Evaluations and Physical Therapy for Runners

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Evaluations and Physical Therapy for Runners

Running Program

Improvements to your running mechanics can help you run faster and more efficiently while reducing risk of injury. Whatever your level or goal, our team of specialists can help you reach your full potential.

The Running Program at Children’s Health℠ Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine helps runners move as safely and efficiently as possible. We work with all types of runners – from sprinters and cross-country runners to football and soccer players – at the middle school, high school, college and elite levels.

Using advanced video analysis and motion sensor technology, we do a comprehensive running assessment tailored to your sport. This allows us to pinpoint ways to improve your running while reducing your risk for injury. Then we’ll teach you strategies to improve your mechanics (how you move) as you work toward your running goal – whether it's running faster, farther or overcoming injuries.

Plano

469-303-3000

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Conditions We Treat

Comprehensive program focused on your goals

Running assessment: Running assessments are comprehensive, 60- to 90-minute evaluations. We record how each runner moves and film their running mechanics from every angle. Any abnormal running pattern can lead to foot, knee, hip or back injuries along with poor sport performance.

Next, our therapists will review the video footage and identify opportunities for improvement.

After we review your running mechanics, we’ll teach you exercises and strategies that you can use at home to improve your form.

Physical therapy evaluation: Nearly 80% of runners experience an injury within their first year of running. Seeing a specialized physical therapist can help you address injuries, recover and reduce your risk of future injury. We can also teach you different exercises and techniques to help you get stronger and run more efficiently. These techniques include:

  • Soft tissue mobility techniques to help you reduce pain and move better after an injury like a sprain or strain
  • Range of motion enhancement to help improve flexibility and make moving easier
  • Lower extremity stability and mobility exercises to keep your body flexible and strong while you run
  • Running-specific drills to help you run more efficiently and reduce your risk of injury
  • Dry needling where our specialty-trained experts insert a thin needle into specific muscles to reduce pain and tightness
  • Cupping which uses suction to increase blood flow while reducing muscle tension and also helps reduce pain
  • Blood flow restriction to build your strength at a reduced resistance which limits too much strain on your body
  • Normatec Boots which are compression boots that assist with recovery.

Expert staff

Children’s Health Andrews Institute is home to a leading team of specialists who’ve helped many runners in our community get back to running. Their deep expertise enables them to understand each runner’s unique goals and build a custom plan to help them excel in their sport.

Beyond being experts in physical therapy, most of our team members are runners themselves. They have competed in races at distances of 5k’s to 120-miles and everything in between. That means they’re backed by their medical training and their own experience and they use that knowledge and experience to help each athlete reach their full potential.

State-of-the-art equipment

Our facility is among the most advanced in our region with some of the most advanced technology. We use the latest tools to perform comprehensive evaluations, which enable us to provide detailed feedback to help you improve. Using cutting-edge technology, we can analyze your movements and pinpoint precise problems that may be impacting your running.

Our athletes also have access to:

  • Underwater and anti-gravity treadmills to help runners rehabilitate without putting too much stress on their joints and tissues
  • A biomechanics lab, where we closely analyze each athlete's movement pattern and give detailed recommendations to help you improve
  • A 50-yard turf field and a 75-meter track for speed and agility training
  • Woodway curve treadmills to help you improve your running form and posture and help you relearn to walk or run after an injury

Locations