Our articles are not designed to replace medical advice. If you have an injury we recommend seeing a qualified health professional. To book an appointment with Tom Goom (AKA ‘The Running Physio’) visit our clinic page. We offer both in-person assessments and online consultations.
It’s rare to see someone sail through rehab without at least 1 or 2 painful wobbles along the way! The good news is that there are things you can do as their therapist to reduce the impact of these flare-ups and help prevent them in future. Here are my top 5 tips:
For Patients with longstanding injuries, they can encounter multiple flare-ups during rehab. They often feel like they’re back to square one but that’s rarely the case. The psychological effects of these flare-ups can be more distressing than the physical. It can help them to have a plan and to stick with that rather than get drawn into rumination and worry (which never helps!).
A common time for runners to have a flare-up is when they progress their training. If this is the case encourage them to reduce the training to a more manageable level rather than stopping altogether if possible. This prevents a frustrating ‘boom and bust’ pattern from developing which can really hamper long-term progress.
For more on how to successfully treat running injuries check out the Running Repairs Course. You can learn from home with our comprehensive online course or join us for a weekend of running rehab with our in-person courses. Visit our course page for our latest dates in the UK and overseas.
