Treating and Training the Female Runner

Course Description:

The female runner presents practitioners with unique challenges. Women are 2x more likely to sustain a running injury than men; experience a higher rate of incontinence than age-matched women in the general population; and must navigate the changes brought by pregnancy and postpartum to continue to participate in their sport of choice. It is critical that both male and female orthopedic, sports medicine, and pelvic health professionals recognize and have skills to address the inter-relationship of musculoskeletal, performance and pelvic/abdominal health needs of female runners (and all female athletes) in their care. These issues are intertwined within the brains and bodies of athletic females, we can no longer separate them in our clinical and fitness programming.

Treating and Training the Female Runner (or any Female Athlete)** Online provides a robust, interactive learning experience that bridges the gap between our understanding of musculoskeletal, and sports performance with pelvic, abdominal and pregnancy/postpartum health considerations for female athletes. The course is intended to be an entry level and all external/functional opportunity. Musculoskeletal and sports medicine practitioners unfamiliar with pelvic health AND pelvic health providers unsure of how to prepare a patient for a return to fitness and sport to gain the foundational knowledge, clinical reasoning and relevant skills to integratively assess and address the full clinical picture for their female runners. The goal is to build strategies that free runners and all athletes from rehab edicts and provide a path back to automatic, efficient and powerful movement, function and fitness without pain or pelvic/abdominal health considerations.

The strategies for assessment and treatment are very adaptable to telehealth. In addition to practicing the concepts in collaborative conversations throughout and labs, the online course now includes a home study case as an opportunity to practice course concepts and prepare you for engaging patients via telehealth. **(Information, reasoning, and strategies can be applied to other types of female athletes).

Module One of Foundations (Diaphragm Pelvic Floor Piston for Adult Populations Online or Live) is included as a part of the course. It provides the concepts, evidence and building blocks to rethink central control strategies that are inclusive of breath mechanics and pelvic floor. It is the critical first-step, and middle ground for the pelvic health and ortho/sports medicine communities to have a common starting point and language to step into the conversation for female athletes. Module One is the minimum requirement. More modules are highly recommended to broaden your understanding of the material and prepare to apply the ideas across a continuum of needs, in different populations-from basic first steps, to building targeted interventions for any type of female athletes and clinical reasoning with Julie in two-live cases in real time. Partial and full course bundles are available below.

Bundles

Click here for all bundles

This full series provides professionals with a road map through the early, foundational steps of client assessment through treatment progressions, strategies and the clinical reasoning process for active and athletic female with pelvic/abdominal, pregnancy/postpartum, musculoskeletal, functional and performance needs. From Foundations (Foundations: Modules 1-7) to assessment, treatment strategies and clinical reasoning for direct interventions with Runners and Athletes (Treating and Training the Female Runner).

Course Objectives:

Equip and empower all professionals that treat female runners (or any female athlete) with the ability to understand at depth, reason through and build programs that simultaneously address musculoskeletal, pelvic and performance needs. At the end of the course, participants will be able to address clinical questions including:

• How can we use running and fitness programs to return women simultaneously to optimal musculoskeletal, pelvic and performance health, instead of eliminating it until they are “better”?
• How does impact control, or lack thereof, simultaneously contribute to common musculoskeletal and pelvic health presentations in female runners?
• How do we create dynamic control for a runner versus stiff stability offered by abdominal hollowing, bracing or “core” stabilizing ideas?
• Why are young women who have never had children leaking during running and how does that affect running efficiency and performance? (Hint: Their pelvic floors aren’t weak).
• How do we harness optimal intra-abdominal pressure for trunk control without contributing to pelvic and abdominal health issues?
• How do you build a program to prepare a new mom to return to running post-partum?
• How are painful hips or low back while running and painful sex intertwined?
• What is the path back to running for women with pelvic organ prolapse?
• How does diastasis recti impact trunk and pelvic control in running?
• What running form considerations can be modified to address musculoskeletal, pelvic/abdominal, and performance needs?
• How do we recreate automaticity and carryover to remove the need for runners and athletes to be over-cued and to overthink about breathing, alignment/form and rehab strategies? (Hint: It’s not with strengthening programs)
• How do we build resilience in our female runners to prevent future injuries? **

Pre-Course and Lab Requirements:

1. Collect a video of yourself and one other person running* (*female runner/athlete is ideal for all videos). Videos should be from the front, side and behind.
2. Collect pictures of yourself and one other person* from the front and side.
3. Collect video of yourself, and one other person* performing bilateral single leg stance, squats, bilateral single leg squats, a squat jump and bilateral hops all from side and front views.
4. Collect video from head to pelvis of yourself and one other person* taking a deep breath and then speaking or singing the ABC’s. Catching them laughing is a bonus! View should be from the side.
5. Have a full length mirror on hand, room to move, and some type of resistance equipment on hand (bands, dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells, etc.).
6. Sign and return the course Terms and Conditions.

