ARCHIVES

see all

TAGS

see all

Apply Now

Join the CMG community and let us help you manage your travel nursing, travel allied, Locum Tenens, and permanent placement opportunities. Sign up and be the first to find the latest and greatest healthcare positions across the country.

Search Healthcare Jobs

Have a specific location in mind? We have travel nursing, travel allied, Locum Tenens, and permanent healthcare career opportunities in all 50 states. Search our healthcare job database to find the position you are looking for.

Sign up for our newsletter:

Return to Running With Confidence

by Brian Schwabe

What do you use for your return to running criteria? When physical therapists think about return to running, oftentimes strength, ROM, and motor control are the primary components. Yet as our profession continues to advance through both research and good anecdotal evidence, we must do our best to objectively measure our return to running progressions. If we look at the mechanics of running, there are many ways to help ensure our athletes are prepared to run again.

Objective testing for return to running

Biomechanically, it can be difficult for a PT to mimic the load requirements for running. However, from a testing standpoint, there are ways we can mimic the running motions and requirements. Many PT’s are without a treadmill and have difficulty with performing a thorough return to running process. The good news is there are ways to test out different components of the run to aid in your decision making process.

Single leg step-down

  • This is the foundation of the running motion, in my opinion. In running, because we are essentially bounding from one leg to another, we need to look at single leg strength and control.
  • The single leg step-down to 45 degrees can be a good indicator of eccentric control, hip stability, varus/valgus control, trunk stability, and knee vs. hip patterning.

return to running 1

Planks with arm drivers

  • How do you measure core stability? Or do you say core strength? These terms are used interchangeably but need to be separated and defined clearly. For runners, I like to use the plank with alternating arm drivers for 1 minute.
  • The key with this test is to encourage the athlete to minimize rotation at the trunk when reaching out.

return to running 2

Reverse lunge

  • The reverse lunge is another test I look at with each athlete when determining whether they can start to return to running. The purpose of the lunge is to determine what the mobility of the trail leg is and the control of that leg. In other words, we are looking at the athlete's ability to load through the rear leg and great toe. While this is often overlooked and not tested, the great toe is responsible for aiding in push off in running.

return to running 3

Putting it all together

Without an Alter G, it can be difficult to slowly load the athlete back up to running following the above tests. My suggestion is you prepare the athlete back to that loading with light jumps and/or an agility ladder. The reason I say using an agility ladder is because it can be helpful to get that small bounding from one leg to another, similar to running. Lastly, remember that there is less vertical displacement running on a treadmill and that a treadmill will “pull” your leg back and put an anterior shearing force on the femoral head. This is crucial to understand if your athlete is returning from a hip injury.

ARCHIVES

see all

Search Healthcare Jobs

Have a specific location in mind? We have travel nursing, travel allied, Locum Tenens, and permanent healthcare career opportunities in all 50 states. Search our healthcare job database to find the 

TAGS

see all

Join Now

Join our talent community to learn more about travel nursing, travel allied, Locum Tenens, and permanent opportunities in your area. Be the first to learn about the latest healthcare positions nationwide. It takes less than a minute!