Running Medicine

[Michael McMurray]

Great job on the mid term everyone.

Good to see everyone at Running Med – Thanks for the thoughts, kind words and juice.

Please post 2-3 things that you learned at the Running Medicine Conference; and how you will apply to your patients.

Thanks again

Eric

[Katie Long]

Hey Eric,

Although I do not see many runners at my clinic, I think this course was very good for me to get re-aquainted with the running world. I think that the overstriding screening/identification strategies that Bryan presented were very helpful. My coworker and I have discussed possibly putting together a screen for the local high school’s cross country team this summer so that they will hopefully be better prepared to start their season in the fall, so this analysis was very helpful.

I also thought the analysis of running gait months (and years) post-ACLr was very helpful. I think it will help me in the earlier stages of rehab to emphasize proprioception and eccentric quad strength in a functional excursion in order to promote improved running mechanics later down the line. It will also make me very aware of when I clear these athletes to return to run.

Lastly, I really enjoyed Jay’s lab portion on Saturday. I thought his elaboration on foot intrinsic strengthening and emphasis on functionality was great. I have already started using some of his techniques in my practice. I thought that was very, very helpful!

Thanks for such a good course!

[Justin Pretlow]

I really enjoyed the Running Med Conference.

Bryan’s lectures were very helpful in demonstrating a simple, structured format to video gait analysis. I think screening patients based on overstriding, bounce and compliance will make it easier to review video with runners and explain to them what I’m seeing without going into too much excessive detail. Another take away was the use of a 3 or 5 point system when analyzing gait vs. drawing lines on the ipad and relying on the angles(due to user error, lack of specific landmarks, clothes moving on anatomical landmarks, etc.) He also made a good point about being careful when judging calcaneal eversion in frontal plane view (eg if the runner’s foot is externally rotated, then the camera angle will not be perpendicular to the motion you are trying to estimate, thus adding error to your estimate). In general, I’d like to standardize the distance from the treadmill I use for frontal and sagittal plane video so that I can more accurately compare videos.
Similar to what Katie said, the video of athletes 1-2 years after ACL-R was eye-opening.

I feel like I came away with a much better understanding of external KAM and how that relates to compression at the medial compartment of the knee. I think it will help me pick up on compensations in the gait patterns of some of my patients with OA related symptoms at the medial knee.

[Sarah Bosserman]

I agree with the above statements, the gait analysis presentations gave me a lot of perspective as to what I am actually able to confidently assess and how I should be setting up my camera for consistency. The impact of foot intrinsics and how we should strive to make our runners better athletes was also great and I was able to immediately incorporate into my program for some of the high school runners I have.

[Tyler France]

My biggest takeaway from the conference was a more systematic approach to running analysis in the clinic. Before the conference, I felt that I was filming my patients while running and having difficulty determining which problems could be causing certain symptoms. Now I feel that I have a better understanding of the mechanics and I have tools to change the forces that may be contributing to a patient’s symptoms. I found the videos of patient’s returning to run post ACLR particularly eye opening. It left me with some questions about when the appropriate time to clear an athlete to return to run would be. If elite athletes are still having these deficits years after their surgery, how can we expect your typical college student who is coming to PT 2x per week to be able to run well 12-16 weeks post-op? Additionally, do those decreases in knee flexion during stance phase predispose our patients to further injury? Is running something we should push down the line further in order to allow more time for increased LE strengthening and eccentric control? I also enjoyed Jay’s lab session, particularly some of the interventions to improve foot intrinsic recruitment. This is probably an area that I do not address as much during the rehab process as I can.

[Jennifer Boyle]

In general, I am not very experienced working with the running population and I believe that this conference was able to my eyes to many things that I was unaware of that I wish to start implementing into my practice. I thought that the discussions about fitting the shoe to the foot and not the other way around was very helpful. I receive questions all of the time about types of running shoes and I was never sure how to tackle this question. Now I feel like I have a better understanding on foot type and appropriate shoe option. I also thought the talk about PRP and stem cell therapy was very interesting. Patients are always looking for other options and asking if injections work. Even though this presentation was geared toward Orthopedic doctors, I feel that it gave me the tools to explain these options and the evidence behind them. Additionally, I think lab gave great ther ex tools for the foot as well as warm up/ cool down sets we are able to teach as return to run activities.

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