterior tibial tendon (MRI) of my ankle which occurred during an uphill sprint finish of a 5k race. Opted for non-surgical rehab (4 months) which got me back to some running (20 mpw) for a couple of years before I had to shut it down because of pain. Another MRI showed osteoarthritis, medium column collapse & overall degenerative changes of the ankle. I'm now a candidate for ankle fusion surgery. 😬

Currently, I can get one run in per week (3-4 miles) followed by some short sprints if the ankle is taped. But I'll be in ice & and pain the rest of day. So these days my cardio fix is spinning 3-4 per week in addition to bodybuilding.

What a depressing thread. OP, knowing what stopped others’ running is not going to (or should not) change what you do to manage your injury. It’ll only add anxiety to know if Achilles issues stopped their running, and you can never be sure no matter how many responses you receive that your particular situation is not run-life-threatening.

So take your mind off the worst, enjoy the runs while you can, follow good cautious protocol, and hope for the best. Wish you a speedy recovery.

Hasn't happened yet, but leading candidate will be my knee!

Achilles Tendonitis Blues wrote:

I'm pushing 60 and my both achilles have been giving me hell for 9 months. I'm starting to worry they will never completely heal. I hope I'm wrong. To former runners -- what injury caused you to have to stop?

Assuming the location of the pain doesn’t rule it out, Have you had a MRI to rule out Hagland’s? I’ve had the surgery on both heels with the most recent at 58.

earlier this year i was pretty sure my running career was over at the age of 31. since early 2019 i've battled achilles tendonitis, peroneal tendonitis, chronic unexplained hip soreness/tightness (at one point i convinced myself it was a labral tear lol), morton's neuroma, and pes ancerine bursitis. i had resigned myself to becoming more of a cyclist and even dropped $900 on a wahoo kickr.

after yet another failed comeback attempt in march 2021 i decided i would give PT one more shot. went in to my big insurance-covered healthcare provider and got a referral. it was once again lackluster. so i reached out to some of my club teammates for other PT options and got the name of a guy who is essentially in private practice but is a runner who treats runners.

IT WORKED. i had to spend a LOT of time doing strengthening exercises, and i also needed him to give me a few pep talks about how to stay out of my own head searching for pain. if you're convinced you're hurt and something in your leg hurts, guess what - you'll hurt. i think that alone explains a lot of the issues i mentioned in the first paragraph.

even though i run pain-free now, i still do my hamstring exercises once per week and heel drops almost every day. tendon injuries are a b!tch and i don't think my achilles or low hamstring tendons will ever be fully healed, but i'm pretty confident that if i'm smart about training and stay in front of exercises, i can keep running for as long as i want.

TL;DR find a PT who is a runner and who treats runners. people have come back from some nasty injuries, but you have to identify the issue correctly and build back up responsibly. that expert guidance helped me tremendously.

Labrum year in right hip ruined my career when I was 23. Pain was too much and the comeback was too intense for me