I actually did some research recently in preparation for a presentation I was going to be giving on running injuries at the International Foot & Ankle Foundation medical conference in Seattle. When I went to Medline, which is the search engine that catalogs medical research articles for the National Center for Biotechnology Information, I entered the search terms “running” and “injury.” That search produced 5,093 articles that were published in authoritative medical journals around the world...
Jul 25, 2018•13 min•Ep. 78
Today on the Doc On The Run podcast we’re talking with Christiann Arbini about injury, recovery and what it takes to bounce back to national championship racing after a doctor told her she was done. For years I’ve been saying you should fire your doctor when they try to rob you of hope and Christiann was a great example of how are you can succeed even if the conventional medical wisdom is not really on your side. Christiann qualified for the 2018 USA Olympic distance national championship triath...
Jul 18, 2018•49 min•Ep. 77
A plantar plate sprain is an overstretched, possibly even partially ripped ligament on the bottom of one your little toe joints in the ball of the foot. When you get a plantar plate sprain, there are really 3 issues: Inflammation Tissue damage Stress preventing healing You have to address all three if you really want to get better quickly and get back to running. Today on the Doc On The Run podcast we’re talking about how a runner can heal a plantar plate sprain....
Jul 11, 2018•18 min•Ep. 76
Are you recovering at 100% capacity? Are you doing truly everything you can to maximize your capacity for healing after your workouts? If you’re not, you’re wasting a lot of time when you’re training. On Friday I was lecturing at the International Foot and Ankle Foundation meeting in Seattle. This is a medical conference where foot and ankle surgeons, podiatrists and sports medicine physicians go to get their continuing medical education. One of the lectures I was giving was on recidivism in run...
Jul 04, 2018•9 min•Ep. 75
Today on the Doc On The Run podcast we are talking about how a runner can heal a stress fracture. When you get a stress fracture, there are really 3 issues: Inflammation Tissue damage Too much stress preventing healing You have to address all three if you really want to get better quickly and get back to running.
Jun 27, 2018•12 min•Ep. 74
Today on the Doc On The Run podcast we’re talking about whether or not you should run when you have a stress fracture in the heel bone. The first thing to think about is like what is a stress fracture in the heel bone. The heel bone is an irregular bone. It’s an odd shape. It’s not tubular. It’s not square. It’s very thin on the outside and it’s sort of squishy on the inside. It’s kind of like a sponge. It’s really kind of like a hard boiled egg. A hard boiled has a hard shell on the outside and...
Jun 20, 2018•16 min•Ep. 73
Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we’re going to talk about whether or not you can run with a partial rupture of the plantar fascia. Can I run my race if I have a partial rupture of the plantar fascia? Well that’s a question I’ve got in a number of times from runners who’ve been to the doctor, they thought they have plantar fasciitis, they were told they had a partial rupture or a tear in the plantar fascia and then they want to know if they can do their race. In this session we’re going to e...
Jun 13, 2018•13 min•Ep. 72
That may seem like a silly thing like you think if you’re wearing a fracture walking boot, there’s no way you're going to run a hundred miles. But there is a patient I just had a consultation with yesterday on the phone and we were talking about this because she's actually signed up for a one hundred miles trail race, she wants to do this ultramarathon and she's having a problem. The task is to figure out really is it safe for her to do this run which is a hundred miles basically a month away or...
Jun 06, 2018•17 min•Ep. 71
Stress fractures are extremely common. But first thing is that if you’re going to figure out how to run the race, if you should run the race, whether or not it’s a good idea to run a race, you have to really understand what really is metatarsal stress fracture. Doctors want to put everybody in the same little bucket of “You have a metatarsal stress fracture. You can’t run.” That’s not true at all. In fact I have had lots of patients who have actually had not only done an Ironman but I had one th...
May 30, 2018•19 min•Ep. 70
Can I run my race if I think I have plantar fasciitis? That’s a good question. In this session what we are going to talk about is whether or not you can or should run if you think you have plantar fasciitis. A lot of doctors tell you stop running if you have plantar fasciitis. Well, the idea is that you’re stressing the plantar fascia when you’re walking on it and of course when you’re running. Today on the Doc On The Run podcast we’re talking about whether or not you should run when you think y...
