Most running injuries do not start with a fall or a twist. They build up over a few weeks: a knee that aches at the 3km mark, an Achilles that is stiff first thing in the morning, a heel that complains after a long run. You rest for a week, it settles, and it is back within two runs.
That pattern is what Martin Ratcliffe, one of our physiotherapists, spends a lot of his week working on.
Martin’s background with runners
Martin is a chartered physiotherapist with experience in private practice and elite sport, and he continues to work with Brighton & Hove Albion’s Under-23s. He has completed Tom Goom’s Running Repairs course, which trains clinicians in assessing and managing running injuries. He is also a keen runner himself, so he understands that “just stop running” is rarely the answer people are hoping for.
What he looks at
A first appointment is 45 minutes, and most of the early part is conversation. Martin will want to understand:
- Your training. How far and how often you run, what has changed recently, and what you are training for.
- The injury itself. Where it hurts, when it comes on during a run, and how it behaves afterwards and the next morning.
- Strength and movement. How the affected leg compares with the other, and how you squat, hop and land.
Where it is useful he uses our VALD ForceDecks force plates, which measure how much force each leg produces when you jump, land and push. Testing is included in your physiotherapy at no extra cost, and it gives you numbers to track rather than relying only on how the leg feels.
What treatment usually involves
Most running injuries come down to a mismatch between what a tissue is being asked to do and what it is currently ready for. So the plan usually has three parts:
- Adjusting your running so the injury can settle. Where possible that means changing distance, pace or frequency rather than stopping altogether.
- Strength work aimed at what the assessment found, progressed in stages.
- A structured return to your normal training, with clear markers for when to move on.
Hands-on treatment and medical acupuncture can be part of this where they help with pain, but the exercise and the training plan do most of the work.
Injuries Martin often sees in runners
- Runner’s knee and other knee pain
- Achilles tendon pain
- Heel pain (plantar fasciitis)
- Injuries that keep returning each time you build your mileage
When to book
It is worth being assessed if a niggle has lasted more than a couple of weeks, keeps coming back when you build up, or is changing the way you run. You do not need a GP referral.
Book an appointment with Martin
Written by Sam Pargeter, chiropractor and co-founder of The Health Hub.