Rehab for runners
IMPROVE YOUR EFFICIENCY. REDUCE YOUR RISK OF INJURY.
The initial session involves an assessment of your static and dynamic posture as well as video analysis of your walking and running gait. Together with your injury and training history, a description of your current training volume and any other relevant details, we can begin to understand the movement strategies you use when walking and running. This is the first step in assessing an injury, and will provide direction for further progress.
We provide homework, which involves training a variety of movements that you may currently have difficulty in achieving. This plan may also include some form of strength or coordination work specific to your needs. For your reference, we will provide videos of each exercise in your program.
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Your first appointment will take about two hours.
If treating a specific injury, it is usually necessary to design a plan which gradually progresses your exercises based on how the injury is responding. Therefore, we are likely to recommend that you come back in a few weeks for a re-assessment (one hour) and to progress your training program.
who can benefit?
If you are regularly injured as a runner, are returning from injury, or would like running to feel easier or more efficient, this service is for you.
how will you benefit?
During your first session, we'll systematically identify mobility and strength issues which may be causing pain/injury. After assessing your movement, training load and injury history, we’ll provide you with a tailored program of exercises which will help to progress you towards pain-free, efficient running.
our approach
The process of assessing an individual’s movement for rehab purposes is a complex one. It is tempting to assume that there is a single, optimal way to run because it simplifies things. Teach someone to move in this specific way and all their aches and pains will disappear. However, a runner’s movement strategy needs to adapt to the specific contextual situation that they find themselves in. It is shaped by an interaction between the individual, their environment and the task they wish to accomplish. Movement skill emerges from the interaction between an individual and their environment. How can there be only one way to run when there are infinite different contexts in which that movement can take place? Factors that affect how an individual runs include:
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Moving speed
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Terrain (gradient, surface) and environment
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Intent of the individual at that moment
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Injury history
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Preconceptions about how to run
So if there is no single right way to run, do we just leave everyone to their own devices? No, but rather than giving someone one specific movement solution, and encouraging them to consciously practice this regardless of the context, we can instead provide tools to find their own solution. We can do this by:
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Helping the individual to increase their awareness of how they move
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Developing a better mental picture of what skilled running looks like in different situations
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Designing exercises that allow the individual to access movement patterns they may currently be lacking.
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Identifying the commonalities of ‘good’ running, and training them.
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Our philosophy has been shaped by many influential people in the sports performance, motor learning and injury rehab sphere, such as Gary Ward (Anatomy in Motion), David O’Sullivan (Prosport Physio), Frans Bosch, Rob Gray and many more.
If you would like to know more about this area, here are some further reading suggestions:
The Robust Running Ape - John Kiely https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00892/full
How we learn to move - Rob Gray - https://perceptionaction.com/book/
The perception and action podcast - https://perceptionaction.com/
Publications by Frans Bosch - https://www.fransbosch.systems/books