Doc On The Run Podcast

The best free advice for an injured runner

I recently got a call from someone who had a son who was in cross country and he's been having some trouble. He's had several weeks of not running, and she wanted to get some advice on what to do.

I got an interesting response via email, where she wanted to know what free advice I had for her son.

First of all, I don't give advice when I don't know what the problem is. I didn't really know the story with her son.

We didn't do a consultation, and no physician is going to give you advice if they don't actually know what your circumstances are.

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we're talking about the best free advice for injured runners.

Should I use a boot for shin splints

Believe it or not, most of the time when I see a runner, either on webcam or in their home, and they have shin splints, and they've been given a fracture walking boot, they need the fracture walking boot and maybe even more.

But what that really tells me when a doctor says you have shin splints but you need a boot, that it's really that the doctor is uncertain about the actual diagnosis, because in my view, most of the time, if you have shin splints, you do not need a fracture walking boot.

Should I use a fracture walking boot for shin splints?

Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run podcast.

Pain is a guide but only if you read the signs

I was just lecturing at the IFAF meeting in Lake Tahoe and I was giving a couple of different lectures on running injuries, and one of them was about the protocols that I use with injured runners so that they can maintain their fitness, stay fit, stay active, and keep running.

One of the doctors asked me about how I make these decisions and I explained to them was that the worst piece of advice I myself ever received as someone who was injured was when this doctor told me, "Just let pain be your guide."

How can you as an injured runner use pain as your guide? Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run podcast.

Is a boot enough for a tibial stress fracture in runners?

Today's episode is going to be a good one for you to listen to, if you've been told that you have a tibial stress fracture, or if you just think you might have a tibial stress fracture.

If you get a tibial stress fracture, the chances are really good that the doctor's going to do something to really restrict your running, and potentially your ability to move around at all.

For example, if you get a fracture walking boot and it's on your right foot, well, you can't even drive a car so you've got to take this seriously.

Is a fracture walking boot enough when you have a tibial stress fracture and you're a runner?

Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run podcast.

Nothing in medicine is free especially with running injuries

One of the phrases I often tell injured runners is that “nothing in medicine is free.”

For every potential treatment that might help some particular injury, you pay for it in risk.

A fracture walking boot is one of the simplest and most-often-prescribed treatments for overtraining injuries in runners. And although fracture walking boots maybe inexpensive, treating your running injury with one is definitely not free.

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we’re talking about how nothing in medicine is free especially with running injuries.

3 Ways Plantar Plate Injuries occur in runners

Today's episode actually comes from a question sent in by Shay.

She said, "I have a plantar plate complete tear and I had surgery on my left foot in October 2019. So that was a couple years ago. I'm running with some new issues in the right calf, but the main thing I want to learn is how this injury occurs. I'm really afraid of it happening to my right foot."

I talk to injured runners all the time. I lecture at medical conferences, teaching doctors what I do with runners who have these plantar plate injuries and Shay is reasonable to be concerned about this.

Today on the Doc On the Run podcast, we're talking about the three ways plantar plate injuries occur in runners.

Finally the correct answer on how long before you can run after injury

This weekend I was lecturing at the International Foot & Ankle Foundation meeting in lake Tahoe, and I was lecturing on running injuries.

At the beginning of that lecture, I was asking the group of doctors there and I said, "Well, if you had a runner with a fourth metatarsal stress fracture and they had this level of pain and this level of disability and this level of complaint about it, how long would you expect to have them in a fracture walking boot?"

There was a doctor from Flagstaff, Arizona who actually raised his hand and he said, "It depends."

I was shocked because normally, people say four weeks or six weeks.

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we’re talking about how I finally got the correct answer on how long before you can run after injury.

How long until a plantar plate sprain is completely healed?

I just got off the phone with a runner who had a plantar plate sprain. He was out on a run, he got a plantar plate sprain.

I saw him, I helped him understand what to do and what I showed him to do was exactly the same stuff I show you in the plantar plate sprain course.

He was doing much better, but he had a great question.

His question was, "When is my plantar plate sprain really healed enough that I don't have to worry about it anymore?"

Well, that's a great question and that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On the Run podcast.

Running fitness is transient

Yesterday I was giving a lecture at the International Foot & Ankle Foundation meeting in Lake Tahoe. The topic was on protocols for return to running after recovering from over training injuries.

One of the most important points I was trying to make to the doctors in that session was that fitness is transient.

Fitness is only present in the presence of growth.

If you're an injured runner this is terrible news.

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we’re talking about why running fitness is transient.

Why do plantar plate sprains take so long to heal in a runner?

One of the worst injuries you can actually get if you're a runner is a plantar plate ligament sprain.

The plantar plate ligament is a very small ligament on the bottom of the foot, where the toe attaches to the metatarsal phalangeal joint, right at the ball of the foot.

These can happen for lots of different reasons but it's a very small structure and the unfortunate reality is, is that every single time that you stand, you're stepping on the ligament.

Why do plantar plate sprains take so long to heal? Well, that's a great question and that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run podcast.