Every time I talk to a recovering runner who is trying to figure out how to run, and help figure out what's causing all their trouble, I ask them to keep a pain journal.

Why do you think that is?

Pain is the lowest cost, most abundant, and most underutilized diagnostic resource available to help an injured runner guide the recovery.

Imagine a contest between doctors trying to get injured runners back to running faster.

If I could only use pain as a diagnostic tool, but other doctors could use MRIs, X-rays, CT scans, and all the medical imaging they wanted (but could not track the runner's pain), I bet I would get runners back to running faster.

Find the one thing that causes the most pain when you're running.

That's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.