Running injuries usually occur when the in-built suspension mechanism of the lower limb has been compromised. Running itself relies on a complex interaction between many different joints of your body. To make it simpler, we will focus on just the lower limb. Just take a moment and guess the number of foot bones that are involved in running? Let’s take a guess, 10, 20, 30?There are 26 bones and 33 joints. That is just in the foot alone. These go up to 33 bones and 39 joints if we stop counting at the pelvic area. These bones and joints work together to allow us to run and walk upright in many different terrains or surfaces. From flat surfaces to rocky surfaces whilst being perched on 2 sticks (legs), essentially a top heavy humpty dumpty. How do we accomplish this? Your body has developed joints to buffer and accommodate these changes in weight bearing like a car suspension – your ankles, knees and hips are effectively that. Why do we have that many foot and ankles bones? They are to give stress forces a break so that we can resolve and accommodate the ground tension and our body weight plus gravity. Runner’s injuries are usually caused by these buffering/ shock absorption zones of the lower limb not functioning.