If your weekends currently revolve around long runs along the lakefront path, welcome to marathon season. Whether this is your first 26.2 or your tenth, the training block between now and October is exactly when small issues (a tight IT band, a nagging shin, a hip that “just feels off”) turn into the kind of injury that sidelines you before race day.

Runner’s knee, shin splints, and stress reactions all share a common thread: they’re usually about how you’re loading your body, not just how far you’re running. A running-specific PT evaluation with one of our experienced therapists can catch mechanical issues (hip weakness, poor foot mechanics, training load spikes) before they become a did not start.

We see a lot of injuries start to show up right around mile 14, when accumulated fatigue and mileage catch up to whatever compensation has been quietly building. If your long runs are creeping toward that range, that’s a great time to come in for a PT evaluation, not after something starts hurting. Our therapists can also run a video gait analysis to spot mechanical patterns in real time, well before they turn into pain.

We work with Chicago runners at every stage of marathon training, from building a resilient base to troubleshooting pain that’s already started, with personalized treatment plans and evidence-based techniques at every visit. Most major insurance plans are accepted, so injury recovery doesn’t have to wait.

Don’t let a preventable injury write your training block’s ending. Come see us in Lincoln Park or Lakeview and let’s keep you on pace for October.

[Schedule your running evaluation.]

Training for the Chicago Marathon? Build More Than Your Mileage

If your weekends currently revolve around long runs along Chicago’s lakefront, welcome to marathon season.

Whether this is your first 26.2 or your tenth, the months leading up to race day are when small issues, like a tight IT band or recurring knee pain, can easily turn into sports and running injuries that disrupt your training.

Your mileage should be building.

Your strength, mobility, and ability to handle that mileage should be building with it.

What Is Marathon Training Injury Prevention?

Marathon injury prevention means preparing your body to handle increasing running demands through appropriate training progression, strength, mobility, recovery, and movement assessment. A physical therapy evaluation can help identify strength deficits, mobility restrictions, running mechanics, or sudden training-load changes that may contribute to injury as your weekly mileage increases.

Why Strength and Mobility Matter During Marathon Training

Running more miles prepares you to run more miles, but mileage alone doesn’t necessarily prepare every part of your body for the demands of marathon training.

Adding appropriate strength, mobility, and recovery work to your training can help you:

• Build strength to support increasing mileage
• Identify mobility restrictions before they interfere with training
• Better manage the physical demands of long runs
• Address changes in running mechanics as fatigue increases
• Improve stability through the hips, knees, ankles, and feet
• Create a more gradual return to running after an injury
• Make training decisions based on your individual movement and recovery needs

The goal isn’t to complicate your training plan.

It’s to make your body better prepared for the plan you’re already following.

Common Sports and Running Injuries During Marathon Training

Runner’s knee, shin pain, ankle and foot problems, hip pain, and stress-related injuries can emerge as mileage and training intensity increase.

Some of the common problems runners may experience include:

• Knee pain, including runner’s knee
• Hip pain
• Ankle and foot pain
• Shin pain and shin splints
• Achilles irritation
• IT band-related symptoms
• Calf strains or tightness
• Low back pain
• Stress reactions and other overuse injuries

Many sports and running injuries are influenced by more than the number of miles you’ve logged.

Training volume, recovery, strength, mobility, previous injuries, running mechanics, footwear, and sudden changes in intensity can all play a role.

That’s why simply saying, “I’ll run through it and see what happens,” isn’t much of an injury recovery strategy.

Why Do Running Injuries Show Up as Mileage Increases?

Marathon training progressively asks your body to tolerate more work.

As long runs get longer and weekly mileage increases, fatigue can expose movement or strength deficits that weren’t obvious during shorter runs.

For some runners, symptoms start appearing as long runs move into higher mileage, often around the point when accumulated fatigue begins challenging the body’s ability to maintain the same mechanics it had at mile three.

