Ellie Greenwood, Trail Running Tales: January 2014

It's fair to say that I generally prefer to be pretty low maintenance. When a nagging pain, which ended up being a stress fracture, last year resulted in me figuring I should go see a doctor I had to message a friend to find out which walk-in clinic would be best to go to. Other than seeing a doctor in Banff to get my CCC medical certificate signed, I think I'd been to the doctor maybe once in the 3 or 4 years prior. Ok, I'd see a physio occasionally when my hamstrings flared up and would get massages once in a while before or after a race, but otherwise I'm not one to go running to medical professionals unless I otherwise really need to.

Oh, how things have changed! From May to November I was working four and a half days a week which was pretty convenient as I usually needed that bonus half day to go see a doctor, physio, massage therapist, gait analysis expert or someone else who must surely know how to fix me!

Last week I took things to a whole new level when I went to get gait analysis from Dr. Chris McLean at Fortius Lab in Burnaby. It's an amazing centre packed full off the best experts in sports medicine, physio, gait analysis and more.

Gait analysis at Fortius

I spent about 90 minutes there getting assessed, which involved a full discussion of my injury and running history, an analysis of me walking barefoot and then about 15 minutes of running on a treadmill. The results collected are far more in depth than standard gait analysis. When I went back for a 30 minute visit to discuss the results a few days later I learned the force at which I hit the ground, pelvic alignment, hip rotation issues, how I strike the ground and lots lots more. It's definitely worthwhile for anyone interested in either resolving an injury or possibly preventing injuries. Results are then passed on to any treating doctors or physiotherapists so an action plan of how to address any issues can be decided.

So, if anyone is looking for sports medicine professionals in and around Vancouver, here's the main list of Team Ellie! Thanks also to many other friends who happen to be experts (Dory, Ramsey, ...) who have offered much needed advice!