Remember that pyscho coach you had — not on this team, obviously — who never cared when you said you were injured and insisted you keep running anyway? Well, it turns out he may have been right, as the Times details. Some quick guidelines from the sidebar:

• Evaluate yourself. Is there redness or swelling? Does one side look different from the others? If not, continue exercising.
• Cross-train in a way that exercises around the area, like cycling instead of running for an injured Achilles tendon.
• Ice the injured area for about 20 minutes after exercising.
• See a doctor if you have severe pain and are having trouble with your daily activities. Otherwise, you can give it time — up to a month or two — to get better before rushing to see a doctor.
• Exercise, and if the pain goes away and is not worse after that exercise, it probably is safe to do it.
• Walk on it; if you can t do that, you should not run on it.

Read the whole article here.