RUNNING PERFORMANCE · SHELLHARBOUR
Running assessment and programming for runners who keep breaking down.
Running injuries are rarely bad luck. They are usually load, capacity or mechanics catching up with you. At RX Physiotherapy in Shellharbour we assess all three, then write the running and strength plan around what we find. Our team has helped more than 100 runners return to running.
- Assessment first, always
- Hands-on treatment plus a real plan
- Strength and self-management, not endless appointments
THE ASSESSMENT
What does a running assessment at RX include?
It includes six parts, and every one of them feeds the plan you leave with. We are looking for the reasons your body is not tolerating the running you are asking of it, which is rarely one thing:
Running history and injury screening
Training history, previous injuries and your goals, plus weekly mileage, recovery habits, footwear history and injury patterns.
Strength and control testing
Lower limb and core strength with a focus on glutes, hamstrings, calves and the deep core, because weak hip control shows up as knee pain surprisingly often.
Running gait analysis
High-speed video of your foot strike, stride, cadence and joint alignment, assessed alongside your strength, mobility and stability testing.
Footwear and load management review
Shoe fit, function and wear patterns, plus the structure of your training: mileage, intensity, terrain and rest days.
Mobility and movement control
Hips, ankles, spine, calves and hamstrings, with tests like single-leg squats and step-downs to see how you hold alignment under load.
Your running and strength plan
Mobility drills, strength exercises and technique cues with clear progressions, written for your biomechanics and your current conditioning.
OUR APPROACH
How we get you back to running properly.
Rest alone rarely changes a running injury, because the tissue that could not cope is still the tissue that could not cope when you start again. We work out what is under-prepared, build it, and rebuild your running around it in steps you can actually see.
Assess and explain
The full running assessment: history, strength and control testing, gait analysis, footwear and load review. You leave with a clear explanation, a written plan and your exercises in our app with video demos and tracking.
Settle and restore
Hands-on treatment and short-term load changes where something is irritable, such as an Achilles or an ITB, while we keep as much of your running as we safely can.
Rebuild strength
Progressive strength for the muscles that carry running load, glutes, hamstrings, calves and deep core, plus the mobility and control work your testing pointed to.
Stay ahead of it
A graded return to mileage, technique cues, footwear and recovery advice, and check-ins around your race calendar so the plan keeps up with your training.
PROFICIENCY AND SELF-MANAGEMENT
Treatment that teaches you to need us less.
Our physiotherapists see a lot of runners, and the pattern is consistent: the people who do best understand their condition and own their plan. So education is built into every appointment. You will know what your diagnosis means, what to do when it flares, how to keep training around it, and exactly what your next step is. Appointments are a means to an end, and the end is you managing it with confidence.
WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE
- A clear explanation, in plain language
- A written plan you can follow
- Exercises in our app with video demos and tracking
- Flare-up plans, so a bad day is not a setback
- Check-ins when you need them, independence when you do not
THE RX ACTIVE HEALTH DIFFERENCE
Rehab is step one. The rest of the building is the long game.
Most clinics treat you, discharge you and wave goodbye. RX Physiotherapy sits inside RX Active Health, a 1300sqm centre with a 24/7 gym, coached strength training, reformer Pilates and recovery rooms. So when treatment ends, your rehab graduates into real training with the same team, in the same building, instead of stopping dead.
Physiotherapy
Assessment, treatment and rehabilitation, led by your plan.
The gym and coaching
Graduate into coached strength training and 24/7 access when you are ready.
Recovery rooms
Sauna and cold plunge to support the work, steps from the clinic.
FAQ
Questions runners ask before they book.
What happens in a running assessment?
Six parts: your running and injury history, strength and control testing, a high-speed video gait analysis, a footwear and load management review, mobility and movement control testing, and the individualised running and strength plan built from all of it.
Do I need to be injured to book one?
Many of the runners we assess are not injured at all. Some are chasing a time, some are coming back from something specific, and some just want to stop the same niggle appearing every training block. The assessment is the same either way.
Do you use video for gait analysis?
Yes. We film your running with high-speed video and assess foot strike, stride, cadence and joint alignment, then read it alongside your strength, mobility and stability testing rather than in isolation.
Will you tell me what shoes to run in?
We review the shoes you have for fit, function and wear patterns and give you footwear guidance based on that and your training. The wrong shoe or a training load that climbed too quickly are two of the most common contributors we see.
Can I keep running while we work on it?
Usually yes, with the mileage, intensity and terrain adjusted. We would rather modify your training than stop it, and we will tell you clearly when something genuinely needs a pause.
What do I actually leave with?
An individualised running and strength plan written for your biomechanics, your goals and your current conditioning, with mobility drills, strength exercises, technique cues and clear progressions, loaded into our app with video demos.
THE PODCAST
Hear our physios talk through recovery, properly.
Book a running assessment and train with a plan.
One appointment gets you a clear explanation, a written plan and your first exercises. Book online in under a minute.
Unit 1/35 Shellharbour Road, Lake Illawarra NSW 2528