Which injuries have the potential to end your running "career" FOREVER?

Runners who incur a career-ending injury are like the old guy Brooks in the movie Shawshank Redemption when he is let go from prison and discovers that he has nothing to live for.

i've noticed that the majority of runners I knew who had an injury that required a surgery that involved pins and screws that aren't later removed didn't manage to fully recover from that injury. Most others injuries seem to be possible to come back, given enough time.

anything that involves progressive loss of cartilage.

The big ones are:

-osteoarthritis

-posterior tibial tendon rupture

-nonunion stress fractures at high-risk locations like the navicular

-avascular necrosis, usually in the head of the femur following a delayed union or frank fracture of the femoral head because of a stress fracture

Probably forgetting a few. Also a "long tail" of strange/unique injuries. Also massive acute injuries like crushed body parts in a car accident, but that doesn't really count.

With the exception of osteoarthritis, most of these are avoidable by not doing stupid stuff like trying to "run through" an injury. If it hurts, stop.

Losing coordination in your leg to the point where your leg begins to flop around uncontrollably and you have no control of your turnover or foot strike. You begin to limp and hobble unable to rid the problem. Currently dealing with this for 6 months now and have a strong feeling it will be with me for life and I will no longer be able to run at a high level again. Many others have said it's ended their career

My career ending injury was actually nerve damage throughout my legs. My legs had a difficult time cycling blood back up to the heart, to the point where my legs would be shot within a mile of running. They lacked the pop that usually accompanies an in shape runner. Simple tasks such as standing or walking become painful after an hour just because there isn't enough blood flowing through the leg, causing them to ache.

fdsfadsfasdffff wrote:

The big ones are:

-posterior tibial tendon rupture

Really? I had something happen to my PTT (hiked down a mountain on a sprained ankle) and missed a few months because of it, but nobody ever told me it was career threatening.

Others I've seen:

- Severe "boot-top" fracture (common in skiing) of tibia and fibula

- Achilles tendinitis that someone tried to run through

- Same as above, but plantar fasciitis

Mine don't sound as severe as the others in the thread, but I developed extreme chronic inflammation of my pulmonary system, and an extremely enlarged heart. Doc said I had the heart of a 60yr old, which was nice to hear at age 20

Acute aortic dissection.

Depressed Runner wrote:

Losing coordination in your leg to the point where your leg begins to flop around uncontrollably and you have no control of your turnover or foot strike. You begin to limp and hobble unable to rid the problem. Currently dealing with this for 6 months now and have a strong feeling it will be with me for life and I will no longer be able to run at a high level again. Many others have said it's ended their career

Yep, this ended mine and several others. On the bright side, I can walk and run pain free, I just can't run competitively on the roads or track.

Sounds terrible. How'd it happen?

Ouch. How'd it happen?

I actually cured my plantar fasciitis by running through it! A few weeks after I transitioned from summer slogging to xc speedwork, it was gone.

Left ventricular hypertrophy will do it...

This is how WE jack the house. wrote:

sadexrunner's thread got me wondering, what can't be overcome?

any kind of accident resulting in amputation of leg and or legs

Emaciated Hobby Jogger wrote:

any kind of accident resulting in amputation of leg and or legs

No.

compartment syndrome.

I've been out for like 8 years with it. well, i never got it tested, but docs said that is probably what it is. Granted, surgery would most likely fix it, I just haven't wanted to go ahead and get surgery.

First 5 years or so I could still run as much as I wanted on any given day, but I'd have to stop running within weeks of starting regular running because the injury would pop back up.

Past 3 or 4 years it got suddenly worse out of nowhere, so that I've only been able to run 5 to 20 minutes at a time, and without good stretching and massage even just that will make them tight/sore for a couple days. Although the past few weeks I've been running 6 to 8 minutes 5 to 7 days a week and they are doing okay so far.

Torn heartilage.

The backs of your legs are too tight.

Do sun salulations and similar exercises for your legs.

Stretch the areas that aren't tight, which will take the strain off the areas that are.

Decapitation

no way wrote:

compartment syndrome.

I've been out for like 8 years with it. well, i never got it tested, but docs said that is probably what it is. Granted, surgery would most likely fix it, I just haven't wanted to go ahead and get surgery.

First 5 years or so I could still run as much as I wanted on any given day, but I'd have to stop running within weeks of starting regular running because the injury would pop back up.

Past 3 or 4 years it got suddenly worse out of nowhere, so that I've only been able to run 5 to 20 minutes at a time, and without good stretching and massage even just that will make them tight/sore for a couple days. Although the past few weeks I've been running 6 to 8 minutes 5 to 7 days a week and they are doing okay so far.

Quit yer whining and just have the surgery. I went through the same thing for years. I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to get it corrected. I basically pissed away my 30s. I had the fasciotomy surgery in November. 7 months later, I'm running more & quicker than I have in over a decade.