Background Running is one of the most popular physical activities around the world. Despite the benefits of running, a high prevalence of injury has been reported in runners and efforts are conducted to minimize this risk. Prevention strategies could be more effective with a better knowledge about runners´ beliefs and opinions about injury prevention.

Objective To describe the perceptions on injury and prevention strategies in recreational runners.

Design Cross sectional study.

Setting An online semi-structured survey on a group of recreational runners.

Participants Seventeen recreational runners (male=11; female=6; 34.06±8.56years; mean running experience=8.7years) took part in the online survey.

Assessment of Risk Factors An online semi-structured survey was applied, with the following categories: (1) perception on injury, (2) history of injuries, and (3) self-reported prevention strategies. Descriptive statistics and qualitative research methods were used to perform a thematic analysis.

Main Outcome Measurements Self-reported injury prevalence; and categories resulting from the thematic analysis, with (1) perceptions on injury and (2) self-reported prevention strategies.

Results From 17 recreational runners, 12 (70.1%) had experienced a running-reported injury. The perceptions on injury were ‘alteration on body that results in pain and incapacity to complete physical activities’ (n=7), ‘damage on muscle, ligament, tendon, or bone’ (n=4), ‘body damage due to overuse’ (n=2), ‘inflammation’ (n=2). For the most of them (n=16; 94.1%) is possible to prevent injuries and the self-reported prevention strategies were: ‘muscle strengthening’ (n=10), ‘muscle stretching’ (n=4), ‘preventive exercises instructed by physiotherapist or coach’ (n=4), ‘neuromuscular and educative exercises’ (n=3), ‘load management’ (n=2), ‘mobility exercises’ (n=2), ‘respect body limits’ (n=2) and ‘rest’ (n=1).

Conclusions In conclusion, the recreational runners of this sample present some misguided perceptions on injury, besides the most of them believe that prevention strategies are important. To increase effectiveness and engagement, prevention programs could be incorporate the runners’ beliefs and attitudes.