Doc On The Run Podcast

If you're a runner and you get a stress fracture, the number one most important thing that you do is get it to calm down while you maintain your running fitness.  Based on those ideas, I built a framework that I've been using for years with injured runners who want to heal and want to get back to running.  In this episode we will go through my stepwise process of how I do it. Today on the Doc On T...

Pain is the most useful and likely most underutilized tool available to any runner who is tired of waiting for doctors to give them permission to run.  How you track your pain is important.  One of the critical components in the running injury secrets framework that I discussed in the first episode of the members only podcast in the Injured Runners Aid Station is about pain caused from damage in t...

Pain is the most useful and likely most underutilized tool available to any runner who is tired of waiting for doctors to give them permission to run.  How you track your pain is important.  One of the critical components in the running injury secrets framework that I discussed in the first episode of the members only podcast in the Injured Runners Aid Station is about pain caused from damage in t...

If you get a plantar plate sprain, it can take a long time to heal, particularly if you're not paying close attention.  And because of that, many runners get frustrated. I see 2 responses to that frustration: 1)  go to the doctor and hope for some kind of quick fix. 2)  just ignore it and run on it because it doesn't really hurt that bad.  Both of those are bad ideas with plantar plate injuries in...

When you get a stress fracture, you need the little bitty crack in the bone to heal.  How do you do that? First, you have to stop bending or torquing or twisting the bone in a way that led to the crack in the first place. Second, you have to let the healing process take place.  After the inflammation goes away, and after you get some collagen sealing up the healing crack, you start to get "ossific...

How long does it take you to get fit enough to run a 3 hour marathon?  Well, that depends on what? It depends on what you would actually do. Not how long you wait. How long it takes for you to heal your overtraining injury all depends on what you do, and which variables you choose to control. Not how long you wait. Believe it or not, every injured runner who calls me for a consultation has control...

If you're a runner with a plantar plate sprain, I can understand why you're frustrated. You have some minor vague aching pain in the ball of the foot, and you're trying to get back to running, but you're getting lots of conflicting advice.  In my experience, it's very rare that a runner gets a plantar plate injury from what I call "overtraining." Plantar plate ligaments don't get sprained because...

If you're trying to improve and you don't improve, whose fault is it?  Before we talk about running injuries, let's talk about when you're not injured. You hire a coach. You know the coach is qualified, You know your coach has given you a valid training plan, and you know that you can execute. But then something goes sideways. Your baby gets sick. You get an additional work project. You are sent a...

I often get nutrition questions from runners who have overtraining injuries involving tissues made of collagen like the plantar plate ligament. At the heart of these questions is what is the most important ingredient to add in their diet to speed recovery. In this episode we are briefly discussing the key ingredients your body needs to repair collagen. If you are missing these, you might have a sl...

In the Injured Runners Aid Station, I get questions from injured runners that stop me in my tracks. “I got this injury while running. I had a stress fracture. It was grade two stress fracture. It's been six weeks. How much longer will it be before I can run?” Every injured runner wants to know when it will be safe to run. But, I cannot make that decision based on that information. It seems crazy,...

It's no secret that I truly believe fracture walking boots are overprescribed, overused and used for way too long for many injured runners with many different kinds of overtraining injuries. But sometimes I recommend runners use a fracture walking boot for a short period of time. Then teh question becomes which kind? Short boot or Tall boot? A tall fracture walking boot versus a short fracture wal...

I just saw a woman with an extremely painful callus on the bottom of her foot. She got a type of callus doctors call an "intractable plantar keratosis." When you get one of these calluses, it turns into a tiny rock hard callus embedded deep in the skin on the bottom of the foot. It hurts. It's like having a little rock taped to your foot. In theory, you can start running as soon as the callus is r...