May 23, 2018•12 min•Ep. 69
Today on the doc on the run podcast we’re talking with Patrick about how to stay on track when you see a doctor or physical therapist and make sure that they focus on your running goals. The main reason I wanted to have him on the podcast today is he actually had this experience with physical therapy that can help people understand how to better get your physical therapists and doctors more on track with your goals instead of just focused on the injury.
May 16, 2018•27 min•Ep. 68
One of the million dollar questions I get from runners is whether or not you can run when you have this specific injury. Just today I was on a remote consultation call on Skype with a runner who is an ultramarathoner. He is training for a huge trail race in the Dolomites and he wants to be able to run. Well it turns out that he got a little bit peroneal tendonitis, he got some pain and swelling around the ankle and it was starting to bug in. So his big question is “Can I do the race if I have pe...
May 09, 2018•13 min•Ep. 67
I think when a doctor tells a runner to quit running it doesn’t make any more sense than telling an accountant to quit working with numbers. Running is what we do. And running should be the goal. You have to work with a doctor who will help you get back to running. And no matter where you are, you should be able to find a doctor who will help you heal AND get back to running. I talk to runners all over the world. Of course most of them are injured runners. The main reason injured runners call me...
May 02, 2018•17 min•Ep. 66
Healing takes time. The longer you take to recover the more fitness you’re going to lose. But when you’re an injured runner the less time you spend healing the sooner you are going back to running. So we all want to heal as quickly as possible. When doing virtual doctor visit consultations with patients over the phone or via webcam, just about every patient who comes to me for running injury advice is trying to figure out how to get better faster. After many years of working with runners I have ...
Apr 25, 2018•16 min•Ep. 65
If you are a runner with plantar fasciitis, you don't need to watch hundreds of different videos to get better. You just have to do some simple things at home consistently and your heel pain will go away. If you do the right things, but you’re not getting better, then the chances are good you probably don't have plantar fasciitis and have been misdiagnosed. Runners are so frequently misdiagnosed with plantar fasciitis that I even wrote an entire book on Runners Heel Pain that you can get on Amaz...
Apr 18, 2018•16 min•Ep. 64
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we’re talking about the only three steps runners need to heal plantar fasciitis. You don’t need to watch a hundred of different videos to get better. If you do these three things and you really have plantar fasciitis you should start getting better. In this episode we’re going to talk about the only three treatments needed to heal plantar fasciitis in almost every runner. If you’re not getting better, then the chances are good that you probably don’t have plan...
Apr 11, 2018•18 min•Ep. 63
Today on the Doc On the Run Podcast were talking about how runners can get the very best second opinion. The other day I had an interesting conversation with a runner who has had a really difficult time recovering. The bottom line is that she had a couple of surgeries that didn’t work out exactly the way she expected and now she is still having trouble. So we were having a conversation about how she can make sure that her current treatment plan is the best plan to get her back to running. We tal...
Apr 04, 2018•15 min•Ep. 62
Have you ever had a race that you really only made it through just because you believe you can do it? Sometimes you get to a place where it seems like all you have left is hope and when you get to that place it seems like hope is really all that you need. Today I was doing a remote consultation call with a frustrated runner in Texas. We worked through her problem and came up with some options that should help her figure out what’s really going on and get her back on track. After the call, she se...
Mar 28, 2018•5 min•Ep. 61
Today on the Doc On The Run podcast we are talking about how you can use the power of meditation to relax and heal. Jason Stephenson has been involved in the meditation and relaxation field for over fifteen years and he even has a YouTube meditation sleep music channel that has over 700,00 subscribers with over 90 million views. For whatever reason when runners become injured they don't really seem to recognize the value of meditation. Maybe it's just that they've lost their focus and they kind ...
Mar 21, 2018•41 min•Ep. 60
Every day I talk to runners who tell me their doctor said they have to stop running. Just stop and think about that for a minute. A runner is told to stop running. A runner has pain in her foot. Maybe it’s a metatarsal stress fracture. Maybe it’s a plantar plate sprain. Maybe it’s plantar fasciitis. But the runner wants to run and not have foot pain. So the runner makes an appointment with a supposed expert (a doctor), sits in a waiting room, then sits in a second waiting room waiting for the do...
