The Sports Physical Therapy Podcast:
Working with Runners and Endurance Athletes with Chris Johnson

Chris Johnson is a physical therapist that specializes in the care of endurance runners and endurance athletes. Mike Reinold is a physical therapist, athletic trainer, and strength and conditioning coach specializing in helping people feel, move and perform better. Listen to this podcast interview with Chris and Mike where they address key issues when working with runners and endurance athletes via this link. Here are some of the topics they cover in the episode:

Why you should establish yourself as the go-to running resource and specialist in your area:

• There’s big potential: There are just so many people interested in running and endurance sports, and for a physical therapist is just such a great niche to get into.
• There’s a need: People are hellbent on getting back to running after an injury as it can affect their general well-being. So if you can be established as the go-to resource in your area, you will never be out of work. 
• Post pandemic effects: Chris mentions that since the pandemic he sees a wave of bone stress injuries in the gen pop (general population), compared to the pros who have more tendon-related disorders. He uses a great analogy that they’re pushing the needle so much it’s just so easy to tip the scales. He discusses how you need to treat injuries very differently as tendons warm up, and bones don’t.
•  Running gait analysis adds value: “How much time as a physio do you spend working on mechanics?” asked Mike.  Chris explains how he generally puts everyone on the treadmill and watches everyone run. He sees that elite runners often have their “running signatures engraved” and don’t try to change too much.  For most runners in the gen pop, he does a qualitative assessment, using what he dubbed the S’s of treadmill analysis:

1. 1. strike
   2. sound
   3. step rate
   4. speed
   5. surface
   6. slope.
   7. shank (lower leg angle), and
   8. step width

Chris combines his qualitative assessments with the objective metrics from Runeasi. According to Chris: “I will look at forces and I’ll use something called this Runeasi device, e a s i. And that gives you some interesting metrics. It gives you a symmetry score, it gives you mediolateral stability, and an impact score. Just because we can’t see forces—the best coaches and clinicians—have an idea—but we can’t quantify the forces.” Are you a runner who is worried about pain or that needs advice? We recommend you check out the Runwell platform of Chris Johnson.