Those of us who like to use technology to record our runs and training generate an awful lot of data these days. And while some of its usefulness is immediately obvious, a lot of it probably seems surplus to our own requirements. I mean how many of those data screens on your watch do you actually use? But that data can be very useful in the right hands. Garmin has announced a collaboration with RUNSAFE, a research group at Aarhus University in Denmark, to explore how changes in running affect various health-related factors. You can take part in the study via the link at the end of the article.
The worldwide study, which is underway now, will provide RUNSAFE with data to foster an improved understanding of the causes of running-related injuries and ultimately provide better prevention strategies through real-time feedback during runs and over the course of a training plan.
“Garmin is excited to work with RUNSAFE to understand why running injuries occur and how we can better prevent them from happening in the first place,” said Andy Silver, senior product manager at Garmin. “As a company that is passionate about running, we know that injury prevention is key to runners of any level. This study will look into how to prevent injuries by adhering to a safe running schedule, which is something that until now, is lacking large-scale data and research.”
“For decades, researchers have sought a deeper understanding of why running injuries occur. However, the lack of big data has been a limiting factor as one or few risk factors have been explored in isolation,” said Rasmus Østergaard Nielsen, head of the study at Aarhus University. “Injury occurrence is multifactorial, and the collaboration with Garmin enables us to gather large-scale data that allows us to perform in-depth and sophisticated analysis using novel causal theories and statistical approaches. It will provide us with a unique insight, and ultimately, we hope that the collaboration paves the way for better prevention of running-related injuries – benefitting runners all over the world.”
The Garmin-RUNSAFE Running Health Study will run through December 31, 2020 and is open to all runners, no matter how often, fast or far they run. Participants are free to run as normal during the study and can leave at any time. To learn more, or register to participate in the study, click here.
