Earle Back in Business after lengthy lay-off
North Light Physiotherapy provide ACL Rehab for runners.
Seasoned elite ultra-runner Stephen Earle dreamed of representing England in the Marathon in his age category. In recent years, try as he might, the England vest continued to evade him. Different approaches to training volumes, speed work and downright sheer grit proved fruitless. Countless times he finished in 4th or 5th place in the England qualifying events.
Then, whilst skiing in Austria on 18th Feb 2024, the worst happened. Stephen sustained a devastating R knee injury: an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and medial meniscal injury. By the time November had rolled round, Stephen was under the wing of soft-tissue knee surgeon Mr Osman Riaz, of Yorkshire Sports Knee Clinic.
The “ACL Rehab for runners” Road Begins
On 10th November 2024, Stephen underwent R ACL Reconstruction and Medial Meniscal repair. This required 6 weeks non-weight-bearing in a hinged brace with limited angular movement. Soon after, he met NLP’s Lead Physio and Orthopaedic Rehab specialist, Chris Liversidge.
After 6 frustrating weeks, the gloves were finally off! (well, at least brace off, crutches ditched). With a severely weakened leg, there was work to do: strength training. Protection is necessary in the early stages, but the work was and is hard. Ultimately a progressive course of strength training via heavy weight-lifting, something he had never done, got Stephen back to running.
Having never strength-trained, Stephen was skeptical about the benefits in runners. By his own admission, he would get to the latter stages of Marathons and tighten up in his back and hamstrings. This was despite being a seasoned runner, and even winning the Summer Sprint edition of the Spine Race!
Up & Running Again- ACL Rehab to running!
Fast-forward to March 9th and Stephen entered the Trimpell 20, and powered to a 6:01 min/mile average! Then onwards to the Palma half-Marathon on March 23rd where he set a PB, finishing on the podium, with an impressive time of 1:19:09! By this stage, Stephen was developing some serious strength- Trap-Bar squatting up to 100kg and Deadlifting up to 80kg (whilst himself only weighing 63kg!)- driven primarily by the need to recover strength in his ACL rehab, but also to power his running speed.
And so to the big one: 6 months post-op, Milton Keynes Marathon, and England qualifying once again. High-stakes for Stephen as qualifying events are 4 times per year, but realistically only twice, given the high training and preparation workloads. Only this time, with a newly-acquired basis of leg strength, Stephen didn’t hit 20 miles and start to seize up. He was able to put his foot on the gas and finish 2nd in category (only 40 sec off the overall race win), and **QUALIFY** to represent England!!
Note from Chris (Lead Physio):
Working with Stephen has been a joy and challenge. Selling the idea that a runner should weight-train, even in this day & age: he was skeptical. But ultimately, our principles are the same for everyone. We need to be strong, and there’s no other way to achieve this than lifting weights! The dose is different for different ages/activity or performance levels etc., but fundamentally we all need to be strong to perform: whether it’s a marathon, or getting off the floor when you’re old!
For Stephen and for everyone, we’re here to help! Goals and contexts differ, but the same rule applies: you can’t go wrong getting strong!!
If you need support with your Knee Rehab, get in touch!
