I am running two courses for podiatrists at present. Biomechanics is often seen as confusing and the application into clinical practice is often the hard part. These courses will demystify these issues, make sense of clinical biomechanics and give you skills to apply these to your clinical work straight away. I have been running biomechanics courses in various guises for many years and these are the accumulation of the knowledge I have gained from these courses and my time in clinical practice.
These are:
‘Foot Assessment Workshop’ – an introduction to foot biomechanical assessment as a new skill or a refresher session.
‘Running Assessment Workshop’ – Understanding runners, running and how we run.
Foot Biomechanics Assessment Workshop
This course I have run many times and is aimed at clinicians wanting to improve their skill set. No prior knowledge of biomechanical podiatry is necessary, just a willingness to learn new skills. This will look at feet and how they work. Link function to injury and provide an introduction to using a variety of treatment options.
The Day
This is a very practical hands on day. My way of working is to treat function. It is how we are moving that is causing the problem and our treatment of the patient has to look at addressing the bit of the movement that is causing the problem. We need to understand why the patient is moving in that way and then address the chain of compensations that lead to the point of injury. Most of the injuries we see in clinic are repetitive strain injuries and the injury occurs when the body can no longer dissipate the damaging load that it is being subjected to. With this in mind we will look at how feet work and difference in the types of feet we see in clinic. We shall use functional anatomy to gain an understanding of what features of the foot is making it appear as it does. We shall then look at how it is working as it is. We shall examine each section of the foot and how it all relates together.
We shall carry out a non-weight bearing assessment you can do with the patient sitting in the treatment chair / couch, a standing assessment and a very basic walking assessment. You will gain an understanding of how the foot of why the foot behaves how it does, how it responds to loading in stance and gait and the knock on effects up the chain. We start to see patterns of form and function appearing and quickly know what to look for and understand the way these compensations have an effect on the rest of the body.
We shall use an assessment form and I shall explain what each bit of the assessment is telling you. You will get to practice on as many as feet as we can fit in to the time. You will then be able to take all the information away to use as you wish.
There will be course notes and videos as well as a Whatsapp group for support if you want to join up.
Dates and Location
Next workshop is being hosted by Sarah Chiesm at Knaresborough Podiatry Clinic
Friday 3rd July 9.30 to 4
Places are limited these are small group sessions.
Cost £80
Knaresborough Podiatry and Treatment Rooms
6 Green Dragon Yard
Knaresborough
HG5 8AU
Phone
info@knaresboroughpodiatry.co.uk
Running Assessment Workshop
I ran this course a couple of times pre Covid as a two day course, this shall now be a one day course due to demand. An understanding of how to compete a basic biomechanical assessment and a desire to see runners in your clinic are the only requirements. This day is about runners but does relate our biomechanics patients but will be based on running specific information.
Working with runners or wanting to develop this part of your clinical offering is important. We shall cover pretty much everything to do with running. It is important to have a good overall understanding of what makes up a runner and all the factors that can lead to them coming to see you. It is very rarely a biomechanical issue in isolation that is the problem. As this is only a day there will be limited coverage of some the surrounding topics, but a full depth look at running technique.
Gait Analysis
A gait analysis is essential when dealing with runners. We need to know how they are running, what is their running technique like, how are they moving. There is a lot of debate about what is good running form, can we change and how to change it to make it permanent. We shall discuss all this. I believe that there is not one set way that everyone should be running although there are some basic principles to adhere to. We shall discuss these and see how close your runner is to running in an optimal way, for them. We need to understand their lifestyle, running history, running motivations and what sort of running they are doing. A track middle distance runner will run differently to an ultra runner and therefore we can’t expect them to run with the same form although we can apply some basic principles to what is good form. We are trying to find the link between the way they are running and the injury the present with or why they are not able to improve their running performance.
What is Covered
As we have said, gait analysis is the big thing. We shall look at the mind set of runners, training techniques, nutrition, breathing, response to injury, history taking and footwear. The implementation of short term treatments, an understanding of common training errors, how daily lifestyle stresses will impact on running, the importance of recovery from runs and how to speed this up will all be discussed. Running specific exercises and running drills will be covered. The aim of these is to address running form issues we have found.
Cost, Dates and Location
To be Confirmed
The Next Step
Both of these courses are very practical in nature. You don’t have to be a runner or take part in the exercises and drills and it is great to have a go and practice what we do. As this is a practical course be prepared to get involved, the days are very hands on. You will need to present your findings on certain bits of both courses. It is very interactive and in a really safe and supportive environment. There are no silly questions or understandings on these subjects. We have fun and make sense of what can be difficult subjects.
If you would like more information or to register your interest with the location the please contact me directly via email.
colin@colpodtherapies.co.uk
Colpod Podiatry & Therapies – Book appointment (cliniko.com)
An Outline of what to expect on the day – this may be subject to change and timings may differ.
Plan for the day
09.00 Meet up Bit for coffee, tea, refreshments
09.30 Introduction Bit – to the day, to me and each other. What do you want from the day and what do you need to treat runners above your normal bio pts.
09.45 Runners – a bit about runners and what makes them tick, different types of runners and where and why they run
10.00 History – The chatty Bit Pre assessment questions and what to ask them when they walk in the room
10.30 Getting hands on – The non-weight bearing and standing bit – A brief overview of a these assessments, what we are looking for and what does it mean with regard to linking what you to see to compensations to injury. Practical session in small groups to get as many of your group assessed as possible in 30 mins.
(I also offer a one day foot assessment workshop if you want to get a better understanding of what you need to know for this bit).
11.00 Time for a break – phew! More great coffee and cakes.
11.30 The Moving Bit – Barefoot walking and running Gait Analysis. How to do it and what to look for. I will explain what I feel are the 5 main principles of good running form. Using video and each other to collect video footage to discuss in groups then all together. Looking for deviations from the 5 principles.
12.30 Lunch – Bring your own or the Batch House in the Glass yard has a great selection of food
13.15 – The ‘Treatment’ Bit – once we have identified what we think is going on what can we do about it. We will discuss treatment options and these will include;
Addressing symptoms because this is what your client is most interested in
Load management
Pain
Short term interventions
Making biomechanical changes
What do we want to change and why
Exercises
Strength
Mobility
Manual therapy
Orthoses
Footwear
Gait changes
Running drills
Daily activities
Training
Running coaches
Nutrition
Breathing
Psychosocial factors
Strava
Referral on
Follow up
What do and what are you looking for
14.00 – The Analysis Bit – Linking all the information together. Understanding why your client is moving as they are moving. Explaining why they have presented with the issues they present with. You will be presenting one or more of your group to the whole group with what you have found. This will be a very supported bit and open for general discussion.
15.15 A quick break – keep your brains working
15.30 – Explain and Discuss your findings
16.30 – Summary
Follow up sessions
Whatsapp group
17.00 Finish
Drinks / Food
