What is the difference between the doctor’s job and the runner’s job when you have an overtraining injury? Well, that is what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
Every time a runner calls me who signs up for a consultation and they want a second opinion, they have already seen a doctor and they are often very frustrated. They are very frustrated because they were in a boot for a long time and it did not help, or they were told to not run for months, and it did not help. They have done something that the doctor did but did not give them the result they want.
I hate to tell you this but almost every time I talk to one of these runners who is justifiably truly upset because the doctor did not listen to them about their goal, did not understand they really need to run, want to run, or going to run, that is all justified. But the problem is, is that every one of these runners I talk to, there is something that they did not do that they could have done to make this go faster. And a lot of that comes down to communication between you and the doctor and it is really critical that you understand this.
I have several consultations this morning and I am recording this episode between two of these consultations. In the one that I just had, there was a runner who starts telling me the story and I said, “Wait wait wait back up I need to know this.” You can’t go in and in five minutes give the doctor all the detail that they need and the doctor truthfully is not going to take more than five or ten minutes in most settings to listen to your story.
But I do an hour with everybody when I do these consultations because I have to ask you the things that you’re not naturally going to tell your doctor. So, if you already have a doctor I think this episode is really going to help you.
The first thing you have to remember is that the doctor has really two jobs, diagnose and treat your condition. So, they’re trying to figure out if you have pain in the ball of the foot does that mean that you have a stress fracture? Does it mean you have a neuroma? Does it mean you have a plantar plate sprain? Does it mean you have osteochondritis or capsulitis or one of these common conditions? That is what they’re doing.
Number one they’re trying to figure out what do they think the condition is. As soon as they know that they want to give you a treatment for that condition. That is it. Period. End of story. This is what’s wrong. This is the plan that I use for this condition for everybody. That is your plan. Go away. Pay your copay on the way out. Make an appointment for four weeks or six weeks or whatever. Now, comes your job. Your job is to stop that process and get the doctor to focus on your goal number one. The most important thing is the doctor understand your goal.
When I lecture at medical conferences, I have case runners of specific runners who had real injuries that have really important races that they need to do and they’re going to do and I show the doctors how I get them to do a race 12 days after they had an injury and they literally cannot walk. I show them how I did that. I give them a history on the patient. I say this is the patient. This is what she did. This is how much pain she had. This is what she’s done in the last few days. She comes into your office. She’s wearing a fracture walking boot. Cannot walk and she wants to run the Tokyo Marathon in 12 days.
What is your number one most important question? They usually will ask do you have any bruising? Do you have any swelling? Did you get an MRI? Did you get an x-ray? Those kind of things. Number one most important question. What is the runner’s goal?
Your job as a doctor is to figure out how to help the runner achieve their goal. Not to diagnose and treat the condition. But we’re not taught that in medical school. You as a runner, your job number one is to keep the doctor focused on the goal. You have to make it clear to them that you have a race on the calendar that is extremely important to you. Then your doctor’s job is to help you figure out whether or not that is possible and if it’s not possible you have to figure out what the next running goal is and then say, “Okay, well if I skip that race, how can I for sure do this race? How can I maintain my running fitness? How can I make sure I achieve this goal?” Because telling you to stop running is not going to help you achieve any running goal at all.
Your second job is to look for everything that can be allowed to maintain your running fitness. That is not something the doctor is going to think about unless you make her think about it. You have to say, “Look I’m a runner. I’m going to run. I am not going to sit around for nine months or a year or six months or even six weeks without exercising at all. What are the things I can do to maintain my running fitness that will not apply stress or strain to this one little piece of tissue that is injured while I maintain my running fitness?”
If you do that almost every doctor will stop and listen to you. They will help you and they will help you achieve your goals but they cannot do that if it’s not on their radar. Your job is to keep those things on the doctor’s radar.
If you enjoyed this episode and you know a runner who’s injured and needs to hear it, please send it to them. Please like, please subscribe and I’ll see you in the next training.
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