Why Your Running Injury Won’t Heal — And the Unlikely Solution That Set Me Free
My Wake-Up Call: The Injury No One Could Fix
I was 37 years old. A competitive runner. An orthopedic physical therapist running a successful clinic in San Diego with five PTs working for me.
I’d been running 70, 80, even 90 miles a week for years.
Then one day — out of nowhere — a calf spasm shut me down. Five minutes into every run, my leg locked up.
I did everything runners are told to do:
- Stretch more
- Strengthen more
- Ice
- Rest
- Foam roll
- Trigger point therapy
- Massage
- Chiropractic
- Three different pairs of orthotics
- PT sessions from all five therapists who worked for me
- Courses, workshops, advanced techniques
Nothing worked.
Eight months. No running.
Emotionally, it crushed me. Running wasn’t just something I did — it was who I was.
The Breakthrough: “Your Body Is Protecting Your Heart.”
Out of desperation, I traveled to see a PT in Los Angeles named Julie Shishino, who practiced a healing approach I had barely heard of: Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT).
She placed her hands on my body, paused, and said:
“Ralph… you have a problem with your heart. And your aorta.”
The aorta — the largest artery in the body.
My calf wasn’t the problem. My tight hips weren’t the problem. My gait wasn’t the problem.
My body was protecting my heart and my aorta.
And the way it protected me was through muscle spasms and tightening everything around my pelvis, diaphragm, and legs.
My body wasn’t failing.
It was doing the smartest thing it could:
keeping me alive.
The Day Everything Changed
Julie worked for two hours using gentle, specific, indirect IMT techniques:
- Pelvic diaphragm
- Respiratory diaphragm
- Thoracic inlet
- Cranial diaphragm
- Inferior vena cava
- Superior vena cava
- Aorta
- Membrane disruption techniques
I walked out feeling different — calm, centered, clear.
Two days later, I traveled to Sacramento for IMT training. I brought my running shoes, thinking:
“I think I might be able to run again.”
So I tried.
30 minutes.
Along the American River.
Pain-free.
After eight months of suffering, the problem was simply… gone.
And it never came back.
Because someone finally corrected the real cause — not the symptoms.
Why Most Runners Stay Injured
Most therapy focuses on direct techniques:
- Stretching
- Manipulation
- Massage
- Foam rolling
- Trigger point release
- Strengthening
- Percussion/thumper guns
- Posterior chain work
- Cross-training
But direct techniques activate something called the reflex arc — a protective nervous system response you cannot override.
Quick version:
- You stretch a tight area
- The spinal cord interprets it as danger
- It sends a message back
- The muscle tightens to protect you
You think you’re lengthening tissue…
But your body is actually tightening it.
This is why runners stretch daily yet stay injured.
Because the calf, hip, IT band, or plantar fascia is rarely the root cause.
It’s what the body is protecting.
The Healing Approach That Actually Works: Indirect Techniques
With Integrative Manual Therapy and Myofascial Mapping, we use indirect techniques — methods that calm the reflex arc instead of fighting it.
We gently slacken or shorten structures:
- Blood vessels
- Organs
- Joints
- Diaphragms
- Deep fascial layers
When the nervous system feels safety:
- Protective tension melts away
- Range of motion increases naturally
- Breathing opens
- Stride becomes smoother
- Injuries finally resolve
It often looks like “nothing” from the outside — but the results are profound.
We always test → treat → retest, so you feel immediate changes.
Why Runners Get Stuck
The body is brilliant.
It will not release a protective tension pattern until the deeper issue is addressed.
Your injury might be protecting:
- Your aorta (like mine)
- Your diaphragm
- Your kidneys or liver
- Scar tissue
- Old trauma
- A vascular restriction
- A joint capsule
- Your iliac artery
- Your colon
- Your cranial diaphragm
- Your nervous system’s safety response
You can stretch all day long —
But if your body thinks running is dangerous,
It won’t let you run.
Once the real issue is addressed… healing is fast.
Try This Today
Before doing anything, test how you feel:
- Walk
- Jog lightly
- Move your hips and shoulders
- Bend forward, backward, sideways
Then do the strain-counterstrain positions below, and retest.
You’ll feel the difference.
Strain-Counterstrain Videos
SCS Pelvis, Respiratory, Thoracic Inlet, Cranial Diaphragms
SCS Below the Diaphragm
SCS Plantar Fascia
SCS Achilles Tendon
SCS Thumb (Test shoulder + arm swing!)
SCS Hamstrings
SCS Ankles
Talo-Tibial Joint
If You’re a Runner Who Wants to Finally Heal — I’d Love to Help
If you’ve been stuck…
If your running has lost its joy…
If you want to get back on the trails, roads, or track — stronger and smoother…
I’d love to help you find and clear your primary root cause.
📍 Beyond Limits Physical Therapy
1134 10th Street
Bellingham (Fairhaven), WA
📧 Ralph@RalphHavens.com
📞 360-599-2217
🌐 ralphhavens.com/schedule
Your body can heal.
It just needs someone who knows how to find the real problem.
Let’s get you back to the runner you’re meant to be. 🏃♂️💨
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