It just so happened that the first back pain I've ever suffered coincided with my first visit to a physiotherapist.

John Stephenson, Moti's resident physical jerker, saw me a couple of days after I developed a sharp ache between my shoulder blades.

You might not think back pain would come from running but the fact that he asked me if I was suffering from any headaches as well pushed an interesting point home.

Of course, our bodies are all linked muscle-to-muscle, joint-to-joint so a slight problem with running technique could easily manifest itself elsewhere in the body.

And although one stride is unlikely to cause an injury, the repetition of thousands of similar movements is bound to cause niggles somewhere or other.

Anyway, John pushed my limbs around, applied pressure to some places and leaned on others.

Then, just as I was getting used to it... CRUNCH.

John applied the full weight of his body to my hip, I heard a quick couple of "pop" sounds and I grunted with discomfort.

But remarkably, the pain disappeared that evening.

And when it came back, I remembered John's tip, to lie on the floor with my knees bent and a thickish book between my shoulder blades.

"Lift your neck up", said John, "And you should feel the vertebrae popping back into place."

Sure enough, they did. Hopefully I'll never have the pain again and if I do, at least I'm going to know what to do.

John also emphasised the importance of stature and gait, to minimise injury risk and maximise efficiency.

A three-part process can be used to get the right posture, he said:

1) stand with feet shoulder width apart, pretending you're holding in a pee, and take a deep breath in;

2) breathe out, dropping your shoulders and ribcage;

3) imagine someone is pushing the label at the back of your trousers to lean your torso forward.

You can do that before you start running, or while your sitting at work and it should help to keep you injury-free.