Most runners focus on building stronger muscles, but tendons play an equally important role in performance and injury prevention.

"During running, tendons act like springs, storing energy when the foot hits the ground and returning that energy during push-off," said Kassandra Reagan, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS, physical therapist at HSS. "Healthy tendons help runners run efficiently and more powerfully. [Tendons] need to stay as healthy as possible to tolerate the repetitive impact of running since when you’re running, you’re jumping from each single leg over and over and over.”

Because tendons absorb and transfer force with every stride, they can become irritated when training demands increase too quickly. Progressive strength training, adequate recovery and gradual mileage increases can help keep tendons resilient and reduce the risk of injuries such as Achilles tendonitis or knee pain.

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