A full range of motion is important for
running.
When athletes and lifters are passionately interested in
whatever it is they do, they don't want to hear that it's bad for
them. If you tell them it's detrimental to their health and they
should stop, they'll think you're an idiot, ignore you, and keep
doing what they're doing. I try to meet my athletes half way under
these circumstances. And if they do suffer an injury, there's always something they can still do. Almost everyone can and
should keep training hard.


What You Can Do
Assuming you have a unilateral injury, you should be training
the hell out of your good side. Not only will this provide the
psychological benefit of keeping your training intensity high, and
the physical benefit of keeping your "healthy side" strong, it'll
also significantly improve the strength of your injured side.
Significant improvements in strength can be gained without ever
moving the limb. This tactic may be a fair compromise between the
doctor's "you need to rest" and the athlete's "I need to stay
strong".
The idea that training one side results in strength improvements
on the contralateral side is referred to as cross-transfer or
cross-education and is well-established in the research literature.
Improvements are seen in both upper and lower extremity training,
with reported strength gains of the contralateral limb generally
between 10-77% of the healthy limb.(1-5) The large range is due to
the type of contractions used.
In general, isometric contractions produce the worst
contralateral carryover, and eccentric contractions produce the
best.(5) As you may expect, the contralateral benefit is also
movement-specific,(6) so you don't need to drop your squat,
deadlift, horizontal and vertical pressing and pulling patterns in
favor of single-joint exercises. Compound exercises will still
result in greater strength gains than single-joint exercises, even
in single limb training (the exception being the single-leg
stiff-legged deadlift, which is technically a single-joint
exercise).
While there is the idea that increased blood flow and consequent
oxygen delivery may be partially responsible for strength and
endurance improvements, the carryover is almost entirely due to
neural adaptations. As a result, you can train your good side to
maximize neural gains in strength and power exactly as you would if
you were healthy.
In consideration of the research, a few general guidelines are
to slow down the eccentric phase to a 3-5 second negative, maximize
concentric acceleration, use high intensity loads (just because
you're on one leg doesn't mean you need to take out the pink rubber
coated dumbbells), and perform 3-6 sets of 3-6 repetitions.
A few great exercises to include are:

1) Back leg raised stiff-legged deadlift

2) Single-leg stiff-legged deadlift

3) Single-leg squat
4) Single-leg crossover squat
If you don't currently possess the strength or balance to
perform these movements, find a way to balance and unload yourself.
Heavy bands and cable columns serve this purpose
well.

Single-leg squat with heavy band


Single-leg deadlift with contralateral cable
extension
Performing these exercises while you're hurt should allow you to
improve, or at least maintain, the strength you have in your good
leg, and minimize the losses on your injured side. As an added
benefit, it'll allow you to keep pushing yourself, which will help
you keep a positive outlook on the experience. While this is beyond
my area of expertise, I know there's research in support of a
positive/optimistic outlook facilitating a faster recovery.
When your injury heals, remember that you haven't been loading
the spine heavily like you may in bilateral training (squats,
deadlifts, etc.), so you'll want to ease yourself back into these
exercises. It would be a tragedy for you to spend all this time and
energy training through an injury to have you strain a paraspinal
muscle on your first day back to squatting. It won't take long for
the strength of these muscles to return, so be smart (and patient).
You'll be stronger than ever in no time.


About the Author

Kevin Neeld, CSCS has helped athletes of all ages fulfill their
athletic potential. Through the application of functional anatomy,
biomechanics, and neural control, Kevin specializes in guiding
athletes to optimal health and performance. He can be reached by
e-mail, or through his
website.


References

1. Enoka, R. (1997). Neural adaptations with chronic physical
activity. Journal of Biomechanics, 30,
447-455.

2. Munn, J., Herbert, R., & Gandevia, S. (2004).
Contralateral effects of unilateral resistance training: a
meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Physiology, 96,
1861-1866.

3. Lee, M., & Carrol, T. (2007). Cross Education: Possible
mechanisms for the contralateral effects of unilateral resistance
training. Sports Medicine, 37, 1-14.

4. Duchateau, J., & Enoka, R. (2002). Neural adaptations
with chronic activity patterns in able-bodied humans. American
Journal of Pysical Medicine & Rehabilitation, 81,
S17-S27.

5. Gabriel, D., Kamen, G., & Frost, G. (2006). Neural
adaptations to resistive exercise: Mechanisms and recommendations
for training practices. Sports Medicine, 36,
133-149.

6. Rutherford, O., & Jones, D. (1986). The role of learning
and coordination in strength training. European Journal of
Applied Physiology, 55, 100-105.


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