National Running Center
Overview
The National Running Center is part of Spaulding Rehabilitation and Mass General Brigham Healthcare. Our multidisciplinary team conducts translational research that advances patient care of running related injuries. Clinical care is directed through evidence-based research and aims to provide cutting edge use of novel technologies such as wearable devices to guide gait retraining. We utilize the expertise of Mass General Brigham Healthcare to enhance outcomes using interventions such as shockwave and regenerative medicine techniques that aim to avoid surgery and restore function and study these approaches to help inform evidence-based care.
Research projects
Our past, current and future investigations relate to the following areas:
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Structural and biomechanical factors related to:
- Patellofemoral pain syndrome
- Iliotibial band syndrome
- Plantar fasciitis
- Bone Stress Injuries/Stress fractures
- Achilles tendinitis/tendinopathy
- Hip and Knee osteoarthritis
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Gait retraining to restore normal mechanics in both walking and running
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The influence of a myriad of variables on running injury risk, including:
- Intrinsic factors (age, sex)
- Biomechanics
- Footwear
- Training factors
- Injury history
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Development and testing of wearable technology to monitor and provide feedback on running mechanics outside of the laboratory
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Use of extracorporeal shockwave, radial pressure waves, and other orthobiologic interventions (such as platelet rich plasma) to advance rehabilitation of injuries including tendinopathy, knee osteoarthritis and bone stress injuries
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Assessment of exoskeletons for management of lower extremity musculoskeletal injuries