If you get a fracture in your big toe joint it can be easy to get talked into surgery. Especially if you see fragments on an X-ray.  Your doctor may call old broken bone pieces by a number of terms: "Osteophytes" "Fracture fragments"  "Loose bodies" "Surgical targets" If your doctor points them out and starts talking about surgery, the chances are good that you're going to want to have them remove...

If you get a metatarsal fracture and it does not heal, doctors call it a "non-union."  Sometimes, even if you have a non-union you can still run. Maybe without surgery. The single most important consideration with a non-union is stability. The more stable the bone is, the more likely the fracture will heal. The more stable the bone is, the less likely it will cause pain.   The more stable the bone...

I just got a great question from a runner with a tibial stress fracture that had been misdiagnosed with shin splints. She wanted to know how long to use the crutches. Is two weeks on crutches better than one week when I have a tibial stress fracture? Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast. 

Today's episode applies to any injured running pondering surgery.  I just spoke to a runner who was told she might need surgery to fix a non-union of a metatarsal fracture.  I said, “Look, you have two choices. You can have surgery or not have surgery.” We talked about what it meant if she did have surgery in terms of her recovery. And we also talked about how she could potentially get it to heal...

If you are an injured runner, you are probably limiting your activity.  Doctors who don't understand how important it is for you to get back to running tend to limit runner's workouts more than necessary. They're more restrictive than necessary. And it costs you. You lose more fitness, you get weaker, you get stiffer, you get neuromuscular changes that damage your running form, and disrupts your c...

Please change the podcast descriptions, Aweber email and Clickfunnels email to: I had an interesting question from an athlete who asked,  “I had an injury, I went to see the doctor and got an X-ray. There was no crack on the X-ray, but my doctor called it a stress fracture. So, I'm confused.” “I thought that a stress fracture happens when you run too much, too far, too soon, it overloads the bone,...

I recently did a webcam consultation with an athlete who has had a lot of trouble for a long time. He was very, very athletic. He started having pain and a whole lot of trouble that ensued afterwards that severely changed his athletic picture in only a couple of years.  After years of seeing experts and not getting any better, he asked me to help him to do a second opinion and help him reassess wh...

I saw a runner who had a traumatic fracture, but she had been told it was a stress fracture. This did not make sense to her, because her injury wasn't from training for a race.  She was trying to understand the difference in healing between a stress fracture with a crack when compared to the healing time of a traumatic fracture with a similar crack. It's important to understand they were talking a...

A metatarsal fracture "non-union" is what doctors call it when you broke the bone, it started to heal, but then the fracture kind of quit healing. Usually it means you got a bunch of scar tissue between the ends of the bone.  Sometimes that happens without you or your doctor realizing it. The problem gets worse if you start running on it.   The question is, "should I take non-steroidal anti-inflam...

If you get a metatarsal stress fracture, the first thing that you're going to notice is not that you have a broken bone in your foot.  You are going to notice pain.  Typically, the feeling starts as a little vague discomfort in your foot that progressively gets worse as you continue to train and run on it.  The soreness gets worse the longer you run, feels worse when you walk barefoot on hard surf...

A stress fracture in your tibia, or shin bone, is a bad injury. You definitely don't want the crack to grow to the point where it could break.  The big question is what will make a tibial stress fracture better, faster...crutches or a fracture walking boot?  When is a fracture walking boot better than crutches for a tibial stress fracture if you're a runner?  That's what we're talking about today...

This episode comes from a discussion I called with a runner who called me for a second opinion. She had a stress fracture non-union and somebody had remained recommended that she have surgery.  I was looking at her CT scan and she asked me an interesting question.  She said,  “Does it look stable?”  And I said, “Can't tell.”  It looks like a non-union. It looks like it’s broken and never healed. W...

50% of your body weight goes through the big toe joint when you run. So, If you get a fracture in the big toe joint, it can be a serious problem. One type of fracture in the big toe joint is called an avulsion fracture.  I was just doing a consultation with a runner who had a phalanx avulsion fracture in the big toe joint. I wanted to show you what it really is and so that you can understand it be...