A runner may begin compensating because of:

• Hip weakness
• Reduced hip or ankle mobility
• Poor foot mechanics
• Strength asymmetries
• Previous injuries
• Training-load spikes
• Inadequate recovery
• Changes in running form as fatigue increases

Those compensations don’t automatically mean an injury is coming.

But they can give your physical therapist useful information about how your body is responding to your current training load.

What Happens During a Physical Therapy Evaluation for a Runner?

A running-specific physical therapy evaluation looks beyond the place where something hurts.

Your therapist may assess:

• Running and injury history
• Current weekly mileage
• Recent increases in training volume
• Strength
• Range of motion
• Hip and ankle mobility
• Balance and stability
• Foot and ankle mechanics
• Previous injuries
• Running-related movement patterns
• Symptoms during and after training

The goal is to understand how your body is handling the demands you’re placing on it.

From there, your therapist can develop personalized treatment plans or recommendations based on what the evaluation actually finds.

Video Gait Analysis for Chicago Marathon Runners

Sometimes the best way to understand what’s happening when you run is to watch you run.

Video gait analysis allows a physical therapist to examine running mechanics in real time and slow down specific phases of your stride for closer evaluation.

Depending on the runner, a gait analysis may examine factors such as:

• Foot placement
• Cadence
• Hip and knee positioning
• Trunk position
• Stride mechanics
• Side-to-side differences
• Movement changes associated with fatigue

Gait analysis isn’t about identifying one mythical “perfect” running form.

It’s another piece of information your therapist can combine with your strength, mobility, training history, symptoms, and goals.

If your mileage is climbing or something begins to feel different during longer runs, a running evaluation can help determine whether there’s anything worth addressing before race day.

Strength and Mobility Exercises for Marathon Training

A marathon training plan shouldn’t consist exclusively of running.

An individualized exercise and mobility program may include work focused on:

• Hip and glute strength
• Calf strength
• Quadriceps and hamstring strength
• Foot and ankle stability
• Single-leg balance and control
• Core and trunk stability
• Hip and ankle mobility
• Running-specific movement patterns

The appropriate exercises and how many of them you should perform depend on your training volume, experience, injury history, current strength, and goals.

The runner preparing for a first marathon doesn’t necessarily need the same program as the runner chasing a personal record in marathon number ten.

When Should a Marathon Runner Get a Physical Therapy Evaluation?

You don’t necessarily have to wait for an injury to become severe before scheduling a running evaluation.

Consider speaking with a physical therapist if:

• Pain repeatedly appears during or after runs
• A minor issue isn’t improving
• Your running mechanics feel different
• You’re compensating for discomfort
• You’ve recently made a significant jump in mileage
• An old running injury is beginning to return
• You’re having difficulty progressing your long runs
• Pain or stiffness is beginning to affect everyday movement

And if you’re approaching the higher-mileage portion of your Chicago Marathon training block, this can be a useful time to evaluate issues that have quietly started showing up.

It’s much easier to make an informed training decision when you know what you’re dealing with.

Sports Injury Rehabilitation in Chicago for Marathon Runners

Chicago gives runners plenty of places to accumulate miles, and the lakefront becomes its own moving community during marathon season.

At Lakeshore Physical Therapy, we work with Chicago runners at different stages of training. From runners building their first marathon base to experienced athletes working through an injury or trying to understand why the same problem keeps returning.

Our experienced therapists provide individualized, one-on-one care and use evidence-based techniques to evaluate movement, strength, mobility, and running mechanics.

For runners looking for Lakeview physical therapy in Chicago or physical therapy in Lincoln Park, our locations make it possible to incorporate evaluation and sports injury rehabilitation in Chicago into your training rather than waiting until the end of your training block.

The objective isn’t simply getting you back to running.

It’s understanding what your body needs to handle the running you’re asking it to do.

Frequently Asked Questions About Marathon Training and Physical Therapy

Should I see a physical therapist before training for a marathon?

