Skin manifestations of running.

As the United States comes increasingly closer to being the heaviest nation on earth, many people are turning to exercise, especially running, to lose weight. Most runners, whether novice or professional, will have a skin disorder that may prompt them to seek medical attention. Although case reports and sports reviews have discussed, in a cursory fashion, the nature of these skin lesions, to our knowledge there has never been an extensive review of the literature that specifically addresses the skin diseases of runners. In this article, we present the epidemiology, origin, clinical characteristics, treatment, and prevention of skin diseases inherent to runners.