281: Expert Edition: Professor Stuart Warden (PT, PhD, FACSM, FASBMR) ‘Preventing Bone Stress Injuries in Runners’

Professor Stuart Warden is an avid runner.  Academically and professionally Dr Stuart Warden serves as a Professor of Physical Therapy and the Associate Dean for Research within the Indiana University School of Health & Human Sciences. Professor Stu embarked on a Post Doctorate at the Australian Institute of Sport and Indiana University Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, following graduation from the University of Melbourne with a Physiotherapy Degree in 2001. Professor Warden's research interests focus on the form and function of the musculoskeletal system, in-particular the lifelong contribution of physical activity to skeletal health. Professor Stu has contributed to over 170 peer reviewed publications and currently serves as an Associate Editor for The Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy and also as an Editorial Board Member for Bone, Journal of Bone and Mineral Research and the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.

Professor Stuart Warden alongside colleagues Brent Edwards and Dr Rich Willy released a landmark commentary by way of a scientific paper titled "Preventing Bone Stress Injuries in Runners with Optimal Workload". It was published in February 2021 and it's a must read for any Coach, Athlete or Practitioner working in the field of endurance sports.

In this episode we dive deep into its contents:

• What the author's mean by bone workload
• Optimal workload to induce skeletal adaptation
• The fact that not all athletes have good skeletons
• Why it is that distance running does not build good bones
• How we can use periodisation to help build more bone
• The effects of early specialisation with sport and the contribution to bone stress injury risk
• Why it is that optimising bone structure is critical and how it only develops before puberty
• How it is that we can positively affect our bone density and bone architecture through loading with multiple direction jumps and why it is only during puberty that this is possible
• How we can positively increase the robustness of our skeleton through bone centric exercises
• How we can try and minimise training errors to avoid the onset of a bone stress injury, a stress fracture a stress reaction or similar

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