Running Injuries

Whether you are an experienced runner or someone who is just getting back into shape, running injuries occur quite often. Any lingering pain while running should mean a visit to your physician or physical therapist. Physical therapy for running injuries focus on increasing the muscles surrounding the injury. It can also include manual therapy such as massaging and stretching the affected area. These exercises involve stability balls, resistance bands and body weight exercises. Another crucial aspect of physical therapy for these type of injuries is range of motion exercises. When a running injury happens, it is very easy to begin to favor the other side of your body. This creates running form issues which can lead to other problems down the road. Physical therapists will confirm that their patient has a correct running form after injury.

Video running analysis involves filming a patient running on a treadmill and utilizing a software program that allows us to slow down the running gait, frame by frame, and pause the video at significant points of the running cycle.  With this, our therapists are able to point out faulty mechanics using drawing tools, zooming, etc. and compare them to good mechanics.  We can also compare the good and bad side by side.  The “good” mechanics come from available research which identify those at risk for injury due to poor form.  Surprisingly, problems can be found all the way up the chain including issues with spinal rotation and arm swing. Team Rehab can then utilize this information to provide recommendations for changing a patient’s running form and also modify the treatment program to identify impairments such as a tight or weak region of the body. Issues we typically see are cadence (how many times your feet hit the ground per minute), stride length, location of foot strike, hip drop, trunk rotation, and arm swing.