You don’t need an injury to schedule a running-specific physical therapy evaluation. An evaluation may be useful for runners with previous injuries, recurring discomfort, concerns about running mechanics, or questions about strength and mobility as training volume increases.

When should I see a physical therapist for running knee pain?

Consider an evaluation when knee pain repeatedly occurs during or after running, worsens as mileage increases, changes your running mechanics, or begins affecting daily activities. Sudden or severe symptoms may require additional medical evaluation.

Can physical therapy help with hip pain from running?

A physical therapist can evaluate hip pain in the context of your strength, mobility, running mechanics, training volume, and previous injury history. The findings can then guide an individualized treatment and exercise plan.

What is a running gait analysis?

A running gait analysis uses observation and, in some cases, video to evaluate your running mechanics. A therapist may assess foot placement, cadence, hip and knee positioning, trunk movement, stride characteristics, and other patterns relevant to your symptoms or performance goals.

Should runners strength train while preparing for a marathon?

Strength training can be one component of a marathon training program. The appropriate exercises, frequency, and training load depend on the runner’s experience, current mileage, recovery needs, injury history, and goals.

Should I stop marathon training if something starts hurting?

Not every symptom requires completely stopping your training, but persistent or worsening pain shouldn’t simply be ignored. A physical therapist can evaluate the problem and help determine whether your training should continue normally, be modified, or temporarily reduced.

Build a Body That Can Handle the Miles

Your marathon training isn’t just about getting your long run from 10 miles to 12, then 14, 16, 18, and eventually 20.

Your body has to adapt along with your mileage.

Strength matters. Mobility matters. Recovery matters. And paying attention when something starts feeling wrong matters.

Don’t let an issue you’ve been ignoring write the ending to months of training.

With three convenient locations in Chicago, our physical therapists at Lakeshore Physical Therapy work with runners through evaluation, video gait analysis, individualized exercise, injury recovery, and sports rehabilitation.

Schedule your running evaluation either at our Lakeview, Lincoln Park, or Pickleball Clubhouse locations, and let’s work on keeping you on pace for October.

3. On a GLP-1? Your Muscles Need a Plan Too

GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy are everywhere right now, and so is the concern about what they can do to muscle mass. A meaningful chunk of GLP-1 weight loss can come from lean tissue, not just fat.

The fix isn’t complicated, but it does take intention. Resistance training, ideally a couple of sessions a week, is the single best tool for protecting strength and muscle while you lose weight. That’s true whether you’re brand new to exercise or used to be active and have lost momentum.

This is exactly where physical therapy earns its keep. We can build you a personalized treatment plan with an exercise and mobility program that meets you where you are, protects your joints, and keeps your muscle working for you long after the weight loss journey ends. It’s evidence-based, individualized PT, not a generic printout of exercises.

If you’re on a GLP-1 and wondering how to move well while you’re on it, let’s talk. Individualized care, evidence-based programming, and a supportive environment, right here in Chicago.

[Book your consultation.]

4. Your Golf Swing Might Need the Physical Therapy Appointment You Haven’t Booked

Chicago’s golf season is in full swing (sorry), and every year we see the same story: someone’s handicap creeps up, their lower back starts barking after eighteen holes, or they just can’t seem to generate the power they used to, and they assume it’s a swing mechanics problem to fix with more lessons. Sometimes it is. But just as often, it’s a body problem, not a swing problem.

A restricted hip, a stiff thoracic spine, or limited shoulder mobility will change your swing whether you want it to or not, and no amount of coaching can out-train a physical limitation. That’s where a Titleist Performance Institute (TPI) evaluation comes in. It’s a golf-specific movement screen that looks at how your body actually moves (or doesn’t) and connects the dots to what’s showing up in your swing.

Kate, on our team, is TPI certified and offers golf performance evaluations right here at Lakeshore Physical Therapy, screening your mobility, stability, and movement patterns to flag what’s limiting you and what’s putting you at risk for hip pain, shoulder pain, or low back pain. From there, we build a personalized treatment plan to fix it, so your body can finally keep up with your swing thoughts.

