If you are a runner with pain in the ball of the foot at the base of the second toe and start researching online, you may become concerned you have a thing called a plantar plate injury.
If so, you may be wondering whether X-rays or MRI imaging may be needed to tell what is wrong. Before seeing a doctor, it may be helpful to understand which are helpful, and which imaging studies are a waste of time.
What is the worst possible medical imaging study you could get if you’re a runner with a suspected plantar plate injury?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »Today’s episode comes from a YouTube viewer who posted a question,
“I have a low risk grade stress reaction in my posterior tibia. Interestingly, there is some research discussing the benefits of weight bearing bone building exercise once tolerated pain free, like hops jumps and step ups. Do you have any advice on when and how to integrate these types of exercises into a rehabilitation program?”
When is it okay to add weight bearing exercises when you’ve had a bone injury like a stress reaction?
That is what we are talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »Today’s question comes from one of the YouTube viewers. Tasnim, wrote in and wanted to know whether or not “stress reaction” is the same terminology that is used in the UK for the term “metatarsalgia”.
This question points out how confusing these two terms can be when you have forefoot pain that might be a stress fracture, might be a plantar plate sprain, or could even be a neuroma.
Are stress “reaction” and “metatarsalgia” the same terms?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »I got a specific question about a recent episode on calluses in runners.
The question was, “Well, if you have that pattern of callus, and reduce the thickness of the callus so the callus is going away, does that mean there is less pressure there?”
You may have checked out the episode on the three callus patterns that I see in runners at high risk for getting a plantar plate injury.
Does callus reduction reduce your risk or decrease the risk that you’re going to get a plantar plate sprain?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »I was just on a call with an interesting elite athlete, and he’s been injured.
He had one particular injury in his foot and then started having a completely different injury, as soon as that injury in his foot was starting to heal.
We were talking about how disappointment can lead to more and more setbacks.
The phrase he used struck me.
He said, “I think it might be traumatic disappointment.”
What is traumatic disappointment and what kind of effect can it have on delayed healing in an injured runner?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »Yesterday I called a recovering runner, just to check in and see how he was doing, because he had done the Fast Track Challenge 2 months ago.
He’s doing great. He has recovered and gotten past his injury.
He said he learned a lot in the Challenge and has applied it to his training.
He’s on track for running ultra-marathons this year. He has a coach. Training is in full swing with no limitation from the injury and got him into the Fast Track challenge.
Something he said on that call actually kind of shocked me.
I asked him, “Is there anything that you wish you could have done differently if you went back?”
He answered, “Yeah, I would have called you sooner for a consultation.”
If you ever run into injury many times, your first step is to sit still and wait. Sometimes that’s a problem and that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »Everybody’s short on time. This is true for runners in training, but it’s also true for injured runners.
If you’re trying to make progress as fast as possible, you really have to do the things that will give you the most progress in the least amount of time.
Many runners I talk to on a second opinion consultation webcam call really want to know which stretches will help them. Specifically, which two or three stretches will help the most.
What are the most valuable stretches you can do after a running injury?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »Achilles tendon injury on one leg and a calf muscle strain on the other leg?
Talk about a bummer: 2-for-the-price-of-1 overtraining injuries! Yes, it is possible to get similar running injuries on opposite legs, at the same time.
Today I had a conversation with a runner who has developed both of these injuries from running. These are actually just opposite ends of the same biomechanical spectrum at work. During the call I was explaining to him how it can happen, and how he could make some simple changes to prevent it from happening again in the future.
How can running on the road cause Achilles tendinitis in one leg and calf strain on the other? Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast!
View Details »If you’ve got an overtraining injury, but you’re trying to figure out how to stay fit, a lot of people are going to think that you’re not normal. But if you ran 50 miles you are not normal. If you signed up for a marathon, you’re not normal. If you are a runner, you are not normal. Don’t think you will be told you’re normal when you are injured, in pain, but still working out. But that’s exactly what all the rapidly recovering injured runners do. I call them injury hackers. Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we’re talking about how injury hackers are not normal.
View Details »I lecture at medical conferences about stress fractures, trying to teach physicians the difference between a stress response, a stress reaction, which is basically an irritated and inflamed metatarsal bone, and a stress fracture where there’s actually a crack that can cause real trouble. One of the questions doctors ask me is what’s the best way and the worst way to tell a stress reaction from a stress fracture, because it does make a difference. What is the worst way to tell a stress reaction from a stress fracture? Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run podcast.
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