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Join us today as I interview physical therapist and running specialist Chris Johnson.  Topics discussed are:

• [4:14] Chris’s unique background as a physical therapist and athlete
• [7:30] How promoting longevity in fitness through smarter training is vital
• [9:24] One of the most critical mistakes runners make with training
• [10:05] 90% of runners run at 90% intensity, 90% of the time and 90% get injured – whoa
• [13:30] Chris’s current patient caseload and how he integrated running performance into his physical therapy practice
• [16:20] What are the most common injuries seen in the running population?
• [17:15] The importance of a thorough subjective during your initial evaluation
• [17:48] Chris’s assessment of an injured runner
• [18:34] Staging and typing an injury – Where am I in the stages of rehab?
• [19:14] The importance of single leg balance
• [19:57] Progression through the 1st ray and great toe
• [20:30] Eccentric closed chain tolerance – The step-down test
• [20:50] What’s frontal plane stability look like?
• [21:02] Can the patient properly hop?
• [22:00] We are returning runners to running too quickly after injury
• [22:44] How Chris progresses his runners back to running after injury
• [24:10] Teaching runners decision making while running – when to push and when to stop immediately
• [26:10] Chris’s favorite drills and progressions to enhance single leg stance

• [29:48] How Chris teaches progression through the 1st ray

• [32:52] Should we teach the short foot and can we actually teach a short foot?
• [33:53] How to cue people most effectively
• [35:18] How do we integrate more dynamic foot stability into our therapy once our patients have mastered static exercises (Single leg stance)
• [37:20] Chris’s favorite closed chain eccentric exercises – The importance of weightlifting for runners.  The runner’s “core four”

• [39:17] How Chris checks frontal plane stability and then treats it – Single leg balance and hip abduction

• [41:55] What does a typical running biomechanical analysis look like for …read more
  
  

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The other day I released an article entitled 10 Critical Principles Physical Therapists Need to Know about Crossfit for Successful Rehabilitation.  I admit, I was a bit ticked off from so many therapists judging me for wearing crossfit t-shirts (Please don’t tell me you do that, blah blah etc etc.).  A lot of that was written because I was just plain peeved about it.  

I’m happy with the message that was sent but in honesty, I think it did backfire some.  I had some smart therapist friends who had their patients come in with a copy of my article with the idea that their therapists were incompetent and didn’t understand their unique needs as a patient.  I really didn’t mean to give this notion nor do I believe this in any way.  Most physical therapists hold a doctorate level education and work all day everyday getting people out of pain.  They’re good at what they do and deservedly so.  I think the article pushed some patients to lose any and all faith in their therapists and I didn’t mean to do that.

What I think IS a more fair assumption is that our two professions just don’t know each other well enough.  As a trainer/coach, when was the last time you called your patient’s therapist or doctor to ask about specific advice on what your client should and shouldn’t do?  As a therapist do you regularly speak with your patient’s coaches/trainers to see how they are progressing back to their sport and recommend ways to ease back?  I believe that if we understood each other’s roles better there would be much less animosity and more importantly, better patient/client outcomes.  Here are my top five reasons that therapists and trainers should talk more.

1) Ignorance Breeds Misinformation and Hostility

It’s easy …read more