What happens when you get 220+ clinicians in the room and talk about running? It was a beautiful day. About 55 degrees and sunny. The remnants of the 10+ in snowstorm on the ground helped dampen the air and made the sun feel even stronger. It’s a beautiful day for a run….but instead,about 220 clinicians sat inside, on their glutes, so they can learn to help you use your glutes better.
The 10th anniversary of the longest running, running specific medical conference produced a host of content to help “us” help “you.” Do you ever wonder why running is as challenging as it is? How your running would change if you had no gravity to fight, arms to swing, or perhaps even legs to stand on? Dr Rodger Kram led us in 2 enlightening presentations on the energetics of gait. Talks like this completely shift how you think about running.
Dr. Eric Carson reviewed the current and future trends on cartilage repair. Take home: right now, cutting edge surgeons are able to offer some pretty incredible proceedures, and they’ll be even more magic to come in the future.
Brian Hoke, PT helped us think critically through our video gait analysis. Anyone can watch a video in slow motion, but learning what to look for is critical.
Your’s truly helped clinicians through their musculoskeletal exams as they relate to a runner’s needs. No one can tlak about “correct running form” unless you understand that each runner is an individual with unique needs and attributes. If you understand how a person’s body wants to work, you can understand how to help that person run. For those of you who read the screen’s in Anatomy for Runners, that 8-point exam just got a whole lot more thorough: 32-points to be exact.
Dr Sibohn Stattua reviewed the literature on the female athlete triad. Turns out that there is more to it than just low energy intake, menstrual irregularity, and poor bone remodeling…..the triad is turning into a square? That’s right, there is a 4th “leg” to the triad, and this one might be even more severe of a long term complication from this complex disorder.
Eric Magrum, PT discussed the current research on the #1 injury affecting runners: anterior knee pain. He told us why runners with chronic pain in the knee try to avoid their pain. The problem is that the compensations we adopt to avoid pain in the knee are just as much of a problem as the original cause itself.
Kyle Kiesel, PhD, PT helped us through an eval process to identify core imbalances that affect far more than just the core.
And finally, Dr Bob Wilder guided us through the process of guiding you back to your running in explaining the best return to run programs after an injury.
Clinicans getting to know their feet: a scene from our lab session
And that doesn’t even mention the incredible lab session on Saturday by Brian Hoke, Kyle Kiesel, Dr Mark Cuccuzzella, myself, and the amazing cookies that I ate at the afternoon break. Egos were dropped at the door, and we all got down to the same level to help runners do what they love: run.
As always, the conference returns next year……
Jay Dicharry's Website, An Athlete's Body 