Course Outline

The Kids Running Course
COURSE OUTLINE

The goal of this course is to provide practitioners with evidence-based knowledge and practical clinical skills to assess and treat running-related concerns in the pediatric population. This extensive course will dive into running development from infancy to teenagerhood, provide running and biomechanical assessment strategies, and explore the special considerations for performance running in pediatrics.

During childhood, running is a key fundamental motor skill that develops and allows participation in play, sport and physical activity for a healthy lifestyle long term. In this course, we will review the specific aspects of motor development and lifestyle considerations that allow for successful running development, as well as early concerns that may arise and how to best manage them.

Children may participate in running more formally through endurance running, sprinting or a variety of sports. This course will highlight the special considerations for performance running in pediatrics. In addition, you will learn how to support these athletes through running gait assessment, functional skill assessments to address biomechanical considerations and evidence-based training education. By the end of this course, you will be empowered with a clinical reasoning framework to support children with a wide variety of concerns related specifically to the activity of running.

Introduction: The Three Cornerstone Model of Running

• Subjective exam considerations
• Clinical reasoning roadmap
• Introduction to Cornerstone 1: Functional Findings
• Introduction to Cornerstone 2: Gait Findings
• Introduction to Cornerstone 3: Lifestyle Factors

Pre-Running Development: Infancy-Toddlerhood (Ages 0-3)

• Motor Development: principles of motor development and motor milestone review
• Lifestyle Factors: purposeful play recommendations and footwear
• Functional Findings: biomechanical assessment considerations and common findings
• Gait: walking and pre-running development
• Common concerns: early concerns, opportunities for prevention or early intervention
• Summary: subjective and objective focus points in this age group

Running Development: Preschool-Early Elementary (Ages 4-6)

• Running as a motor milestone: development of running and athletic skills
• Lifestyle factors: principles of neuroplasticity, activities to promote physical literacy and footwear consideration
• Functional findings; biomechanical assessment considerations during skills developing in this age range
• Gait: development of consistent running gait pattern
• Common concerns: red flags and common running gait concerns 
• Summary: subjective and objective focus points in this age group

Running Refinement: Late Elementary (Ages 7-9)

• Running as a motor milestone: running refinement and common reasons for physiotherapy support
• Lifestyle: increasing formal running opportunities and training
• Functional findings: biomechanical assessments to supplement gait assessment findings
• Gait: phases of running gait and assessment strategies
• Summary

Performance Running in Pediatrics: Sport Specialization and Lifestyle (Ages 7-18)

• Competitive running: Review important considerations and effects of early specialization
• Lifestyle Factors: training considerations for kids
• Summary

Performance Running in Pediatrics: Biomechanics and Gait (Ages 7-18)

• Biomechanics: additional assessment components to consider in runners
• Gait: factors we can work on to achieve goals including spatiotemporal factors, kinematics, kinetics, neuromuscular activation
• Extrinsic factors: considerations for pediatric runners
• Summary

Summary: Clinical Reasoning and Case Examples

• Clinical reasoning: where should I focus? 
• Break down of clinical reasoning flow chart
• Case study 1 and 2