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Running for exercise is a popular way to motivate children to be physically active. Running-related injuries are well studied in adults but little information exists for children and adolescents. Through use of the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database, cases of running-related injuries were selected by using activity codes for exercise (which included running and jogging). Sample weights were used to calculate national estimates. An estimated 225 344 children and adolescents 6 to 18 years old were treated in US emergency departments for running-related injuries. The annual number of cases increased by 34.0% over the study period. One third of the injuries involved a running-related fall and more than one half of the injuries occurred at school. The majority of injuries occurred to the lower extremities and resulted in a sprain or strain. These findings emphasize the need for scientific evidence-based guidelines for pediatric running. The high proportion of running-related falls warrants further research.

Running has continued to increase in popularity in the United States over the past decade. The number of finishers of United States marathons cracked the half-million mark for the first time in 2010, according to Running USA.

according to the American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, about 70 percent of all runners will be injured at one time during their running career.

The four most common running injuries that occur are iliotibial band syndrome, patellofemoral syndrome, Achilles tendinitis and plantar fasciitis.

Exercises that look like pilates or yoga routines are in. And the traditional bane of the new private, the long run, has been downgraded. This is the Army’s new physical-training program, which has been rolled out this year at its five basic training posts that handle 145,000 recruits a year. Nearly a decade in the making, its official goal is to reduce injuries and better prepare soldiers for the rigors of combat in rough terrain like Afghanistan.

“What we were finding was that the soldiers we’re getting in today’s Army are not in as good shape as they used to be,” said Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, who oversees basic training for the Army. “This is not just an Army issue. This is a national issue.”

“Between 1995 and 2008, the proportion of potential recruits who failed their physicals each year because they were overweight rose nearly 70 percent,”

The adventures of Paul, Black and Breinan offer a glimpse into a forgotten aspect of the running boom of the late 1970s. Preternaturally self-disciplined, they were among about 75 children (ages 8 to 13) who tackled the early years of the New York City Marathon in a time of novelty and naïveté. Organizers were uneasy about young runners, but it was not until 1981, records show, that age 16 became the requirement. New York’s official minimum age became 18 in 1988, after an advisory set by the International Marathon Medical Directors Association in the early 1980s, and reasserted in 2001. With no conclusive study, physicians still debate risks to children who compete in marathons, like muscular-skeletal injuries, stunted growth, burnout, parental pressures and the ability to handle heat stress.

Some marathons — Houston and Twin Cities in Minnesota — allow teenagers or admit younger runners on a case-by-case basis. Los Angeles has a program for schoolchildren ages 12 to 18.