**By Andrew Palmer**

One of  the key ways for a runner to be successful is to stay injury free.  There are several tools for staying injury free as well as for repairing an injury as quickly as possible.  Most of these devices and be purchased at any running store.

“The Stick” is a massage tool that is divided into small sections and designed to press and roll up and down your legs.  It compresses and stretches your muscles, loosens up your legs and improves flexibility before and after runs.  I have also found that it speeds up recovery between hard runs.  It comes in a 14 to26-inch sizes.  They retail for $21.50 to $42.50.

The “Foot Rubz ball” is a small ball about the size of a golf ball that is designed to alleviate pain on the bottom of your foot and to stretch out the arch and plantar fascia.   It is based on Asian acupressure techniques and although it hurts when you use it, it definitely makes your arch feel better.  It retails for $5.00.

The Strassburg sock is a compression sock designed to be worn at night.  It keeps your calf loose along with your plantar fascia and Achilles tendon.  It has a strap that stretches the foot towards the shin, and keeps you loose at night.  The sock cures many aches and pains in just a couple of nights and is good for prevention as well as curing an injury.  The only complaint that I have is that sometimes it can cause blisters on the big toes when you first start to wear it.  It retails for $39.50.