The statistics speak for themselves: 80% of runners will suffer an injury every year. If you or someone you know is inured, and the race is eminent, you have to act quickly and decisively to resolve the injury and find the cause while you maintain your hard-earned fitness. This is our specialty and the reason that Forster Physical Therapy has been the "go to" spot for injured athletes for over 35 years. 

Runners who suffer an injury right before their goal race need to focus on four things: 

1) Attaining the correct diagnosis immediately

You can't fix an injury until the damaged and pain-provoking structure is identified precisely. It should become the focus of treatment techniques and protective measures designed to prevent further irritation and damage. Various clinical testing and skillful and thorough palpation techniques are the tools of success when it comes to finding painful structures. Only then can the right treatment techniques can be applied. 

2) Detecting the mechanical cause of the injury

My physical therapy mentor, John Papalia, PT, is fond of saying, "The human body is famous for hurting where it ain't hurt." Meaning, the pain associated with an injury is not always experienced at the injury site, but instead can be referred to various areas remote to the injury. Additionally, the most common causes of injury are mechanical problems near or distant to the pain. Any mechanical asymmetry in what's known as the "kinetic chain," which includes the joints of the ankle, knee, hip, pelvis, and spine, can cause an injury far from the dysfunctional area. Detecting these mechanical deficits is absolutely essential as the first step towards resolution. This is our specialty. 

3) Getting the right treatment

Many clinicians who claim to do sports medicine will sell athletes on laying on a table and receiving passive treatments from "fancy black boxing," which is supposed to work to miraculously heal injured tissues. Be wary. Although we use fancy therapeutic modalities like ultrasound, electrical stimulation, and icing, these do nothing more than help suppress the symptoms while we actively rehabilitate the injury and fix the cause. The operative word being "actively." We make every injured athlete an active participant of their rehabilitation, and never a just passive recipient of care. The body is a mechanical structure and therefore requires mechanical treatment. As such, stretching, strengthening, cross fiber massage, and ergonomics adjustments are the critical active therapeutic measures that will resolve your injury.