For a 56-year-old, Alvin Chew is quite the fitness enthusiast who defies age.

The solution consultant, who will be participating in The Straits Times Run in the City 2016, clocks thrice-weekly 3km runs along with a badminton session every week.

But keeping fit does not suffice. He also seeks to learn more about preparation and injury prevention, through signing up for the ST Running Clinics scheduled in the lead-up to the run on May 22.

After his second clinic at the Land Rover showroom at Leng Kee Road yesterday, the third of four free clinics, Chew said: "There are some good takeaways, for example the use of the resistance band, which allows good improvisation as I can do that at home without going to the gym."

This was shared by Anand Sivayogam, a senior physiotherapist at Mount Elizabeth Rehabilitation Centre. He also gave tips on dynamic warm-up exercises and the importance of strength conditioning for runners.

The participants also learnt about common lower-limb injuries and how to prevent and treat them, as well as the usefulness of arthroscopic surgery for severe injuries, highlighted by Dr Kevin Lee and Dr Andy Wee, orthopaedic surgeons from the Pinnacle Orthopaedic Group at Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

Dr Lee, who specialises in hip and knee replacement surgeries, said: "Our body is like a well-oiled machine. When it breaks down, it also regenerates at the same time. The trick is to find the balance where your repair is equal to the breakdown rate."

This being his second year running in the event's 18.45km category, Chew said of the clinics: "It's through all these nuggets of information that we improve. I even changed my running shoes after I clocked 800km for better shock absorption, after I learned about it in my first clinic."

Registration for the ST Run is open until May 6 at www.straitstimesrun.com

Nicholas Tan