By Nicola Blower, Musculoskeletal Podiatrist, Co-Director – Walkrite

Being more physically active could help you live longer!
The problem with being a clinician is that we’ve seen and know too much. Not about everything (absolutely not) but about what happens to our bodies and, also, how it happens. We then try to help our patients recover from illness or pain, or avoid it in the future, but this can seem like nagging, or the nanny state, telling people what to do, but what if we kept what we know to ourselves? What if we didn’t try to let people know there are ways that they can live longer and in better health? What if we didn’t tell people that they can reduce their risks of dementia, cardio-vascular disease and some cancers, such as bowel cancer? What if we didn’t tell people that being more physically active, for example, could help them live longer?

Running a marathon could help you live longer
On 2nd October 2022, I will be running the TCS London Marathon for the charity Hospice UK because my mother died of bowel cancer in 2016 and she spent her final days in East Lancs Hospice receiving brilliant care. I am also trying to raise awareness of the link between being more physically active and reducing the risks of developing conditions such as bowel cancer. I am also running, though, because having a first line relative, such as a parent or sibling, with bowel cancer increases your own risk of bowel cancer, so I am literally running to try to live longer.

Run forever
You only have to look at the WHO Physical Activity Guidelines to see a mountain of evidence linking increased physical activity to better long-term health, but what about running? In January 2020, Professor Zeljko Pedisic’s team from Victoria University in Melbourne published their research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine into the impact of running on long-term health and found that running reduced the risk of death from any cause by 27%, cardiovascular death by 30% and cancer death by 23%. Interestingly, they also found that any amount of running, even just once a week, is better than no running. But we also know that lots of people starting or returning to running stop due to injury, including a lot of the patients I see, so here’s how to run forever!

Follow a programme such as the free NHS app Couch-2-5K and run easy. Don’t progress on to the next part of the programme if you are not completely comfortable and take longer to complete the programme if necessary (especially if over the age of 40 – like me)!

Avoid the terrible too’s – the most common training errors are too much, too soon, too long, too fast etc – listen to your body, take it easy and go at your own pace.

Respect your feet – there is now specific evidence that running shoes are not protective against injury, but it is an advantage to run in a shoe designed for running and not eg netball, as the sole will be designed for running specific movements. Make sure the shoe fits properly and feels comfortable.

Don’t run through progressively worsening pain that lasts for more than 5 minutes. If this happens, stop. Equally, if you get worsening pain after running that lasts until the next run, you need to reduce down what you are doing or seek help from a clinician such as a Podiatrist, Physiotherapist or GP.

Blog article written by By Nicola Blower, Musculoskeletal Podiatrist, Co-Director – Walkrite