356: Tom Goom, PT: So, You Have a Pain in Your Ass?

On this episode of the Healthy Wealthy and Smart Podcast, Tom Goom joins me to discuss a gluteal tendinopathy case study. Tom has gained the nickname ‘Running Physio’ after years of combining his passion for physio and love for running together to specialise in management of running injury. He’s written widely on the topic with over 200 evidence-based articles for his own site, running-physio.com as well as contributing to the BJSM Blog, Runner’s World and the Telegraph. In 2016 he published a masterclass on proximal hamstring tendinopathy in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy. He presents his Running Repairs Course in the UK, internationally and online, covering a range of topics from training load management to bone stress injuries, strength and conditioning and more.

In this episode, we discuss:

-Crafting the subjective portion of your evaluation

-Objective measures at the impairment, activity and participation levels

-Multimodal treatment approaches to manage gluteal tendinopathy

-Intrinsic factors that affect tendon health

-And so much more!

 

Identifying what running really means to your patient will help guide your goals for therapy as Tom stresses, “I want to know about the impact the injury is having on them.”

 

Modifying activity levels is an important aspect for your exercise prescription and you have to convey to your patients that, “It’s this kind of balancing act of risk versus reward.”

 

It is important for clinicians to avoid iatrogenic language in their patient education and only, “Highlight the good things.“

 

Establish at the onset to, “Expect flair ups.” as managing patient expectations during their rehabilitation is key to long term success.

 

Treating gluteal tendinopathy is both challenging and rewarding and Tom believes, “There’s an art to it as well as a science.”

 

For more information on Tom:

Tom is a physiotherapist with over 10 years of experience and a very keen runner! He graduated with a BSc (Hons) degree in 2002 and since then has worked in clinics in the UK and overseas. His career started in Winchester where he worked in the NHS and developed a specific interest in lower limb rehab and joined the physio team at a semi-professional football club. Following the Tsunami in 2004 Tom travelled to Sri Lanka and did voluntary physiotherapy work in a hospital, teaching local staff, treating patients and fundraising for new equipment. Tom returned to the UK in 2006 and started working in Brighton as a senior physiotherapist. His interest in rehab continued to grow and he ran lower limb and spinal rehab groups as well a chronic pain programme.

Tom started RunningPhysio in March 2012 to help those training for marathons that spring, since then it’s developed into a resource used by runners all over the world. Tom has written for Running Fitness, Men’s Running UK, and the British Journal of Sports Medicine blog. His work has featured on Kinetic Revolution, Bartold Biomechanics and a host of online sports sites.

 A few words from Tom…

I’m learning about running all the time, one thing I’ve found is that there are a lot of opinions out there! No 2 people will give you the same advice and I respect that. My plan with this site is to share my view on injury prevention and management when running. I welcome different views and ideas so please feel free to comment. I don’t claim to have all the answers but I hope people will find this site helpful. I’ve got a few miles under my belt and a few good PB’s – 39:30 for 10km and a 1:28 half marathon. In April 2013 I did my first marathon and loved it! I finished in 3:12:28 – full story here.

I work at The Physio Rooms clinic in Brighton. For more information or to arrange an appointment see our Clinic Page.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or chat to me on Twitter via @tomgoom. Please note that due to very high numbers of comments and questions we aren’t able to reply to everyone

 

Resources discussed on this show:

Running Physio Website

Running Physio Twitter

Running Physio Facebook

Tendon Health Questionnaire

Pain Catastrophizing Scale

Hudl Technique

Plinsinga et al 2018: Psychological factors not strength deficits are associated with severity of gluteal tendinopathy: A cross‐sectional study

Ganderton et al 2018: Gluteal Loading Versus Sham Exercises to Improve Pain and Dysfunction in Postmenopausal Women with Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Mellor et al 2018: Education plus exercise versus corticosteroid injection use versus a wait and see approach on global outcome and pain from gluteal tendinopathy: prospective, single blinded, randomised clinical trial

 

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Have a great week and stay Healthy Wealthy and Smart!

 

Xo Karen