Monday, March 24, 2008

More on Running injuries




Here is a link to a good post on Universal Truths about Running Injuries. I am pleased with the praise for physical therapy! I want to expand on the comment of "best PT". It is important not to automatically assume a MD or PT who tells you not to run is a bad one. I don't believe this was the intent of the author of this linked post. As I've previously posted, rest is a very important part of training but also of rehab. We must give the body time to respond to rehab without the stress that helped to cause it originally. As a PT, I often have my running patients stop running. In our current health care system, by the time they get to me it is not in their best interest to continuing to try to run through it. Most have already tried that and it hasn't worked. One of my biggest battles is to get my runners to actually stop "testing it out". I try to get my patients back to running as fast as possible but very carefully. I follow the rule of, if I feel my symptoms walking around doing my daily activities, then I have no business trying to run. I start back at a very low level/ walking then progressing to walk /jog then to continuous running. Each phase of this must be symptom free before progression to the next phase.

Please visit our other posts on strengthening, running injuries, prevention & rest.


1 comment:

Tom@RunnersLounge said...

John, thanks for leaving the well-stated comment on my post. You're absolutely right about needing to rest wisely.

I'm a huge proponent of recovery and believe most of us get in big trouble with injuries plus we set back our running performance and enjoyment by overtraining.

I've followed your blog off and on and always appreciate your great insights. I'm flattered you commented.

Thanks, John. Keep up your great work.

Tom