It's so important to weigh up the risks and rewards of getting your athlete back to running. Clinical reasoning is vital to assess the athletes readiness to run, their response to running, irritability and importantly their goals.
During the athletes first run back, we like to use a walk-run protocol while monitoring three factors:
- Their pain during the run (safe/acceptable/excessive
- Symptoms over the next 24 hours (latent pain and stiffness)
-Trend of symptoms over time (can we see improvement?)
Although there is no recipe, as therapist we should be able to identify and address the athletes main impairments; have a graded objective plan to return the athlete to running and then monitor their response to running and modify where it is needed.
Trust the process! Get back out there and get back to doing what you love.
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