The University of Calgary’s Running Injury Clinic unveils new equipment and expert staff that establishes the clinic as the premiere gait analysis and running injury clinic in North America.

CALGARY, AB (January 27, 2009) -- A new eight-camera, three-dimensional motion-analysis system, combined with new, expert staff are just a few of the reasons that Canada’s best running injury clinic is now considered by many to be the best in North America and maybe the world.

“I’m confident that there is nowhere else in North America where a member of the public can walk in and access the expertise and the equipment we now have in the Running Injury Clinic,” says the Clinic’s Director Reed Ferber (Ph.D., CATC, ATC).

Ferber is a biomechanist who has taken a revolutionary approach to treating running injury. After observing a runner to determine the biomechanical root of their injury, Ferber ‘prescribes’ a specific strengthening and stretching routine to ‘fix’ the underlying problem and eliminate the pain.

Since the clinic began operation ninety per cent of patients report being pain free, often within a couple of weeks of their initial visit.

“I tell everyone, whether they’re my patients or not, that if a treatment isn’t working after one to three weeks, then it’s not working and it’s time to try something else,” says Ferber.

The clinic is also unique due to a research focus that seeks to advance the science of injury rehabilitation and treatment. In the last year alone the clinic received three quarters of a million dollars in funding to study issues like the most effective treatment of patello-femoral knee pain and the validity of tests used to diagnose lower back pain.

“I think our funding speaks to the quality of our clinical research and our innovative approach,” says Ferber. “We’re developing new ways of treating injuries that are being implemented by clinics here in Calgary and around the world. Our research is providing solid, scientific answers about the best way to treat specific running, walking, and lower back injury and pain.”

Reprinted with permission of the University of Calgary, Faculty of Kinesiology.