Self-Treat Injuries & Manage Pain with Dr. Tom Walters

24 snips

Apr 30, 2026

Dr. Tom Walters, a board-certified orthopedic physical therapist and author of Rehab Science, breaks down pain science and practical rehab for runners. He covers how to self-manage injuries vs when to seek care. Topics include why some pain can feel okay, smart warm-ups, healing timelines for common injuries, the role of blood flow and cross-training, and lifestyle factors that help or hinder recovery.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Teaching A Young Athlete To Expect Soreness

Tom relates teaching his 12-year-old daughter about delayed onset muscle soreness after her track meet to normalize soreness.
Framing soreness as non-threatening early sets expectations and reduces anxiety about ordinary training pain.

ADVICE

Use Warm Ups To Gauge Injury Type

Use the warm-up as a diagnostic: soft-tissue issues often ease with warm-up; bone stress often worsens with continued loading.
Adjust training if pain increases during activity rather than improving as you warm up.

ADVICE

Load Tendons Instead Of Resting Them Completely

Keep athletes active during tendon and soft-tissue problems using modified loading rather than complete rest.
Most tendinopathies improve significantly within 12 weeks with graded loading and behavior changes.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Tom Walters is a board-certified orthopedic physical therapist, former college professor, and author of Rehab Science (a bestseller on Amazon).

Besides running his clinical practice, Tom served as a full-time undergraduate kinesiology professor for eight years, teaching human biomechanics, therapeutic exercise, and pain science.

Today, we discuss the science of pain and the injury treatment process:

Is all pain bad?
Why does some pain feel good?
The value of cross-training during injury
Why blood flow is so important for healing
The timeline it takes to heal from common injuries

If you're injury prone, sign up for our complimentary prevention series here.

You can also follow Tom on IG or subscribe to his YouTube channel.

Thank you Wahoo!

We're supported by our newest partner - Wahoo Fitness and the best treadmill in the game, the Wahoo KICKR Run. I have been fortunate to run on a KICKR Run treadmill and they're unique - you will immediately know that you're experiencing one of the smoothest, sturdiest treadmills you can buy.

Go to Wahoo Fitness and use code STRENGTHRUNNING to get a free KICKR Headwind Bluetooth Fan ($319.99 value) with your purchase of a Wahoo KICKR Run treadmill.

They like to say that it's the treadmill that follows you, not the other way around. And that's because it's dynamic - there's a lateral tilt feature that mimics real-world terrain. So as you're running, it varies the side-to-side angle by half a degree every few seconds to keep your muscles ready for outdoor running.

And the KICKR Run's dynamic pacing is straight out of a sci-fi movie: the treadmill will match your pace automatically: no controls needed. You'll get a more natural running experience with no breaking to reach controls or setting the pace manually.

See what all the pros are raving about with the Wahoo KICKR Run Treadmill. They changed the game for bike trainers in the cycling industry - and now they're doing the same for runners. Don't forget to use code STRENGTHRUNNING to get a free KICKR Headwind Bluetooth Fan!

Thank you Lever!

Lever is back as a sponsor and I couldn't be more excited. They make a treadmill attachment that reduces your body weight, letting you run more mileage than you typically could with less injury risk.

They're also trusted by physical therapists, where they're commonly used during injury recovery so you can keep running with less load and impact. They're a "secret weapon" during rehab of many pro runners.

Lever attaches to any treadmill and you hook into it like a harness. It effectively makes you lighter, allowing you to do more running with less risk. So maybe you want to build more mileage, or run hard workouts but you're hesitant because of injury concerns. The pro's have been using Lever for years, letting them get the advantage of more training with fewer injuries.

I had the chance to go for a run using Lever and it was deceptively easy to set up and use. All of a sudden, I was running 7min mile pace with the heart rate of 8:30 pace. You can see it in action on our YouTube channel.

Go to levermovement.com and use code Strength20 (with a capital S) for 20% off any system!