$75 Physical Therapy Evaluations for Runners!
Throughout April 2025, my Physical Therapy Evaluations for Runners will be half-off at $75 (regular price $150) with the purchase of 4 additional treatment visits.
Please fill out this form below if interested and scroll through the rest of this page to learn more details about what this evaluation includes.
My average treatment plans vary between 6-12 visits across a 365-day period and I’ve found that 4 additional treatment visits is the absolute minimum required to facilitate improvements needed to manage and prevent running injuries.
If you’re a runner in Augusta, GA and want to be evaluated to either manage a current running injury or prevent future ones, please fill out this form and I will text or email you within 24 hours to schedule a consultation call.
Physical Therapy for Runners. By Runners.
My name is Dr. Clay Holton and I’m a physical therapist that loves helping runners overcome running injuries and get stronger so they can compete at their highest level.
I use my training as a physical therapist, experience as a former collegiate track and cross country athlete and competitive runner for nearly 15 years, and continual pursuit of assimilating up-to-date running related research and practices to design rehabilitation programs for runners of all levels.
The three main overlapping steps of my treatment process for runners include:
1. Determine the root cause of the injury. Managing symptoms is fine but without addressing the source of the issue, the injury will inevitably return.
2. Treat all deficits associated with the root cause of the injury. This is done with an individualized home exercise prescription, running gait modification (if required), a return to running or competition program, and by addressing any training gear or lifestyle factors which are contributing to the injury.
3. Zoom out from the specific injury and treat the runner as a whole by building strength, power, and injury resilience. I identify and manage any deficits which may limit running performance even if they are not directly related to the current injury. This ensures a reduction in overall injury risk and sets the stage for running at a higher level than before the injury occurs.
What's Included in Our Evaluations for Runners?
Our physical therapy evaluations are designed specifically for runners and include a battery of evidence-based tests and measurements to identify any deficits in mobility, strength, movement control, power, and the running gait cycle itself.
We use this data to create an individualized rehabilitation strategy to address these deficits and build lower body strength and resilience to prevent future injuries.
Strength Testing
Strength is one of the most important factors involved with the management and prevention of running related injuries.
In our clinic, we perform dynamometry strength testing and compound strength testing.
Dynamometry Strength Testing
Dynamometry strength testing involves the utilization of a force gauge to measure movement strength FAR more specifically and accurately than traditional manual muscle strength testing.
Benefits of dynamometry strength testing include:
1. Highly specific force data up to 1/100th of a pound
2. Muscle force to weight ratios to see strength relative to bodyweight
3. Lower body strength asymmetries (ie, left hip abduction strength is 40% weaker than the right)
4. Average force a muscle group can exert over a 5 second period
5. Strength data to compare to established normative data
6. Allows you to track isolated muscle strength improvements over time
Determining specific strength deficits allows us to individualize a runner’s strength program to correct their specific deficits and imbalances.
Compound Strength Testing- The Squat and Deadlift
Isolated muscle strength is important to identify specific deficits but, oftentimes, a runner will demonstrate global lower extremity weakness and demonstrate decreased tolerance to axial loading (weight bearing through your trunk which has been shown to be protective against running injuries).
To assess global, compound lower body strength, squat and deadlift testing is generally performed to assess both the weight lifted relative to bodyweight and the overall form and control for these fundamental movement patterns.
Joint Mobility and Muscle Flexibility Testing
Running is a mid-range activity performed for thousands of repetitions and does not require a great deal of overall flexibility to achieve.
However, runners will often present with very specific mobility deficits which will often result in gait deviations that will overwork certain body regions and predispose runners to increased injury risk.
We take runners through a series of range of motion and flexibility tests for the lumbar spine, hips, knees, ankles, and feet which are performed with the performance demands of runners in mind.
Single Leg Balance and Neuromuscular Control Testing
Runners require a significant amount of single leg strength, rhythm, and control to run efficiently and decrease injury risk.
We test balance and single leg control in multiple static and dynamic positions to identify balance deficits, compensations during static standing, while performing dynamic movement, and single leg tolerance to squats which often correlate to similar movement deviations during the running gait.
This data is used to develop an individualized movement control program designed to improve movement efficiency while running and eliminate movement impairments which may predispose a runner to increased injury risk.
Plyometric Power and Tolerance Testing
Power involves how quickly a runner can optimally produce force while running which is important as runners spend around one-tenth of a second on the ground during each step.
Single leg power deficits are often a precursor to strength deficits and running-related injuries. Our testing assesses how well a runner can control their movement during multi-directional single leg jumping tasks as well as max jump effort tests to determine deficits compared to established norms as well as symmetry between legs.
Treadmill Running Gait Assessment
It’s baffling how many runners I’ll work with that have previously seen a physical therapist, or other rehab provider, who never watched them run.
Oftentimes deficits in mobility, strength, movement control, and power will manifest as running form deviations which can be improved by addressing these deficits and the running gait pattern itself.
We utilize slow-motion video recording at lateral (profile), anterior, and posterior angles to identify gait deviations compared to both established data and the opposite lower extremity while running. Video re-testing is frequently utilized to test the effectiveness of treatment strategies both acutely and over longer periods of time.
Note: We do not utilize extensively sophisticated video equipment or kinematic and kinetic tools with our gait assessments. Nearly all gait deviations can be analyzed and addressed with basic slow-motion, multi-angle video recording and the substantial cost and time-consuming nature of more advanced testing seldom changes the treatment strategies to improve the running gait pattern.
Running-Specific Performance Tests
Oftentimes, runners are not pushed hard enough in traditional physical therapy settings and more subtle deficits, which often only occur to a meaningful extent during high effort activities, are not identified or addressed appropriately and ultimately leads to an incomplete rehabilitation strategy.
We utilize a battery of performance tests to assess strength, power, and movement control under varying levels of fatigue and external load (weights) to identify deficits that would predispose a runner to increased injury risk.
Depending on the nature of a runner’s injury, these may not be appropriate towards the beginning of a plan of care but these tests are implemented as improvements in pain and function occur.
How do I get evaluated?
If you’re a runner in Augusta, GA that wants to be evaluated to either manage a current running injury or prevent future ones, please fill out this form and I will text or email you within 24 hours to schedule a consultation call.
We believe in transparent pricing without shady sales tactics often utilized by service-based healthcare practices. Holton Physical Therapy and Performance, LLC is a 100% fee-for-service practice that is not in-network with any insurance providers and payment of $150/session, for follow-up treatment visits, is required at the time services are rendered.
