If you are a runner and you have a weird aching pain, and you’re not really even sure if it's in your foot or your ankle you may have a condition called sinus tarsi syndrome.

When a doctor tells you you developed a case of sinus tarsi syndrome That just means that you have irritated and inflamed the lining of the subtalar joint.

So of course as a runner suffering from this condition and trying to figure out what to do, so you don't get it again, it may be helpful if you can understand the three common causes of sinus tarsi syndrome in runners.

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we're talking about three causes of sinus tarsi syndrome in runners.

The best decision is the decision to take the right action. The second best decision is to take the wrong action. And the worst decision of all if you are an injured runner is make a decision to take no action at all. 

More often than not, when an injured runner limps into a doctor's office, the doctor tells the runner she has to stop running. We as runners are told to rest. These well-meaning doctors are trying to heal the one specific injury but they are doing so at the risk of ruining your ability to run permanently.

When we sit still we get weaker, stiffer and our fitness vanishes. Believe it or not, we as injured runners often do the same thing to ourselves. 

I get messages all the time from injured runners who are trying to find the best decision before they will take any action.

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we're talking about the best decision and worst actions for injured runners.

Just today I got an interesting question from Victoria, who has been suffering with a bad case of sesamoiditis which has been keeping her from running.

She saw an orthopedic surgeon who who thinks there is scar tissue around the sesamoid bone restricting the range of motion and causing the pain under the big toe joint.

The doctor explained to her that one other conservative option, which might help her avoid sesamoid surgery would be a corticosteroid injection which is sometimes also called a Cortizone injection.

So her question was:

“How exactly do steroid injections help? Do they break up scar tissue?  The orthopedic surgeon told me to be cautious about doing steroid injections, but I never got a clear explanation as to why.”

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we're talking about the good and bad of cortizone injections for sesamoiditis in runners.

Just today I was talking to a runner who has an injury and although this injury has gone on for a long time, I thought that she would know exactly whether it's improving or not. 

She said she thought it was improving, but we don't really know if it's improving, because there is no data.

It is easy for us as runners to tell when our fitness is getting better, we feel stronger, we feel better.

But unfortunately we don't really want to think about pain. We don't want to think about injury. We don't want to think about setbacks

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we're talking about how wishful thinking can kill recovery from a running injury.

The single most important thing you can do when you think you have a running injury is to make a decision, quickly.

You only have two choices.

1. Realize and admit you are injured and get about the business of recovery.

2. Confirm you aren't really injured and then adjust your course to continue your training.

But what most runners do is something in between. We want to believe we are not injured. We want to think we can continue training.

And instead of just kidding about the business of recovering and then training, we just make things worse.

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we're talking about how indecision prevents running injury recovery.

I got an interesting question sent in from a runner, who said…

I fractured my left ankle. I have been in an Aircast ever since. So, should I continue with the Aircast for another three weeks or try out an ankle brace?

Obviously when you want to get back to running, you think the key is always to advance as quickly as possible from one stage to the next...and that is true. 

You definitely want to try to advance as rapidly as possible. 

Today on the Doc On The Run podcast, we're talking about when a runner can use an ankle brace instead of an aircast when healing from an ankle fracture.

No treatment is best for every runner. Not even metatarsal fracture surgery. 

Your task as an injured runner who wants to run is to figure why a treatment is right for you…or not right for you…even if it gets recommended by a doctor or surgeon. 

When a comes to surgery to fix metatarsal fracture in your foot there a few considerations runners need to think about. 

Risk of NOT healing with or without surgery.

Risks of surgery themselves and risks related specifically to your running goals. 

Today on the Doc on the Run Podcast, we're talking about when surgery is better for a metatarsal fracture in a runner.

Doctors sometimes prescribe treatments than can be bad for runners. 

If wear a fracture walking boot, your muscles get weaker, your tendons and ligaments get stiffer, your bones start to lose calcium.

If you take ibuprofen during a race you can get gastrointestinal upset that complete wrecks your nutrition plan. In the the worst cases you could even get kidney failure.

If you break a bone and a doctor puts a cast on your leg you could get “cast disease.”

Even an adhesive bandage can cause trouble. 

Today on the Doc on the Run Podcast, we're talking about how everything in medicine is bad for runners.

Most runners are aggressive by nature. Planning, training, eating, analyzing, reaching for goals in way that your friends may label…“obsessed.”

Sometimes we are so aggressive we make a mistake, do too much and get an injury.  

The bad news is that we are now inundated with an air of “self-care” mentality that backfires.

The good news is that you already know how to heal. It is the same as recovery when training.

You need to be just as aggressive in your healing plan as you are in your training plan. 

Today on the Doc on the Run Podcast, we're talking about how injured runners need aggressive healing.

I just had a consultation with an injured runner who asked…

“Are crutches bad for injured runners?”

The correct answer is yes, crutches are bad for injured runners, especially if you use crutches any longer than it takes to heal your injury enough to start walking without crutches.

But if you needed crutches, and you avoid them, that could be even worse for you as a runner.

Nothing in medicine is black and white. Everything is gray. And crutches are no exception.

Today on the Doc on the Run Podcast, we're talking about what injured runners should think about when injured and offered a pair crutches in a doctors office.