Low back pain, hip tightness, or just want to add some yards? Our experienced therapists offer individualized PT and evidence-based techniques to help you play pain-free. Let’s screen it.

[Book a TPI golf evaluation with Kate.]

WE NEED TO MAKE A LINK TO BOOK THIS TYPE OF APPT

5. Your Smartwatch or Oura Ring Say You’re Recovered. Your Neck Has a Different Opinion.

Recovery scores, sleep trackers, readiness rings: your wearable can tell you a lot about how you slept, but it has no idea whether you’ve moved from your desk chair in the last three hours. That gap between “recovered” and “actually feeling good” is usually filled by the same two things: movement breaks and ergonomics, and both are simpler to fix than people expect.

Sitting itself isn’t the enemy. Staying in one position for long, uninterrupted stretches is what tends to leave your neck and upper back feeling stiff and cranky by mid-afternoon. Something as small as standing up every 30 to 45 minutes, rolling your shoulders, or taking a short walk between meetings can make a real difference over the course of a workday.

Ergonomics matter too, and it doesn’t require an expensive setup. Getting your monitor to eye level, keeping your keyboard close, and giving your feet solid support all reduce the load your neck and shoulders carry all day, which can go a long way toward preventing work-related injuries before they start.

If you want a setup and habits that actually fit how you work, our friendly staff can help you build both, along with some simple posture and mobility improvement exercises to keep your neck feeling good between visits. It’s the kind of patient-centered, personalized care that treats the cause, not just the ache.

If your workday routine could use a tune-up, come see us in Lincoln Park or Lakeview for a PT evaluation.

[Book your evaluation.]

6. Pelvic Floor PT Is for Every Body

Pelvic floor physical therapy has spent years living quietly in the postpartum corner of the internet, but that’s changing, and for good reason. Everyone has a pelvic floor, and everyone’s is worth paying attention to, regardless of gender or gender identity.

Pelvic floor dysfunction can show up as urinary urgency or leaking, pelvic or tailbone pain, core weakness that never fully resolved, or discomfort during exercise or intimacy. It can affect anyone: people who are pregnant or postpartum, people recovering from pelvic or prostate surgery, transgender and nonbinary patients navigating hormone therapy or gender-affirming care, and plenty of people who simply have unexplained low back or hip pain with no obvious cause. Symptoms don’t always announce themselves as “pelvic,” which is part of why they get missed for so long.

The pelvic floor doesn’t work in isolation. It’s part of your core, your breathing mechanics, and your posture, so treating it usually means treating the whole system around it, not just doing Kegels and calling it a day. In fact, please stop doing Kegels! Care is always individualized to your body, your history, and your goals, with a personalized treatment plan built around you.

If something in this hits close to home, you don’t have to keep quietly working around it. Compassionate care, evidence-based techniques, and a supportive environment are available to patients of every gender at our Lincoln Park and Lakeview locations, right here in Chicago.

[Book a pelvic floor evaluation.]

7. Lakeshore Physical Therapy Is Now Inside Pickleball Clubhouse

We’ve opened a clinic right inside Pickleball Clubhouse at 4242 N. Elston, and Julia Glick, co-owner of Lakeshore Physical Therapy, is the physical therapist on site.

Julia brings 10 years of clinical PT experience, 7 years running her own practice, and 8 years working inside a racquet club with players at every level, from total beginners to competitive tournament players. That combination means she’s not just treating an injury when you walk in, she’s seen how racquet sports players actually move, train, and break down over time, and she brings that same evidence-based, individualized PT approach to every evaluation.

An issue she sees in racquet sports players, and pickleball players especially, is an inability to hold ready position without low back pain creeping in. That deep athletic stance is deceptively demanding on your hips, core, and spine, and when it’s not supported well, your back ends up doing work it wasn’t built to do for an entire match. It’s something Julia works on regularly with her racquet sports patients, from identifying what’s limiting your stance to building the strength and mobility to hold it comfortably, game after game.

