High School Track and Field Injury Prevention: What to Know and What to Do

Approved by Cami Merickel · Updated Aug 14, 2026 · 8 min read

Overuse injuries are a persistent problem in high school track and field, particularly for distance runners, jumpers, and sprinters whose events repeatedly load the same tissues. When this stress accumulates beyond what the body can recover from and adapt to, what begins as manageable pain can interfere with training progression and competition, and even affect the career of an individual.

Sometimes it is treated as "no pain, no gain," fine, but it can also go beyond that and affect an athlete's health. That makes it important for coaches to recognize the warning signs early: recurring pain, declining mechanics, and difficulty recovering between demanding sessions. We are going to walk you through different injuries in track and field, how to recognize them, what to do, and how to prevent them. Let's start with shin pain.

Shin Splints and Shin Pain in Distance Runners

Shin pain can disrupt a distance runner's season because the athlete is often still able to train while the injury is developing. The term "shin splints" does create some confusion because athletes use it for several types of lower-leg pain. Two main types need clarification: medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) and a tibial bone stress injury.

MTSS usually causes tenderness along a wider section of the inner border of the tibia. While a bone stress injury behaves differently. The pain tends to narrow into one small, specific area and may eventually follow the athlete beyond practice, e.g., walking, hopping, rest, or nighttime. Once that occurs, the concern is no longer ordinary post-training shin soreness.

Why does the pain progress this way? Running repeatedly loads the tibia and produces microscopic bone damage. The bone normally repairs that damage through remodeling and becomes better prepared for future training. If running intensity, frequency, or impact rises faster than that repair process, the damage begins accumulating instead.

While weekly mileage can sometimes hide this, 25 miles of mostly easy running may produce little or no shin pain. But including hills, faster intervals, two races, and more time in spikes shows the pain.

Coaches and families should watch for:

• tenderness becoming concentrated in one area;
• pain starting earlier from one run to the next;
• a shortened stride or visible limp;
• pain with walking or hopping;
• symptoms continuing after training or at night.

When those signs appear, review the previous weeks of training. Look at intensity, racing frequency, spikes, surfaces, recovery, and any recent break in training. Cutting one easy run and then returning to the same program does not correct the progression that caused the problem. If focal pain or pain with normal walking has developed, the athlete needs the shin evaluated before more running turns an early bone stress problem into lost weeks of the season.

Jumper's Knee

Jumper's knee, or patellar tendinopathy, affects the tendon connecting the kneecap to the tibia. During takeoff, the quadriceps produce force through this tendon to straighten the knee; during landing, the same structure helps control the force coming back through the leg. Neither action is abnormal. The trouble comes when repeated high-load contacts exceed what the tendon has been conditioned to tolerate and recover from.

For that reason, a coach should ask more than, "How many jumps did the athlete take?" What kind of jumps were they, and at what speed?

• High jump: one preferred leg handles nearly every takeoff. Pop-ups and short approaches still count because the same tendon keeps receiving the load.
• Long jump: approach velocity changes the demand at the board. Five full-speed takeoffs can load the knee more than a larger number of controlled technical jumps.
• Triple jump: one attempt contains three forceful contacts: hop, step, and jump. A small number of full attempts can therefore produce considerable loading.
• Hurdles: sprinting already loads the knee. Repeated clearance and landing contacts add to it, especially when fatigue begins to disturb rhythm and landing position.

This is how a practice containing only six recorded jumps can become a heavy tendon session after bounds, approach work, sprinting, and the previous day's lower-body lifting are included.

Symptoms usually give some warning:

• pain or tenderness directly below the kneecap during jumping;
• stiffness after sitting or resting;
• pain beginning earlier in successive practices;
• discomfort during stairs or squatting;
• loss of force or confidence on the takeoff leg.

With younger athletes, however, the location of the pain deserves closer attention. Pain at the tibial tubercle may indicate Osgood-Schlatter disease, while pain at the lower pole of the kneecap may be associated with Sinding-Larsen-Johansson syndrome. Both can occur during growth and should not automatically be treated as patellar tendinopathy.

Once patellar tendon pain develops, the athlete does not necessarily need to stop training completely. Instead, reduce the activities placing the greatest load on the tendon, particularly full-speed takeoffs and high-intensity jumping, while technical work that does not aggravate the pain can still continue.

From there, quadriceps and tendon loading should be rebuilt progressively before full-speed jumping returns. Also, rest may reduce the pain, but it does not mean the tendon has regained the loading capacity required for normal training.

