Fatigue and Injury

We all know the effects of individual muscle fatigue on injuries, your leg muscles get tired and all of a sudden you injure your knee. EMG studies have shown that the anterior shin muscles fire 85 % over their fatigue threshold in running. Hence it is no surprise that many runners develop shin splints. It turns out that over all fatigue plays an important role just as localized muscular failure to an area. No one has been able to prove decisively why this happens but it is probably multifactorial. As our
form degrades with fatigue we are in a less stable position to prevent injury. It is also reasonable to assume that as you fatigue the brain's ability to execute precise movement patterns also degrades. What to do? Develop the core and support muscles. Heighten the body's spatial awareness with agility drills. This is why track work deconstructs the running stride and uses drills to help perform more efficiently.