Doc On The Run Podcast

The Walk-Run Routine is likely the most overprescribed and least understood plan for returning to running after an overtraining injury like a metatarsal stress fracture for a plantar plate sprain.    But the commutative forces that result from that specific routine may put your foot at unnecessary risk of re-injury. Understanding how and why those unique stresses happen may help you make better de...

Kettlebell workouts can be a great way to maintaining strength, even if you have a running injury.    If you are a runner who has an overtraining injury like a metatarsal stress fracture or a plantar plate sprain, you are probably doing everything you can to keep the rest of your running body strong, while that one injured part heals.    Kettlebell training can help, as long as you don’t let those...

This morning I was on a webcam call with a runner who had healed a fracture and started running again. He has been running every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with cross-training in between.     Now he is ready to add a fourth running workout to his weekly training schedule.    The question is:    “What day of the week is best to add an additional run, because I want to make sure I don’t overload...

The half-ass boot routine is no good. Slow improvement with unnecessarily increased risk of atrophy, weakness, stiffness, loss of neuromuscular connections, and destruction of your running form. Your running form, your strength, your flexibility, all protect you from another overtraining injury.    When you wear a fracture walking boot for a long time inconsistently, or a long time walking on it,...

The biggest enemy in the injured runner’s battle is your desire to run as fast or faster than you were right before you got injured. This morning I was on a call with a recovering elite Masters athlete and she has been doing great, but she seems to be drifting into dangerous territory!  During our call, I got worried about the way she was thinking about her upcoming workouts. But was thinking was...

This morning I was on a consultation call with a runner at 4:30 a.m. and he's been suffering from a plantar plate injury.  But he's been doing pretty well. He actually just finished his first run! Now, what I asked him about was his plan for his next run. What he said, made me uneasy.  It seemed risky, and I started kind of squirming as he was describing his plan to me. It wasn't really a bad plan...

Runners glorify the suffering needed to keep moving in spite of pain, and the payoff is almost always increased fitness, and improvements and mental fortitude needed for running endurance. No pain, no gain is a terrible approach when you are an injured runner. If you really want to get back to training, racing in full return to running fitness as fast as possible after a running injury you have to...

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we are talking about Mental Rehab for Recovering Runners with Mental Skills Coach Carrie Jackson. It may sound dramatic, but in reference to doctors casually telling runners they just cannot run a race (when maybe the runner could run), or worse…they may never run again, Carrie says, “These doctors have no idea the trauma they are causing to the runner by saying...

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we are talking with Dr. Samantha Braun about training fro Ultra’s, running Hell’s Hills and how her training as a Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine Physician helps her avoid overtraining injuries. How do you think you're training in rehabilitation help you understand your own mechanics, physical training limits and overtraining injury prevention while trainin...

Over the past couple of months I have done a whole bunch of stress fracture strategy calls with runners who seem to be stuck. I take notes every time I do those calls and there're number of steps that all of them seem to be missing. Let's face it, if they weren't missing some critical steps, we would've never gotten on a call to try to figure out a strategy to get them back on the path to healing...

I just got off of a Stress Fracture Strategy call with a real runner who has been suffering from a stress fracture for 47 days.  Over the past five weeks she has been getting worse, not better. And she hasn’t even been running for more than a month! If you have a stress fracture, or a stress reaction and you are: 1. worried about canceling race because of a stress fracture 2. your stress fracture...

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we are talking with Alexandre Dufresne about his journey and getting back to running after having suffered 2 metatarsal stress fractures at same time! If you think back about your training leading up to the 2 stress fractures, if you could go back in time, do you think there's any one thing you could have changed in your training routine that might have prevente...

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we are talking with Patrick Durante about Automatic Negative Thoughts and how they affect runners.   Many years ago I was having a discussion about daily stressors with a friend of mine name Maury. He said something I have never forgotten.   “It's not the lions and tigers that will get you. It's the ants and mosquitoes because problems.”   Every single over trai...

