If Your Running Injury Keeps Coming Back, There’s a Reason
Sometimes the answer isn’t more exercises. Sometimes you have to find what’s actually keeping the body from healing.
By Ralph Havens, PT IMTC
Beyond Limits Physical Therapy — Fairhaven, Bellingham, Washington
If you’re a runner who keeps getting hurt, I want you to consider something:
What if there is a reason you’re not healing?
And what if simply doing more exercises, taking more time off, or trying another treatment isn’t necessarily the answer?
“I Can’t Run More Than One Minute.”
Years ago, a runner came to me with persistent hip pain.
She couldn’t run for more than about a minute without having to stop.
And here’s the important part:
She was already seeing a very good, highly respected physical therapist.
She was doing the exercises. She was following the plan. She was trying to return to running gradually.
But it wasn’t working.
She did this for essentially an entire track season.
She wasn’t getting better.
When she came to see me, we looked at the problem differently.
We found what I believed was the underlying/root cause contributing to why she wasn’t healing.
I gave her some very specific things to change in the physical world—things related to how she was moving and living—and I worked with her directly.
A week later, she was already feeling significantly better.
Over the next several weeks, she progressed from barely being able to run for a minute to running for several minutes at a time.
And eventually?
She got her track season back.
She was able to compete again.
That’s the difference I’m talking about.
It’s not necessarily about whether someone is doing enough.
Sometimes the question is: Are we addressing the right thing?
The Runner Who Couldn’t Run With His Team
Another runner came to me with significant knee pain.
He couldn’t run.
He would walk around with his teammates while they trained, but he couldn’t participate.
And again, he was already getting good therapy.
We started working together once a week.
Over the following weeks, things began to change.
Within a month or two, he was back to running and racing.
And eventually, he set a personal record in the mile.
“I couldn’t have done it without you.”
I don’t tell that story to brag.
I tell it because there are runners who are doing everything they’re supposed to be doing and still aren’t getting better.
What If the Pain Isn’t Where the Problem Is?
I’ve seen this repeatedly over the years.
One runner had been dealing with groin and hip pain for more than a decade.
He could only manage a run/walk approach at roughly a 12-minute-mile pace.
When we assessed him, the primary issue wasn’t simply the muscles or joints where he felt the pain.
We found an issue involving the pelvis that appeared to be contributing to the problem.
We worked on it. We changed things. I gave him specific things to do between sessions.
Gradually, his running began to open back up.
He went from struggling to run at 12-minute pace to doing intervals around 6–9 minute pace.
And eventually, he was racing again.
“My Coach Told Me to Stop Running.”
Another runner I worked with was a track athlete dealing with hip pain.
He was limited to roughly 10 miles per week.
His coach eventually told him to stop running.
But we kept looking for what was actually going on.
We found and addressed the contributing factors.
And by the end of the season, he had set a personal record in his signature track event.
If You’re Still Hurt, Don’t Automatically Assume Your Body Is Broken
This is one of the biggest things I want runners and coaches to understand.
If an injury is chronic, recurring, or simply refusing to heal, it’s worth asking why.
That doesn’t mean there’s always one magical explanation.
And it certainly doesn’t mean every injury can be fixed with one technique.
But if you’re doing the right training, getting appropriate therapy, managing your workload—and you’re still stuck—
it’s worth looking deeper.
Sometimes the problem isn’t where you think it is.
Sometimes there are movement or biomechanical factors that haven’t been identified.
Sometimes something in the way you’re loading or using your body needs to change.
Sometimes the body needs a different input.
And sometimes we need to stop asking:
“What exercise should I add?”
and start asking:
“Why isn’t this body healing?”
Coaches: Think About the Runner Who Keeps Getting Hurt
If you’re a coach, you probably know exactly who I’m talking about.
- keeps getting shin pain
- keeps getting knee pain
- keeps getting Achilles problems
- keeps getting plantar fascia problems
- keeps getting hip pain
- gets healthy…then gets hurt again
- does the exercises
- follows the training
- gets therapy
- takes time off
- comes back carefully
- and somehow ends up right back where they started
Those runners can be incredibly frustrating.
For the athlete. For the parents. For the coach. And for the therapist.
But sometimes they’re not failing.
The system is simply missing something.
That’s where I can help.
Let’s Find the Root Cause
I’m Ralph Havens, a physical therapist and IMTC practitioner here in Fairhaven, Bellingham.
I’ve been working with runners and active people for more than four decades.
My approach is simple:
Let’s figure out what’s actually going on.
I offer a free consultation where we can talk about your situation and see whether my approach might be appropriate for you.
From there, we can use a myofascial mapping assessment to look more deeply at what’s happening and identify potential contributing factors.
You don’t have to keep doing the same thing and hoping something changes.
If you’ve been stuck…
If your injury keeps coming back…
If you’ve tried therapy but still aren’t where you want to be…
Let’s take a different look.
Ready to Get Back to Running?
Let’s take a look at what’s keeping you from healing.
Book a free consultation with Ralph.
Beyond Limits Physical Therapy
Fairhaven • Bellingham, Washington
The goal isn’t simply to get you out of pain.
The goal is to get you back out there.
Running. Really running.
— Ralph
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