A 48-year-old runner, Rosey, recently developed a left medial lower leg pain after excessive running preparing for a half marathon. She stated that she could not keep up with running pace due to early onset of pain in the problem area during running with a group. Prior to the development of left medial lower leg pain, Rosey successfully completed short-distance races without any issues.
Upon listening her running stories and analyzing running specific assessment, we noticed risk factors associated with plausible biomechanical causes of her problem. The contributing factors associated running related pain include: 1. Compensated forefoot pronation 2. Previous history of foot surgery (lack of intrinsic foot medial arch stability and weakness in eccentric control in calf muscles), 3. Insufficient proximal pelvic-hip control during single limp loading tasks such as single leg squat and landing (a part of running cycle) on treadmil as you observe from above frame by frame images during video analysis.
In order to meet Rosey's goal, we are currently working on identifying appropriate running volume by self-monitoring right dosage of mileages, developing efficient running skills (stride, cadence, arm/trunk rotation, hip & knee angle during landing), retraining core and intrinsic foot control, and improving a single limb dynamic stability.