Injury is a continuum, not a switch
Low confidence
For many runners, injury is not simply on or off. In focus groups, 31 recreational runners described 9 levels between feeling fine and hurting enough to stop, and many kept running through the lower ones.
Why it works
In the interviews, runners noticed a range of sensations before they called themselves injured, and often used the word only once they needed to see a professional or stop running.
What it means in practice
Track symptoms with more shades than a simple injured or not-injured toggle. Help runners notice early warning signs before real pain sets in. In customer-facing copy, talk about how the body feels right now rather than an injured or healthy binary, and do not claim that every injury builds up gradually.
The evidence
-
Across 7 focus groups, 31 recreational runners described injury as a 9-level continuum: running smooth, discomfort, niggle, twinge, persisting niggle, non-responding niggle, short-term injury, long-term injury, and career-ending injury. They placed each level in four descriptor categories: physical, outcome (effect on running and daily life), psychological, and management. Runners preferred to self-manage lower-level injuries, many did not count a niggle as an injury, and they came to see themselves as "injured" once they lost that autonomy and needed external professional help. Lacey and colleagues propose the continuum as a tool for injury surveillance and risk-factor research, and as a framework for teaching runners to self-manage lower-level symptoms.
n=31
Why we call confidence low
Low: one qualitative study supports it. In 2023, Lacey ran 7 focus groups with 31 recreational runners, who described a 9-level continuum from 'running smooth' through niggles to injuries that stop running. That supports the continuum as a description of how these runners experience injury, but it has not been replicated or tested quantitatively, and whether tissue damage itself moves through these stages has not been measured.
Where it applies
Adult recreational runners.
Does not apply to: acute traumatic injuries (e.g., ankle sprain from a misstep) which are genuinely binary.
Plans that respect this
Plans that scored well on the rubric measures informed by this claim.
- 10-Week Advanced 10k Training (5 days)
- 10-Week Run a Faster 10k (3 days)
- 10-Week Run a Faster 10k (4 days)
- 10-Week Run a Faster 10k (5 days)
- 10-Week Run a Faster 10k (6 days)
- 10-Week Run a Faster Half Marathon (3 days)
- 10-Week Run a Faster Half Marathon (4 days)
- 10-Week Run a Faster Half Marathon (5 days)
- 10-Week Run Your First 10k (3 days)
- 10-Week Run Your First 10k (4 days)
- 10-Week Run Your First Half Marathon (3 days)
- 10-Week Run Your First Half Marathon (4 days)
Last reviewed Oct 14, 2026. See how we score.