Does a runner always have to finish the standard five or six weeks on crutches? Well, that is a great question and that is what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
Today’s episode comes from a question that was posted on one of the YouTube videos, specifically on an episode that I did called, “Should I get an MRI to see if I can run now?” Haitham posted this comment and what he wanted to know is he said, “Would you say it is okay to walk if you are pain-free after being non-weight-bearing for two weeks? Does one always have to finish the standard five to six weeks of crutches?”
Good question. So, you get his question, right? He’s got an injury. I do not know what the injury is, but he has an injury, and he was told to use crutches, non-weight-bearing. Do not put any weight on the foot. The foot doesn’t touch the floor. He has done it for two weeks. He has no pain. Pain is completely gone. Seems like maybe go walk on it, right? That is what he was thinking, I’m assuming.
But I don’t have any more detail than this. So, his question though really is, do I have to do the standard routine of five to six weeks? And my immediate thought was, I don’t do a standard routine of five to six weeks on crutches. I don’t do anything standard like that.
I would modify things based on the pain and the amount of evidence we have that some of that tissue is healing and getting stronger. The goal is not to get your pain down by not using crutches and then wait for a period of time until you know that it has to be healed and then start running.
The goal is to actually take those two things and match the line. You have a line of recovery. The tissue is getting stronger and stronger and stronger. And if you’re not exercising, you’re getting weaker and weaker and weaker. I know you know this because you’re a runner. I know I’m preaching to the choir here. But what I think about this is like, I don’t do it that way.
I don’t have a standard routine for a stress fracture. I don’t have a standard routine for a plantar plate because it depends upon how you’re doing. There are ways to determine how your pain is changing, how much stress it takes to re-aggravate the injury. And you should incrementally make changes that you believe match the incremental increases in strength of the tissue instead of just doing occasional jumps every five or six weeks.
That is why this routine of five to six weeks on crutches is not a standard routine that I do at all. So, I don’t know if this really answers his question, but that is the best I can do based on the amount of information that I have.
If you want to learn more about some things that sometimes I do use crutches for, like severe stress fractures, well, the strategies I use in runners that have a stress fracture, they’re all in the stress fracture masterclass. It’s the exact same stuff I teach to physicians when I go to medical conferences and lecture on stress fractures, and you can get it for free at www.docontherun.com/stressfracturemasterclass. So, come sign up and I’ll see you in the training.
«« #949 Should I work out today if I did not sleep well last night? | #951 Can a percutaneous tenotomy for mallet toe cause plantar plate injury in a runner? »» |