Running injuries

I just thought I'd throw out a little 'food for thought' in regards to injuries, because one of the running buddies in our group is on the sideline with an injury. We all deal with this especially in the spring when we start to ramp things up. I've always felt that many injuries result because of the fact that we do so much of our running in a rote fashion. Over time muscles and ligaments become cast and shorter, eventually leading to a friction of sorts that gives pain and possibily an injury. Preventive medicine for these conditions is the best policy. One type of routine that I recommend is to incorporate a strengthening/stretching routine into the weekly schedule. There are many routines out there for the respective muscle groups, but one that I like best is a combo of sorts that stretches the muscle and then activates the muscle in the stretch mode. The idea is to not only increase strength but to increase range of motion which ultimatley helps to prevent injury. The first thing to do before beginning these routines is to check your present range of motion for the respective muscle groups. So, I'll let you do that and next time I'll get into specifics.