Hamstring Strain in Sprinters

At maximum velocity, a hamstring strain is not simply a "tight muscle." Late in the swing phase, the hip is flexed while the knee is extending, placing the hamstrings at a long muscle-tendon length just as they must produce high force to slow the lower leg before foot strike. The biceps femoris long head experiences particularly high strain here, which helps explain why it is injured so often in sprinting. Jogging and tempo running do not reproduce that demand.

Furthermore, speed changes more than effort. An athlete may lift normally, complete drills, and accelerate at moderate speed without pain, yet still be unprepared for maximum velocity. Those activities show that the hamstring can work. Full-speed sprinting shows whether it can tolerate high force, long muscle length, and rapid loading within a fraction of a second. That is why pain-free running is not the same as sprint readiness.

Coaches should pay particular attention when:

• the same area tightens or becomes painful as speed increases;
• stride length or force changes on one side;
• the athlete has a previous hamstring strain.

Previous injury is especially important because recurrence is common. Therefore, prevention should include regular high-speed exposure rather than long periods without sprinting followed by an abrupt return to competition velocity. Eccentric exercises, including Nordic hamstring work, develop hamstring strength, but they do not reproduce full-speed sprinting.

Following a strain, rehabilitation should progress from pain-free strength work to running and, finally, maximum-velocity sprinting.

Heat Illness in Track and Field

Heat illness in track and field is determined by total heat exposure, not the length of the race. An athlete produces heat during the warm-up, repeated events, and recovery periods, while direct sun and humidity can slow the body's ability to release that heat. A 400m runner who later returns for a relay may therefore spend hours accumulating heat for less than two minutes of actual racing.

The important distinction is what happens to the athlete as heat strain increases:

• Heat exhaustion: weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, heavy sweating, or an athlete who can no longer maintain normal performance.
• Exertional heat stroke: confusion, irrational behavior, loss of coordination, collapse, or seizure activity. Sweating may continue, so it should never be used to rule out heat stroke.

Not every athlete tolerates the same conditions equally. Recent illness, previous heat illness, poor hydration, and inadequate acclimatization can increase susceptibility.

Furthermore, the first hot practices require a gradual progression. Heat acclimatization takes about 7 to 14 days as the body improves its ability to circulate blood and dissipate heat. Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) gives a better picture of that environmental stress because it accounts for humidity, radiant heat, and air movement.

If heat stroke is suspected, activate emergency care and begin cooling immediately. With trained staff present, cold-water immersion at 35°F to 59°F should begin before transport, with the goal of reducing core temperature below 102.5°F within 30 minutes.

What to Take From This

High school track and field athletes still need hard training. They also need enough food, water, sleep, recovery, and days when the training load comes down. The skill is knowing when each is needed. A healthy athlete who is recovering well can be challenged. Before that hard work begins, however, start with a proper warm-up that prepares the muscles, tendons, and movement patterns for the intensity that follows. An athlete whose pain keeps returning, whose mechanics begin to change, or whose normal soreness is lasting into the next session is giving the coach different information.

That does not always mean stopping training. Sometimes the right decision is an easier session, fewer jump contacts, less maximum-velocity work, non-impact conditioning, or another recovery day.

Coaches and families have to watch these changes, but the athlete has a responsibility as well. Report pain early. Do not hide symptoms just to finish a workout or make the next meet. Ask for medical or athletic-training guidance when the signs no longer resemble normal recovery.

Young athletes train because they want to improve, enjoy the sport and be successful. Protecting that opportunity sometimes requires pushing forward, and sometimes knowing when not to.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between normal muscle soreness and an actual injury?

Normal soreness is usually spread through the muscles used in training and improves over the next couple of days. Pain that stays in one spot, changes the athlete's stride or movement, or keeps returning after recovery deserves a closer look.

Can an athlete keep training while recovering from a bone stress injury?

Usually not at normal running volume. Cycling or pool running can help maintain fitness without repeatedly loading the injured bone. Running should return gradually after the athlete can walk pain-free and the injury has been properly assessed.

What weekly training load increase is considered safe for a young athlete?

The commonly used guideline is about 10% to 20% per week, but the percentage does not tell the whole story. Mileage may barely change while faster running, races, jump contacts, lifting, or another team's practices increase the actual workload.

Do warm-ups actually prevent track and field injuries?

A proper warm-up prepares the athlete for the training that follows. Sprinters need progressively faster running, while jumpers and hurdlers need lower-intensity contacts before full-speed work. A warm-up helps prepare the muscles, tendons, and coordination, but it cannot make up for excessive training or poor recovery.

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