If you're a runner with a stress fracture you're probably trying to figure out everything you can do right now this going to speed up healing of the injured bone, so you can get back to running as soon as possible.   If you have been thinking about bone broth or nutritional supplements like vitamin D and calcium you already know how important it is to get the nutritional building blocks into your...

No matter what injury you have, it could be a stress fracture or it could be tendinitis or it could be a sprained ligament, but whatever you do you have to sure you don't get re-injured, because that could be brutally demoralizing! Because most runners think jogging is a lot easier than “real running” you might presume it's a lot safer for you to just start jogging to test out your state of recove...

Hussein asked me an interesting question. He said,  “I fractured my tibia and fibula. Is it normal after 50 days the fracture is still visible under x-ray, but I am walking with crutches and putting partial weight bearing without any pain or discomfort? My treatment was with a fiberglass cast without any surgery since the bones were not displaced.” Is it normal for a fracture to be visible on my x...

If you have a high arched foot that is prone to getting stress fractures, a podiatrist may have told you that you need cushy running shoes. I got a question from someone who was given that advice. She said, “I am so confused, I thought stress fractures were from pounding. I got a stress fracture, and my doc said it was my cushy shoes. I do not understand how this is true.” How do cushy running sho...

I talk to lots of runners who have been given very bad advice.  If you are reading this, you are probably a runner, and you have probably had to deal with some kind of injury that interfered with your running. If you have seen a doctor, I am very curious to know what advice you got. Sometimes I am curious if the "bad advice" is what the doctor said, or if it is just a misinterpretation of what the...

Today's episode comes from Jordan, who was watching a video called “Proof you do not have to stop running with a metatarsal stress response”. Jordan wanted to know, “Do you think treadmill at a 5% incline will take some of the stress off the tibia?” Can a 5% incline on your treadmill reduce the stress on a tibial stress fracture?  Well, that is a great question, and that is what we're talking abou...

Today's question comes from Priscilla, after she watched the video “Proof you do not have to stop running with a metatarsal stress response.”  She says: “I am a distance runner, I got a fourth metatarsal stress fracture, I was in the boot 3 months. X-ray is showing some healing but not 100%. I have been walking but I fear it will open up again. Is pain and fear of putting full pressure without the...

I have heard lots of different things that runners tell me their doctors said..., "You are not built like a runner." "You cannot run with your foot type." "Running just does not work for you.  Decades ago, an orthopedic surgeon who did my reconstructive knee surgery said to me,  "If you ever run, you will have to have a total knee replacement within 10 years." My knee is still good. And I have bee...

Today's episode comes from a question on the Doc On The Run YouTube channel regarding the video entitled “Proof you do not have to stop running with a metatarsal stress response.”  Brian was clearly frustrated. He commented: “I wish… I have a big swollen reason under the second metatarsal. It tingles a bit while running. Slight burning. I have to alter my landing to not irritate it. I'm finished....

Just this morning I was on a coaching call with a runner who is recovering from a stress fracture. Almost every runner I talk to can immediately start exercising and start doing stuff to maintain their running fitness if they understand how severe the injury is, and they don't have to just take time off.  It is heartbreaking to me truthfully when I talk to somebody who has been completely off of t...

I got a question from an injured runner, and she wants to know about the amount of time it takes to heal a stress reaction in the sesamoid bone in your foot. She said: “I have had a stress reaction in my tibial sesamoid that led to a lot of pain and swelling. I am reading mixed reviews on healing time. I have been off it for three weeks now, either on crutches and taping the toe to immobilize it o...

Today's question comes from someone who watched the YouTube video on the Doc On The Run YouTube channel called “How long before I can run with a stress fracture.” The comment was: “Thank you so much for this video. I want to ask if resting for three weeks, complete bed rest and I can afford to do this because I am a student, and it is summer holiday then I can walk to my college to do daily normal...