It was around this time two years ago I received a text from a client saying she had a really sore foot and wasn’t able to run. It was the morning I was flying out to the DVRT Master Trainers Summit in Las Vegas. At this time, I wasn’t able to assist, but what I did do is refer out. The GP called for an MRI and the results that came back were something a runner would never want to hear.

“You can’t run”.

Wait I have heard that before. Read here about my come back from knee surgery.

Diagnosis: A non-displaced ligamentous / capsular avulsion at the calcaneocuboid joint, basically a VERY SORE FOOT. The recommendation; a boot for 8 weeks, no running and strengthen.

“You need to strengthen your glutes, calves and foot”.

OKAY!

As good as boots are to immobilise the foot and needed for cases like this, they are extremely harsh on your gait. Generally people find over time issues in their hips and lower back due to the compensation when walking. You can try and match a shoe height to the boot height, but it is very difficult. Determined to hit the track when the boot was removed, Beth was given advice to work on strengthening the glutes, hips and calves.

But, was this the solution……..

Could we do more? Well the Boot was ‘GONE’ and running it was…..we now programmed to gradually build the kilometres with no pain. Beth was on track for the SUNNY Noosa 1/2 Marathon.

What happened next brought me to tears…….a text message on race day with what should of been her finishing time!

“I broke down at 8km in so much pain, I couldn’t keep going”.

Instantly things go rushing through my head, what happened, was something not looked at..........I repeat, “WAS SOMETHING NOT LOOKED AT”.

I remember thinking we got her up to 18km no pain! WHY, WHY, WHY????

Ok so I was missing something but what was it. At the time, I couldn’t work it out so I referred out for the 2nd time. Plan 1 didn’t work! What are we missing??? 1st the podiatrists, which then lead to another health professional. I trusted my judgement to refer out but I was now out of the loop.

Beth was frustrated and needed answers and I needed a solution! I went back to the books for answers, infact I went to Josh Henkin and said I need to start reading again, I’m finding this problem. He sent me the title of the below book and WOW did it open my eye’s and give me not just a better understanding but……….

That’s it, that’s the answer I was looking for.

But was it too late…I had referred out it’s now almost 12 months on until we get an email.

Dear Cam,

I want to thank you for all your help and support however I have spent $$$$ since I last saw you on further treatments and still no better. I have decided to stop all treatments with all health professionals.

Hmmmmmmmmmm!

My reply: Thank you for the email…..BUT I’M NOT GIVING UP AND WON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER, we are going to reassess.

At this point I had just completed my Ultra Marathon after knee surgery and knew if DVRT could fix me, I knew we could give this a CRACK.

I said to Beth that I had read this really cool book and it aligned with everything we spoke about within the DVRT system.

Wait that can’t be ‘Glutes, can it’????

John Gibbons a UK Osteopath in his book ‘The Vital Glute’ talks about the importance of glute strength and how everything connects together.

But wait, she was doing glute bridges and foot exercises.

CONNECTS TOGETHER......well there was the missing link.

So we retested the glute firing pattern. The right side fired ok but the left side (pain side) the pattern was hamstring, NO GLUTE, opposite low back.

“NO GLUTE?”........Well there’s your issue!

John Gibbons talks about the cylinders firing in a car, if the mechanic puts the leads on the wrong way it will run but not that efficient. This is no different to our body and I quote John Gibbons, P70, ‘The Vital Glute’, “In our case, if we are particularly active but have a misfiring dysfunction, our bodies will also break down, ultimately causing us pain”.

So what did we do!

We sent her away for 4 weeks and asked her to do 100 squats a day! With a dysfunctional hip..

I DON’T THINK SO!

But what we did do is work on a few of the exercises below with the importance of connecting the upper and low body together through grip strength and firing the lats, glutes and core.

The glute began to work……. so we continued….

We threw a lot at it as Beth need answers and best of all results.

From mobility to lunging patterns we were gaining momentum quickly. Strength gains began and so did the kilometres.

And then????

Sunday 13th October 2019 THE BEST PART!

What went from an initial foot issue, to an ongoing injury, to PULLING THE PIN!

Beth regained hope and always trusted the system and Beth ran her first marathon ‘Injury Free’.

The journey with us started 2 years ago, but Beth’s real journey started 6 years ago. Check out her post race speech here

What I learnt was, I needed to back myself trust that it would come together. Being able to learn from the best is a real honour and now we get to share that with Australia.

2019 Master Trainers Summit

Want to learn more and how you can assess your clients to take them to new heights? We will be covering this and so much more in our upcoming workshop in November. To register follow the link!

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