Mar 14, 2018•13 min•Ep. 59
Today I was on a 15 minute Virtual Doctor Visit call with a runner who has been trying to get over a nagging case of Achilles tendinitis and still wants to do well in the Boston Marathon. It may not surprise you to hear that he is worried about how skipping long runs to protect the Achilles tendon will make it very difficult for him to have a good run in Boston. He’s been doing all the right stuff. He has taken the right steps to remove the inflammatory fluid around the Achilles tendon. He’s bee...
Mar 07, 2018•12 min•Ep. 58
This episode is based on a question sent in from one of our listeners and she actually wrote in and said “I mistakenly had “plantar release” done to my right foot 16 years ago. I am no longer able to run because my arch has collapsed and my foot now rolls inward significantly with every step. I’m in constant pain in both of my knees (because of the change in my gait) as well as my foot as a result. A Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon recommended fusing the first and second metatarsals above my arch...
Feb 28, 2018•14 min•Ep. 57
Today on the Doc On the Run Podcast we’re talking about the special considerations overweight runners need to think about when they want to get to their goals without getting injured. I am really excited to have Gary Stotler on the show today and Gary is a guy who is truly inspirational. He actually went from 400 pounds to running 100 miles.
Feb 21, 2018•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 56
I’m really excited to have Dr. Stephan Guyenet as a guest expert today. Dr. Guyenet spent 12 years at the University of Washington as a neuroscience and obesity researcher. Much of that time he was studying the role of the brain in eating behavior and body fatness. His publications have been cited more than 1,400 times by other scientists and in peer-reviewed scientific publications. He is the author an intriguing book entitled “The Hungry Brain” which explores the neuroscience of overeating, fo...
Feb 14, 2018•3 min•Ep. 55
Today on the Doc On The Run podcast we’re talking with Linda Hall about meditation and how to focus on the mind-body connection and stress management as a tool that runners can use to recover faster, decrease the risk of running injury and hopefully even recover from overtraining injuries.
Feb 08, 2018•40 min•Ep. 54
This week I got a couple of calls from runners who had various different forms of foot pain and they both said the doctor they saw said they had a condition called synovitis. They were both understandably confused because neither one of them really understood what “synovitis” really means. Synovial tissue is the tissue that makes the fluid that lubricates your joints. The fluid on the inside of your joints is called “synovial fluid.” This is the stuff that lubricates and nourishes the cartilage ...
Jan 31, 2018•13 min•Ep. 53
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we’re talking about muscle atrophy after recovering in a fracture walking boot, and what runners can do to prevent it.” I recently met Kim and she was explaining to me that she had an Achilles tendon rupture and then developed this same kind of muscle atrophy we all become concerned about. Fortunately for all of us, she was willing enough to come on the show and share her experience. We are also going to talk about some strategies for avoiding all of the weakn...
Jan 24, 2018•20 min•Ep. 52
Sleep may be the most valuable, most abundant, least expensive, and yet most underutilized resource available to a recovering or injured runner. If you are a runner, you are always recovering. You do tissue damage every time you run. If you run a little too much, or you run a little too far, you might get an over training injury. That overtraining injury is really nothing more than an exaggerated version of the intentional injury you are attempting induce when you are training. Sleep Helps You H...
Jan 17, 2018•20 min•Ep. 51
The problem with running injuries is that they are easy to ignore. A little tightness here or little achiness there is nothing compared to the pain you feel in those final few miles of a marathon. Runners are used to ignoring pain. One of the most important elements of training for endurance sports is learning how to endure. After all, enduring is the name of the game. You have to learn how to keep running when your quads tell you to quit. You learn to ignore the burn, tune out the noise and kee...
Jan 10, 2018•12 min•Ep. 50
A goal is not a fantasy. A goal is not a dream. It’s a place you clearly want to end up. If that goal is important to you, I believe you can get there. No matter how far-fetched, outlandish, or seemingly difficult to achieve, there is always a way to get there.They set all kinds of goals for themselves, their families, their finances, and of course, their athletic goals as well. For most people the process of goal setting includes some analysis of the past. Maybe your just look at how fast you h...
Jan 03, 2018•11 min•Ep. 49
