Welcome to Doc on the run: the podcast for injured runners.
HEY EVERYBODY this is IS DR. CHRISTOPHER SEGLER and THANKS FOR TUNING INTO THE DOC ON THE RUN PODCAST !
First and foremost let me just say that I’m glad you’re listening and appreciate that you tuned in, even though I realize that you would rather be doing something else…like going for a run. But I realize you need help and I hope you’ll find it here.
In this first edition of the Doc On The Run podcast I’m going to give you a little bit of background about me my approach and how this podcast can help you get the perspective you need to help you get past you running injury.
So again, I am Dr. Christopher Segler, Doc On The Run…I am a sports medicine podiatrist practicing in San Francisco. While I have lots of credentials, publications, awards and so-onone of that should really matter to you. The only reason I think you might want to listen to me is that I am a runner just like you. I’ve been running for over 35 years. Short races, long races, trail races, road races and 14 ironman triathlons to date. And I am still running..and loving every minute of it!
This podcast is for injured runners. Those who have been told (or worry) that running is at the root of their trouble.
If you are listening to this podcast you’re probably a runner. And you have probably been told by your friends, your family and maybe even your doctor that running is the cause of your trouble and that you need to run less.
But deep down inside you don’t just like running you feel like you have to run in order to be healthy, fit and saying.
I am the same way! Although I like to run, I don’t really think that saying I like to run adequately describes me. I think it would be more appropriate to say I have to run. Running just doesn’t make me happy it makes something change in me, it changes my hemistry, my spirit and my being. It keeps me connected with the world.Running keeps my body loose and functional, it keeps my mind pliable. Because of all of the fringe benefits of running, I can’t really say that there’s a sufficient substitute in any other form of exercise…at least not for me.
Yes, I enjoy long walks on the beach, hikes through the redwoods and strolls through nature. There’s no question that I find those things pleasant and enjoyable. I love the world that I live in! But it does not have the same effect as vigorous exercise. Neither does going to the gym. Running does something magical for me.
Some people are just built for activity. My great-grandfather was the same way. I only recall meeting him a few times as a child. What I recall, was the brightness in his eyes, his good nature, the way he would lean forward and listen to me when I was talking to him. And that He was strong, alive and active.
Early one summer morning at our family lake house my great grandfather got out a sledgehammer and a pickax. He announced that he was going to break up the uneven, cracking concrete driveway and replace it.
My grandmother told him that he was too old for such foolishness. She said that they should hire someone to do it. They argued that he would wear himself out with such vigorous activity at an old age. They said he needed to slow down.
Looking back, I believe they were wrong.
I believe that the physical activity that he continue throughout his entire life is what kept him alive, strong and able to be attentive to those around him. It was his constantly moving nature and his sense of being alive in the world the permitted him to learn how to water ski at age 70.
Today I am convinced that I got a large section of his genes.
I have to move regularly to feel alive. Activity is an optional for me. Activity isn’t an optional for most runners either.
I started this podcast simply because I see injured runners every day in my sports medicine practice. I spent a good deal of time with patients not just talking about how to heal a running injury, or explain to them exactly what happened, but most importantly how to stay fit and active and continue running.
I suspect you may be the same.
Several times a year, I lecture at medical conferences to physicians about the treatment of running injuries as well as fracture patterns and running biomechanics. At those conferences in the question-and-answer period it astonishes me that I almost always here at least one physician suggest that the solution for a recurring running injury is to simply stop running.
My response is very simple. If you were if you go to the pulmonologist and told the doctor that you have pain when you breathe, that doctor would never tell you that the solution is to stop breathing. So why is it that when you go to see an orthopedic surgeon or a podiatrist And you tell them you have pain when you run, they tell you to stop running?
The goal for a runner is almost always to continue running.
The goal of any physician treating a runner should always be to help the athlete achieve their goals.
However doctors often get distracted by x-rays and treatment protocols. They focus narrowly on limiting the pain, reducing discomfort, or healing a fracture or sprain. This of course is not wrong, but in this sincere attempt to help you in the way that the doctor was trained she should help you, the wires get crossed. The doctor gets tunnel vision and loses the overall view.
Most runners see this happening. They understand that the doctor is not really hearing them. And most runners don’t know what to do when this occurs. They feel like the doctor is not on their team. They are being told to stop running. To give up what matters most.
The natural response is a fire the doctor, and simply never go back. But of course that leaves the runner limping about aimlessly without a clear direction to get back on the path to running.
My goal with this podcast is to simply help injured runners understand their conditions better. To help them understand how to communicate with their doctors and make sure that the runner and the runners doctor are both working hard to end up at the same place.
A second goal of this podcast is to help you, the injured runners understand what self treatment information can be useful to your physician so that your doctor can skip steps in the treatment process, to help you head as quickly as possible toward a functional recovery.
Remember… for every injury and every condition there is a solution. If you haven’t found a solution yet, you just haven’t found the right solution for you…don’t give up.
Everything in this podcast will be directed at helping injured runners get questions answered that they cannot seem to get answered anywhere else. If you have a question that you would like answered as a future edition of the doc on the run podcast, email me PodcastQuestion@docontherun.com
And then make sure you join me for the next edition of the Doc On The Run Podcast!
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