Running Injury Prevention: The Complete Approach Most Runners Miss

Prevention beats recovery every time. Ask any runner who's spent six weeks on the sideline with a stress fracture, and they'll tell you: they'd give anything to go back and do things differently.

Here on our Washington State farm, we've raised two Division I NCAA track and field athletes and watched them navigate the constant tension between training hard and staying healthy. What we've learned is that injury prevention isn't just about stretching and strength work. It's about treating your whole body—including your skin—as part of a connected system.

Most injury prevention advice focuses on the obvious: don't increase mileage too quickly, wear proper shoes, build strength in your hips and glutes. All of that matters. But there's a piece that almost everyone overlooks, and it makes a real difference in how resilient your body becomes.

The Prevention Strategies You Already Know

Let's start with the fundamentals, because they matter:

The 10% rule exists for a reason. Increasing weekly mileage by more than 10% dramatically increases injury risk. Your cardiovascular system adapts faster than your connective tissue—which is why you can feel ready to run more before your tendons and joints actually are.

Strength training isn't optional. Runners who lift are more resilient runners. Period. Hip stability, glute strength, and single-leg balance work prevent the mechanical breakdowns that lead to IT band syndrome, patellofemoral pain, and hip flexor strains.

Rest is training. Easy days should actually be easy. Recovery runs shouldn't be tempo runs in disguise. Sleep is when your body repairs the micro-damage from training.

Shoes matter—but not the way marketing suggests. The best shoe is the one that fits your foot and your gait. Get fitted at a real running store, replace your shoes every 400-500 miles, and don't chase trends.

These principles have been well-established for decades. But there's more to the story.

The Overlooked Element: What Happens at the Surface

Your skin isn't just along for the ride when you run. It's working hard: regulating temperature through sweat, protecting you from friction and impact, and serving as the first barrier against environmental stressors.

When your skin is compromised—dry, irritated, or lacking the nutrients it needs—it's not functioning optimally. And suboptimal skin function can cascade into other issues: chafing that alters your gait, inflammation that doesn't resolve as quickly, and general discomfort that affects your training consistency.

This is why what you put on your skin matters for injury prevention.

Circulation: The Underappreciated Factor

Blood flow is everything in injury prevention. Good circulation delivers oxygen and nutrients to your muscles and connective tissue. It removes metabolic waste. It keeps your tissue supple and ready to absorb the impact of running.

Poor circulation, on the other hand, leaves tissue vulnerable. This is why injuries often occur late in runs when you're fatigued, or in cold weather when blood flow to extremities is reduced.

Supporting healthy circulation is one reason we formulated our Muscle Cream with organic black pepper oil. Piperine, the active compound in black pepper, has been studied for its effects on circulation and blood flow. Combined with peppermint and wintergreen oils that create a cooling sensation, it's designed to support the kind of tissue health that prevents problems before they start.

The Role of Proactive Joint Support

Prevention-minded runners don't wait until something hurts to address joint health. They build it into their routine.

Glucosamine and chondroitin are the compounds your body uses to maintain cartilage and cushion joints. Most people take them orally as supplements, but there's growing interest in topical application—delivering support directly to the areas that need it.

Our Active Cream includes both glucosamine and chondroitin (shellfish-free, for those with allergies), alongside arnica and MSM. The idea isn't to treat an injury—it's to give your joints consistent support as part of your daily routine.

Many runners apply it after every run, not because something hurts, but because they've learned that proactive care prevents reactive treatment.

MSM: The Building Block Your Body Craves

Sulfur is the third most abundant mineral in your body, and it's essential for building collagen and maintaining connective tissue integrity. MSM (methylsulfonylmethane) is an organic sulfur compound that's been studied for joint health and skin benefits.

We include MSM in every product we make—from Face Cream to Hand Cream to Active Cream—because we've seen what adequate sulfur support does for athletic bodies. It's not glamorous. It doesn't make for exciting marketing. But it's the kind of foundational support that makes everything else work better.

The Fresh Goat Milk Foundation

Everything we make starts with fresh goat milk from our own herd. Unlike brands that use powdered, reconstituted milk, we keep the integrity of the original milk intact. This matters because goat milk naturally contains lactic acid (which supports skin cell turnover), vitamins A and E (which support skin health), and fatty acids that mirror the lipid structure of human skin.

For runners, this means products that absorb well, don't leave a greasy residue, and deliver real nourishment to stressed skin.

Building Prevention Into Your Routine

Here's how we recommend incorporating skin health into your injury prevention protocol:

Post-run (every time): Shower, then apply moisturizer to your face and any dry areas. This restores what sweat and sun exposure take away. Our Face Cream is specifically formulated to absorb quickly without feeling heavy.

On training days: After your run and shower, apply Active Cream or Muscle Cream to any areas you're proactively supporting. Hips, knees, ankles, Achilles—wherever your personal vulnerabilities lie.

Before bed: This is recovery time. Apply what you need, and let your body do its overnight repair work.

Weekly: Check your skin for any areas of unusual dryness, irritation, or sensitivity. Your skin often gives early warning signs before bigger problems develop.

The Long-Term View

Injury prevention isn't about any single strategy. It's about building habits that compound over time. The runner who does consistent strength work, respects recovery, and takes care of their whole body—including their skin—is the runner who's still running in their 50s, 60s, and beyond.

From our farm family to yours: train smart, recover fully, and don't neglect the largest organ in your body. Your skin is part of your running success.