Clinical Reasoning in Running Rehabilitation: From Athlete Profile to Return to Performance
Whether your patients are preparing for their first parkrun, chasing a marathon personal best, or returning to trail running after injury, physiotherapists play a vital role in helping runners stay healthy and perform at their best.
Successful running rehabilitation requires more than managing the injured tissue, it requires understanding the athlete behind the injury. This event will explore how athlete profiling, clinical reasoning, and identification of individual risk factors can shape more effective and personalised rehabilitation pathways.
Abby Dixon, Senior Physiotherapist at Front Runner Physiotherapy, will discuss how detailed athlete profiling—including running history, goals, previous injury, psychosocial factors, and performance demands—can help clinicians identify the key factors influencing injury risk and rehabilitation. Drawing on over two decades of musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy experience, Abby will demonstrate how this information guides clinical decision-making, allowing clinicians to move beyond symptom-based treatment to develop personalised rehabilitation pathways.
Ben Green, Director of Coaching at Front Runner Sports and Assistant Coach of the On Athletics Club Oceania, will share insights gained from more than 20 years of coaching runners across recreational, elite and professional settings. Ben will share practical insights into running biomechanics, training load, footwear, movement efficiency, and performance development, while discussing how clinicians can support safe progression through load management, running drills, volume and intensity progression, and return-to-performance planning.
This interactive session will provide physiotherapists with practical strategies to enhance clinical reasoning when working with runners, strengthen collaboration between coaches and clinicians, and confidently guide athletes from injury rehabilitation back to achieving their individual running goals.
Suitable for practitioners working with recreational through to competitive runners.
Presenters:
Abby DIxon:
Abby is a Senior Physiotherapist at Front Runner Physiotherapy. She has over 20 years of private practice experience and a Masters in Clinical Physiotherapy (Manual Therapy), with a career spanning sports, corporate, and women's health settings.
She has worked with elite tennis athletes, WAFL footballers, and corporate clients in Perth, as well as supporting women pre- and post-partum in their rehabilitation journeys. Abby is trained in Clinical Pilates, therapeutic motion systems, and strength and conditioning for female athletes, bringing a tailored approach to every client.
A passionate runner herself, Abby has completed the New York and Paris Marathons and is now a dedicated trail running enthusiast, often competing in WA's leading events with the support of her family.
Ben Green:
Ben Green is Director of Coaching at Front Runner Sports and has been coaching athletes for over 20 years, working full-time in the profession since 2012. He currently serves as Assistant Coach for the Open category of the On Athletics Club Oceania.He has coached across school, squad, corporate, recreational, elite and professional environments.
With an Honours degree in Biomechanics and a passion for movement and footwear, Ben has delivered coach education for Athletics West, Australian Athletics and World Athletics since 2017. He has also been a guest lecturer in the Curtin University Sports Physiotherapy Masters, presenting on The Running Athlete.
This is a face to face lecture held in APA office in Bentley.