A plantar plate ligament sprain can cause aching pain in the ball of the foot when you run. 

Plantar plate sprains are caused by excess stress applied to the ligament at the base of the toe. 

If you want to heal it and keep running, you have to decrease the stress and strain on the plantar plate, and address the root cause of the injury.

A runner with a plantar plate sprain, and tight calf muscles, had a great question: 

Does the plantar plate ligament cause tight calf muscles, or can a tight calf muscle cause a plantar plate sprain? 

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we're talking about whether a plantar plate sprain causes tight calf muscles in runners, or other way around. 

Shin splints and tibial stress fractures can feel similar when you run.

Most runners understand there is a huge difference between shin splints and a tibial stress fractures. 

I recently did a telemedicine second opinion call with a runner who had a tibial stress fracture. 

What she did not understand, and what her doctor had not explained is why some tibial stress fractures are very low risk of breaking, and another is very high risk of landing a runner in the operating room. 

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we're talking about different types of tibial stress fractures in runners.

I was just doing a telemedicine call with a runner with a stress fracture, and he had a really interesting question. 

He said, "Look, I just really want to know if I really have a stress fracture because my doctor took an x-ray and there was no crack in the bone. I looked it up myself and the definition of a fracture is a visible crack." 

Do I really have a stress fracture, or not?

This is a great question, it brings up a really interesting point.

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we're talking about whether or not a runner can have a stress fracture, if there is no crack in the bone.

Raynaud’s Phenomenon is an interesting condition in which spasms of small blood vessels cause changes in the skin color of the hands and feet. Raynaud’s phenomenon can also cause pain in the feet. Foot pain is also very common in runners. 

Raynauds is one of those conditions that isn’t typically diagnosed with a blood test or and x-ray. The diagnosis is typically made “clinically” meaning the doctor hears your story, listens to your history and decides you probably have the condition, because nothing else fits.

The question is whether or not a runner who gets an MRI because of foot pain, might have something show up on the MRI images that can indicate Raynaud's is contributing to the runner’s trouble.

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we're talking about wether or not you can see Raynaud’s Phenomenon on an MRI in a runner.

When you get any stage of Achilles injury and you're a runner, you're trying to figure out what you can do to get it to heal as quickly as possible. 

The biggest concern with runners when they have an Achilles tendon injury is that the tendon is going to continue to degenerate, turn into Achilles tendinosis, and then potentially even rupture.

But the good news is that stress, when actually applied in the right way, can help your Achilles tendon recover faster, become stronger, so you can get back to running, possibly even with less risk of re-injury.

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we're talking about how stress can actually help your Achilles tendon recover faster. 

There are the three forms of stress that can affect you and the injured tissue when you actually get back to running after you've been injured and you feel like you've recovered.

I was just recently doing a telemedicine visit with someone who had an injury and was getting better. She was told to start running, but she wasn't really given any specific instructions. 

She was told, "You can go and just kind of run a little bit and see how it feels." 

If you're a runner and you haven't been running for weeks because of an injury, you're probably going to feel so good when you start running that you're going to do too much. If you do too much, and then you start having pain, you're going to completely freak out because you're going to be worried that you've completely set back your injury.

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we're talking about the three forms of stress when you start running after injury.

Just a couple of days ago I was doing a telemedicine call with a runner who wanted to know what it meant to have “thinning of the plantar plate ligament on his MRI.

He asked, "What does ‘thinning’ really mean? Do I really have a plantar plate tear? Is it a problem? Will I be able to continue to run?" 

“What is the issue with this idea of thinning of the plantar plate ligament, and why does it happen?”

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking about thinning of the plantar plate ligament on an MRI in a runner.

When you break down the goal of running a marathon, it really only has 3 key elements. 

You are crystal clear on the distance, the starting point and the end point. 

All you have to do to compete the marathon successfully is break your training down into the daily and weekly stages of growth to establish the fitness required of your body on race day.

Running injuries are difficult because they lack the clarity and simplicity of training for a marathon. But make no mistake. The process is just the same. 

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking about the 3 key elements of marathon training and running injury recovery.

Metatarsal stress fractures are one of the most common injuries in runners. Unfortunately for runners, 4 weeks to 6 weeks in a fracture walking it boot is the common recommendation from doctors.  

Part of the reason you get the boot for 4-6 weeks, is that you didn’t give your doctor enough information to recommend anything else. The doctor wants you to heal. The way you tell your stress fracture fracture story leaves the doctor imaging the worst possible scenario and you get the worst possible treatment as a result.  

To heal a stress fracture you need to stop stressing the bone. You need to stop causing damage. It is that simple. 

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking about why doctors prescribe 4-6 weeks in a fracture boot for stress fractures in runners.

This weekend, I was giving a lecture at a medical conference that was specific to running injuries. 

During the question and answer period, one of the physicians in the audience asked a completely valid question. 

She asked, "Why wouldn't you just begin with a prescription medication if you're 100% sure that medication had the highest probability of reducing the patient's symptoms?”

The difference between the treatment options really lies in what is best for a runner long-term, versus what may best in the short term.

Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast we're talking about why runners should not start running injury treatment with prescription medications.