Running Rehab

Gait retraining is selected according to your symptoms and assessment. In a laboratory study of 45 healthy recreational runners, increasing preferred cadence by 5% and 10%, while maintaining speed, reduced mechanical energy absorbed at the knee during loading response by approximately 20% and 34%, respectively. These were immediate biomechanical effects; they do not represent equivalent reductions in pain or injury risk.

For a runner averaging 160 steps per minute, those increases would correspond to 168 and 176 steps per minute. This illustrates how a modest adjustment can change loading without increasing pace. The appropriate target depends on the individual assessment.

Your rehabilitation plan combines progressive strength work, training modifications and selected gait interventions. Depending on the diagnosis and stage of recovery, loading may progress from controlled resistance exercises to single-leg work, hopping and running-specific tasks.

Research supports an individualized approach. A 2024 randomized trial involving 30 runners with patellofemoral pain found that two weeks of gait retraining focused on either impact reduction or increased cadence improved running pain at six months compared with no intervention. A separate trial involving 69 runners found that adding exercise or gait retraining to education did not improve pain and function more than education alone. Together, these findings reinforce the importance of symptom management and training decisions alongside targeted rehabilitation.

Hands-on treatment may complement exercise when pain or restricted mobility limits participation. For postpartum runners with leakage, pelvic pressure or pelvic pain, pelvic floor rehabilitation can be incorporated into the assessment and plan.

Your return-to-run plan specifies the variables that matter: running duration, frequency, pace, terrain and recovery between sessions. Progression reflects the diagnosis, functional testing and symptom response during and after loading.

When appropriate, our AlterG anti-gravity treadmill provides an intermediate step between rehabilitation exercise and full-body-weight running. Adjustable body-weight support allows us to modify running exposure while monitoring tolerance. Research shows that unloading changes both mechanical and metabolic demands, so treadmill settings must be considered alongside speed, duration and effort. A body-weight setting should not be interpreted as an identical percentage reduction in tissue stress.

We track your response across sessions and adjust the plan as capacity improves, from initial running exposure to sustained mileage and, ultimately, the demands of your training goals.

Care is organized through our self-pay programs, with defined goals, an estimated timeline and clear pricing. Whether you train near our North Miami, Aventura or Wynwood clinic or elsewhere in Miami, the objective is a durable return to consistent training.