Doc On The Run Podcast

A metatarsal stress fracture, is probably one of the most common running injuries that you could get when you're training for a long distance event like a marathon, or an ultra marathon or if you're relatively new to running.  But the problem, of course, is that not all running injuries that seem like stress fractures are actually stress fractures.  Today on the Doc On the Run Podcast, we're talki...

For most runners, when they're training for a marathon training program, or an Ironman the period of growth is usually about three weeks.  You take a period where you are increasing your activity, then you back off and start increasing again from a lower point, to allow yourself to recover fully and decrease your risk of sustaining an overtraining injury. You should do a similar thing when you are...

Sometimes it's hard to do a trail run and have that run be only on a trail surface.  You can't always run a trail run…entirely on a trail. What I mean by that is that you have some pavement, some asphalt, some road, or whatever, that you have to run on in order to get to the actual trail part.   It ends up being a mixed trail run. Mixed trail runs can put you at risk of an over-training injury. To...

The worst thing you can do after you've been healing with a stress fracture is to re-injure the bone. Obviously when that happens, you have a huge setback, you've just lost weeks of training, you're going to lose more fitness, and in some cases you might have to start over again with the fracture walking boot. You don't want to do that. Today on the Doc On the Run Podcast, we're talking about why...

If you think about most of your runs, you do a warmup, you do the body of the workout, and then you do a cool down.  One thing that is interesting is I have recently noticed a number of runners who have gotten injured by doing runs where they're finishing on the hardest part of their run. That can put you at risk of an over-training injury. Today on the Doc On the Run Podcast, we're talking about...

  The harder you train during your big build blocks just before a marathon, the more risk you will sustain an over training injury. Because that’s when you are using harder.   The more activity you do when you are healing an injury, the more risk you will slow the healing process. Because you might stress the tissue too much.   But some activities inherently have a lot more risk than other activit...

I get calls all day from people who do a lot of stuff and push the limits a little too far on the weekends. But if you do some simple things to accelerate your recovery right after those big running workouts, it can make a huge difference to avoiding an over-training injury.  Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking about the Legs Up The Wall Pose to speed your recovery after your weekend...

Once your injury is clearly improving, you will want to run. I know you want to run. You are runner!  I get it! Many recovering runners blow it and get a set-back just because the very first run is too much.  Before you can resume training and ramping up your running, you have to make sure running will be safe. That's where the "test run" comes in. Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking...

When you get a metatarsal stress fracture, and you want to get back to running, you have to make an assessment on how bad it really is. The only other options is to stick with the standard treatments of “don’t do anything for 4 to 6 weeks.”   To do to figure out how bad your stress fracture really is. Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking about 4 critical steps to deciding how bad is m...

Resting is not all healing. If you rest too much, you’ll get weaker.  If you want to get back to running, as soon as you're healed, you need to do something to prevent all of the changes that can slow you down and put you at a higher risk of re-injury once you actually do get back to running and training. Gravity and the pounding forces associated with running…that's only one of a half a dozen con...

The Achilles tendon is the largest tendon in your entire body, and if it gets injured, you've got a real problem.  The Achilles tendon is what allows you to pull your heel up, off the ground, push off and accelerate when you run.  What many runners don't understand is that the Achilles tendon also helps slow you down and decelerate when you’re trying to slow down, absorb force as you're landing wh...

I received and email from a runner who wrote, “I ran today and my foot hurt when I ran. What should I do right now?"  You want to take the quickest course of action that you can when you get an injury, and most people miss this. Many times what we do instinctively is we stick our head at the sand. We just could say, "Okay, well I'm just going to wait and see how bad it is tomorrow." But when you d...

As an athlete I'm sure you know that it's important you believe you can accomplish your goal. What's interesting to me is that many patients, many injured runners don't really think that much about how important it is that you actually believe in the treatment you're being offered. If you feel uneasy about the treatment, you don't think it makes any sense and you don't think it's going to work for...

There are lots of things that you as an injured runner may hear in a doctor's office that really can be false evidence. Something that the doctor presents to you, that you then accept as fact.  "All fractures take six weeks to heal."  "You just have to take this pill, if you want to get better."  Or, my favorite, "You have to stop running to heal." Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we're talkin...

“First, do no harm.” This basic idea is at the foundation of medicine. Doctor’s are sworn to the Hippocratic Oath, and they want you to get better. Even if that means preventing you from harming yourself when you are injured. As a runner you may feel like the very treatment offered to you will permanently harm your ability to train, run and perform…forever.  But there is way to turn this idea arou...

Two very common causes of foot pain in runners are neuroma and capsulitis. Some treatments help both conditions. But some treatments will only help one and not the other.  If you have pain in the ball of the foot when you run, you need to do do 3 things to heal quickly; accurate treatment, accurate diagnosis, and aggressively do the things that help and avoid the things that slow your recovery. To...

Running injuries aren't caused by running too much!  Running injuries are caused by applying too much stress to specific structures when you're running on a slope or changing direction. If you want to reduce the risk of getting over training injury, mix things up. Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking about about why you should reduce your risk for injury and run the other way.

Which is more likely to cause an injury....running fast, or running slow? Explosive speed workouts can put you at risk of injury. Running at your limit can put you at risk of injury. But believe it or not, if you spend too much time running slow, you may actually increase your risk of an overtraining injury. Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking about about how slow may be your injury...

Morton’s neuroma is a common cause of pain in the ball of the foot in runners. Doctors often tell runners to stop running when when they get a neuroma.  But don’t be confused. Runners should always figure out how to keep running!  This episode is inspired by Cathy, who sent a comment which all runners with Morton’s neuroma should find encouraging.  Today on the Doc On the Run Podcast, we're talkin...

Lots of running injuries are aggravated by bending of the toes. Plantar plate sprains, sesamoiditis, and Morton’s neuroma all get irritated when you bend the toes too much while you run. If you have any of these conditions it may help if you add some stiffness to your running shoe. One way to add stiffness and help decrease pain in the big toe joint and the ball of the foot is too add a carbon fib...

When you get an over training injury, what happens? It's too much stress applied to one structure over too shorter time without enough recovery to actually let it fully heal before the next workout. There are a few things that you can pay attention to that often signal the possibility of an injury that's coming on. Today on the Doc On the Run Podcast, we're talking about signs to look out for that...

Are your running shoes the best for your run today? There are all kinds of running shoes, and they are all built for different runs, different foot types, and different runners. Every shoe has its place.  Every runners longs the one perfect running shoe. Everybody wants the best running shoe…built just for you. Today on the Doc On the Run Podcast, we're talking about how to choose the best running...

Are your current running shoes putting you at risk for a stress fracture? One common reason for too much bone stress is that a runner didn't have enough cushioning because they were using a shoe that was too stiff, or wasn't padded enough, or soft enough, and they were running on concrete or asphalt.  That run, in those particular running shoes, beat up the bone too much and then the bone started...

I was recently at a medical conference and I asked all the doctors in the audience ... I said, "What causes stress fractures?" A doctor raised his hand and the very first thing he said is, "Running too much." Well, that is not true. That's the default answer, but that doesn't make any more sense to me than telling you that not running will cure your stress fracture. Today on the Doc On the Run Pod...

If you really think about it, the number of hours that you sleep really has a direct correlation with your risk for running injury. Running injuries never happen because you ran too far. They always happen because you loaded one structure too much, you beat it up too much, and you didn't let it recover enough before the next workout.  You don’y have to run less. But you have to rest more.  It’s no...