Course Audience:

This course is intended to equip and empower professionals with the current evidence, theoretical constructs, clinical reasoning and practical tools to help treat and train female runners (or any female athlete). The information bridges the gap between musculoskeletal, and sports performance and pelvic, abdominal and pregnancy/postpartum health considerations for female athletes. All participants should apply the information within their State/jurisdictional scope of practice.

The PT/DC (medical pros) The course is intended to be an entry level (and all external/functional) opportunity for musculoskeletal and sports medicine practitioners unfamiliar with pelvic health AND pelvic health providers unsure of how to prepare a patient for a return to fitness and sport to gain the foundational knowledge, clinical reasoning and relevant skills to integratively assess and address the full clinical picture for their female runners (or any female athlete).

The PTA will gain insight into the theoretical basis for assessment process, and clinical reasoning behind the POC designed by the therapist. Course participation and self-reflective learning experiences with specific cueing, exercise guidelines, monitoring for signs of intolerance, program modifications, progression parameters and treatment methods will insure continuity of care.

The Athletic Trainer/Kinesiologist (AT/Kin) will gain insight into theory, evidence, reasoning and practical tools for integration of the POC into an athletes training program. Observation, and participation through self-reflection, will assist with monitoring and modifying an athelete’s program to keep pelvic, musculoskeletal, and performance health in mind.

Intended Audience: This course is intended for rehabilitation professionals. The course focus on clinical assessment, clinical reasoning and treatment strategy falls under the scope of rehabilitative intervention. Other professionals enter into this for informational purposes only to be understood and applied within their state/jurisdictional scope of practice.

Course Schedule:

Day One:

Module One: Foundational Concepts Applied to Running

Module Two: Clinical Reasoning for the Female Athlete

Module Three: Alignment/Form Assessment (Thoracic Cage in Pregnant and Postpartum Women)

Module Four: Detailed Assessments with Small Group, Self-Labs, and Self-Reflection

1. Central Control System (Breath Mechanics, Pelvic Floor and Abdominals)
2. Movement and Rotational Patterns
3. Gait and Running Form Assessments

Day Two:

Module Five: Pelvic and Abdominal Health Integration and Case Applications

Module Six: Treatment Strategies: Impact

Module Seven: Treatment Strategies: Intra-abdominal Pressure

Module Eight: Rotation and Muscular Relationships that Support Reciprocation

Module Nine: Return to Run Reasoning (Running as Intervention)

Bonus: Home Study Case

I need a Certificate of Completion

After you have completed the course modules, look for a link “I need a certificate of completion” at the bottom of the course page. Click the link to be directed to your post-test at www.classmarker.com. You must score a minimum of 70% on this test in order to receive the certificate. After you have submitted the test, you will be provided with the option to download your certificate of completion. In addition, click the link to be directed to a course self-refection to optimize the application of your learning to clinical practice. Please follow the provided link to complete the course evaluation. We value your feedback!

Is the course eligible for CEU's?

Treating and Training the Female Runner does not provide CEUs. The FSBPT Procert program no longer exists for certifying new courses (two JWPT professional courses are certified in 32+ states through Procert through Fall 2021). Until something emerges to take the place of the multi-state Procert program, you will need to retroactively submit the course completion certificate to your individual state board for CEUs to apply to your re-licensure. It is your responsibility to check with your state board on their specific requirements for approval. The live-online version of the course (synchronous remote) has been approved for CEUs in Illinois (the asynchronous version was filmed from a live-online opportunity). This may assist with conversations with your board.

Computer Compatibility Needs

This course is hosted on the teachable.com online streaming service designed to handle any system setup. So if you have a computer and an internet connection you should have access without issue. If you have issues with a slower bandwidth connection then you can change the video settings to a lower quality to help improve any loading issues.

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