Nathan Carlson is a physical therapist, coach, and business owner based out of Kansas City. He specializes in the management of bone stress injuries, managing the high school and collegiate runner, and implementing resistance training with endurance athletes. Nathan teaches nationally and internationally on these topics. Nathan has two digital resources - A Guidebook to Running After a Stress Fracture and A Guidebook to Navigating High School Running.

In this episode, we focus on how to approach bone stress injuries once we have established our diagnosis. We open our discussion with the physiology of bone healing and what the current research says about how long it actually takes for a bone to heal and how that may differ based on the location of the injury. We also discuss the factors that influence treatment, how to test when an athlete is ready to return to running, and how to progress training load for a successful recovery. 

Bone stress injuries are one of the most complex and frustrating injuries for runners. After our discussion with Nathan, we hope that you will have a better understanding of the training, nutrition, and metabolic factors that need to be considered with diagnosing and treating these injuries.

What we talked about:

3:05- The physiology of bone healing and the expectations to set for patients

17:40- Modalities for recovery

22:20- Focus for the return to run program

31:00- Being flexible with the protocol

Show notes:

Nathan's website

Nathan on Instagram

References: