Doc On The Run Podcast Dr. Christopher Segler

I'm not going to tell you that any runner should want to use crutches. I'm also not going to tell you that you will enjoy wearing a fracture walking boot.
But there are reasons that you may want to do things a little differently if you're a runner. 
The critical issue is that runners must really try to speed up the healing process as much as possible, so that you can avoid losing your running fitness. 
What are the three time-sensitive problems solved when you use a fracture walking boot and crutches at the same time? 
Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast!

Most of the runners I see who have pain in the ball of the foot from a plantar plate sprain rarely start out with a completely torn plantar plate tear. 
More often, runners ignore the pain from the plantar plate sprain and it evolves into a full thickness plantar plate tear. 
Surgery is only needed when the plantar plate is torn in such a way that the plantar plate ligament cannot be expected to heal without surgery. 
But there are some mistakes that could lead a runner to the operating room.
Plantar plate surgery is a failure to act quickly. 
That's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast. 

Sometimes when you get injured and have to stop running, you start to lose your identity.
One of the things that I notice most in runners who have gone weeks or months without running, is they are really bummed out. 
These runners seem really grumpy. In some cases, they don't even view themselves as a "runner" anymore...well, because they're "not running."
If you want to heal and get back to running as quickly as possible this can be a real problem. 
How can self-judgment actually slow down your injury recovery when you have an overtraining injury as a runner? 
Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.

I just had a consultation with a runner who had foot pain that she thought might be a stress fracture that had been coming and going for about a month. 
She had been increasing her training volume and doing strength exercises that are supposed to build her running fitness. 
The pain seemed to be volume related. The more training she did, the more she would notice the discomfort in her foot.
But when we x-rays of her foot, the radiologist suggested this could be an "acute on chronic" stress reaction. 
What does that mean? 
What is the difference between a chronic stress reaction, or an acute on chronic stress reaction in a runner? 
Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast. 

Just this morning, during the live Stress Fracture Masterclass I had an interesting question. 
The story went like this. An athlete who is a State ranked high school cross country and track, had to suddenly stop running due to intense pain that started about 15 days ago.
He went and saw a doctor. He got x-rays. He got an MRI, had a physical exam where the orthopedic doctor poked around and tried to figure out what was going on. The Orthopedist gave on diagnosis, but the Radiologist suggested a different diagnosis.
This is where the trouble comes in.
So, the runner was told a couple of different things, 1) a stress reaction, or 2) stress fracture, possibly of A) the third metatarsal or B) intermediate cuneiform bone, at the base of the third metatarsal.
Confused yet?
So was this runner! 
What do you do if you think you have a stress fracture, you see an orthopedic doctor and the radiologist who reads your images s disagrees about your diagnosis. 
Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.

Let's say you had an ankle injury a long time ago. 
You sprained the ankle when you were out on a trail run, it got better , and you went right back to running.
But over time, you slowly got more and more pain in the ankle. 
In that case, you doctor might order an MRI of your ankle, or a similar imaging study called an MRA (instead of MRI). 
What's the difference between MRI or MRA in a runner with an old nagging ankle injury?
That's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.