Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common conditions that affects runners.
In fact, foot pain consistent with plantar fasciitis accounts for about 40% of all visits to the podiatrists in the United States each year.
Unfortunately, just because you think that you have plantar fasciitis, and you started doing some simple things to treat it, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to get better.
If you are a runner, and you think you have plantar fasciitis, you must realize there are some avoidable mistakes you could make when trying to self-treat runner’s heel pain.
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we’re talking about the top five reasons runners heel pain doesn’t get better.
View Details »I just had a discussion with a really interesting patient. He was a pro triathlete. He had some difficulty getting past a particular injury.
We were talking about all of the ways that you can encounter barriers to healing. And how you can start making progress in spite of them.
We were talking about two different things, logical and psychological barriers.
What’s the difference between logical versus psychological barriers to healing injuries in runners?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »Every runner with a stress fracture wants to know “when can I run?”
How soon you can start running after a foot fracture really depends on when you have enough strength in the bone so that the healing fracture will withstand the forces applied during running without breaking the bone again.
It all depends on what you do to speed up (or slow down) the bone healing process. The rate of fracture healing depends on your physiology, and it depends on stages of bone healing.
But it does NOT depend entirely on generic timelines.
How long is each stage of fracture healing when you have a broken bone?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »The first thing any runner should do when you roll your ankle is protect the ankle from further injury. In fact, the algorithm doctors use to treat ankle sprains is P. R. I. C. E.
P stands for Protection, meaning don’t roll it again. Don’t make it worse. Then, Rest it. Ice it. Use Compression to keep it from swelling. Elevate it to get the fluid out if it’s really swollen.
So, what happens is, you’re a runner, you’re out on a trail and you roll your ankle. What happens if you don’t follow the PRICE method?
It just might take a whole lot longer before it gets better.
What are the most common three ways I see runners lose all their fitness after they get an ankle sprain?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »There are three key indications that tell me that somebody may not have plantar fasciitis, but probably have something else.
If you think you have plantar fasciitis, you may have a different form of runner’s heel pain. Treating the wrong condition will not get you back to running. Understanding the ways plantar fasciitis shows up can help you make sure you don’t have something else causing your heel pain.
What are the three best signs that your heel pain is not Plantar fasciitis?
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 »If you are a runner and you get pain in the ball of the foot, particularly at the base of the second toe right. It could be a plantar plate sprain.
Whenever I see a runner on webcam who has pain that sounds like a plantar plate sprain, the first thing I do is look for any callus pattern in the skin that suggests they have too much pressure and friction at that area that could injure the plantar plate ligament underneath the skin.
This episode will help you understand how certain callus patterns relate to some basic foot mechanics when you’re trying to figure out what is causing your ball of foot pain.
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we’re talking about three callus patterns I often see that can suggest you have a risk for getting a plantar plate sprain if you are a runner.
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.
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