If low back pain is creeping into your game, or you just want a movement check before it does, Julia’s on site and ready to help with a truly personalized, patient-centered approach to sports injury rehab in Chicago.

[Schedule an evaluation at Pickleball Clubhouse today.]

8. Heel Pain That Won’t Quit? Here’s What Shockwave Therapy Actually Does

If you’ve already tried stretching, new shoes, orthotics, rest, and you’re still limping through your first steps every morning, plantar fasciitis has probably become the most googled phrase on your phone. You’re also probably wondering if surgery is next. For most people, it isn’t.

Radial shockwave therapy, or ESWT, uses focused acoustic pressure waves to stimulate blood flow and kickstart your body’s own healing response in the tissue that’s been stuck in a pain loop. We use a Storz radial shockwave device, the same technology behind a lot of the research showing real, measurable pain relief for chronic plantar fasciitis and heel pain, without surgery or a long recovery.

Sessions are quick, usually 10 to 15 minutes, and most people notice a real difference within a handful of visits. It’s not magic, and it’s not instant, but it is one of the most evidence-based, effective pain management options we have for stubborn heel pain that hasn’t responded to the basics.

If your foot pain has outlasted every home remedy you’ve tried, a PT evaluation can confirm whether shockwave therapy is a fit for you, alongside a personalized treatment plan to address what’s driving it in the first place. While shockwave alone can be beneficial, we find it works best hand in hand with physical therapy.

[Book a shockwave therapy evaluation.]

9. Tennis Elbow, Golfer’s Elbow, and the Question Everyone Asks First

Before anyone books a shockwave therapy session for their elbow, they type the same question into Google: will shockwave therapy hurt? Fair question. Here’s the honest answer: you’ll feel it, a deep tapping or snapping sensation as the device works, but most people describe it as uncomfortable rather than painful, and it eases considerably after the first session or two as your tissue adjusts.

Tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow are exactly the kind of chronic, stubborn tendon pain shockwave therapy was built for. Rest alone often isn’t enough once these have been going on for months, because the tendon needs a fresh stimulus to actually remodel and heal, not just time off.

Using our Storz radial shockwave device, we target the affected tendon directly to jumpstart that repair process. Most treatment plans run 4 to 6 sessions, spaced about a week apart, and are paired with strengthening work so the improvement actually holds once treatment ends.

If elbow pain has been quietly limiting your grip strength, your racquet sports game, or your desk work for months, don’t wait for it to become permanent. Our experienced therapists can evaluate whether shockwave therapy fits your recovery. While shockwave alone can be beneficial, we find it works best hand in hand with physical therapy.

[Schedule your elbow pain evaluation.]

10. Achilles Pain and the “How Many Sessions Will This Take” Question

Achilles tendinopathy has a way of sneaking up on runners and weekend athletes alike: a little stiffness in the morning, some soreness after a run, and then suddenly it’s been months and it’s not going away on its own. One of the most common questions we get once someone’s ready to try shockwave therapy is simple: how many sessions until this actually works?

The honest answer is it depends on how long the tendon’s been irritated and how it responds, but most treatment plans run 3 to 6 sessions, spaced about a week apart, using our Storz radial shockwave device to stimulate blood flow and collagen repair in the tendon. Many patients notice improvement within the first few visits, though full results build over the course of treatment.

Shockwave therapy is a genuinely evidence-based, non-invasive alternative for chronic tendon pain that hasn’t responded to rest, stretching, or time, and it’s a nice option to have before considering injections or surgery. We pair it with individualized strengthening so your Achilles is actually more resilient once treatment wraps up, not just quieter for a few weeks.

If your Achilles has been nagging you for longer than it should, let’s talk about whether shockwave therapy belongs in your recovery plan. While shockwave alone can be beneficial, we find it works best hand in hand with physical therapy.

[Book your Achilles evaluation.]