Danny Dinh Physio

06/13/2026

06/12/2026

This is something that I see a lot these days that really irks me. Running is supposed to be the most accessible sport out there, so why is it that so many runners feel obligated to spend over $200 at running shoe stores or else they will get injured?

Most of the time, when a beginner runner comes to see me because of an injury, they ask if it's because they didn't buy fancy shoes. You know what? Not a single time in the last two years was that really the answer.

As a matter of fact, if you're a beginner runner and you are already used to a specific pair of shoes that you're comfortable using in various sports, you're better off just starting with these shoes when you start running.

06/11/2026

Just to be clear, the wheels are a metaphor for legs only and nothing else 😂

06/10/2026

This is a hill that I'm willing to die on. Every week I treat runners who are dealing with chronic injuries and who have already consulted with other physical therapists in the past. I always make it a point to ask what was done during those physical therapy sessions.

Most of the time the runner talks about how the therapist did some manual therapy, did some techniques, some massages to help relieve their pain. Whenever they would go back to running, even if it's just for a couple of weeks, the pain would be back just like before. There was never a long-term strategy in terms of load management for their runs and also strengthening around the injured area.

The point of this video is not to trash on pain modulation strategies like manual therapy. I actually do a lot of those myself but to say that they should never be the primary component of physical therapy.

06/09/2026

The 10% rule is ubiquitous in running. It's not that it's a bad rule per se for injury prevention, but that it completely misses almost every other variable that can lead to an injury in running. If injury prevention was as simple as just maintaining a nice looking Strava graph, as a physical therapist, I would be out of a job.

To truly minimize your risk of injury as a runner, you have to look at the big picture. Every single training parameter matters:
- Speed
- Frequency
- Volume
- Distance
- Terrain
- Hills
- Shoes
- Recovery

It's only by keeping a holistic view of these parameters and each change that happens in them that you can minimize your injury risk.

06/07/2026

This may sound counterintuitive to hear from a physical therapist preaching safe and proper running training methods, but I truly believe that every runner would benefit from getting injured at least once.

You got to feel it and experience the injury to really understand the limitations of your own body. This is something that I had to go through myself, despite understanding in advance that running was a pretty intense sport to get into, especially when you have no running background like me.

06/06/2026

The idea of balancing hard work, dedication, and goal setting with being happy and satisfied with the process itself is pretty much the theme of my year so far.
I've spent years and years in my sports and my career being completely goal-oriented and achieving many milestones but with running there's something different and it's taught me a lot.

Having the chance to help runners recover from their injuries on a daily basis has helped me understand that there is so much more to running than the time on the clock at the end of the race.

This has translated to all the other aspects of my life as well, such as my career and my personal life, where I would always look at that time on the clock. I would always look at the next big goal that would make me satisfied.

Although I still struggle regularly with goal anxiety and my ambitions, I now try to enjoy each day as it comes and soak in the process and the moment.

Thank you for reading this far,
Danny

06/04/2026

"So why did you decide to become a physical therapist?"

This is a question that I get on an almost weekly basis. The honest answer is I never decided to become a PT. I spent the first two years of my undergraduate program more focused on partying and campus involvement than in the actual program itself.

It's only during my second internship that my interest switch was flipped and I locked in. Here's the story.

06/03/2026

A pervasive myth in running nowadays is the illusion of perfect alignment. That is, unless every single joint in your legs is symmetrical while running, you are injury-prone.

This belief falls apart immediately upon closer inspection. As a running physical therapist who has evaluated countless runners in the last few years, I have never seen a runner without any asymmetry whatsoever. Their research simply doesn't support the idea that having hip drop or foot collapsing increases risk of injury. Sometimes, they can be relevant, especially if the runner has any hip pain or foot pain in the area that is asymmetrical. However, that is not the case for myself and for many runners with these asymmetries.

Fact of the matter is, injury has much, much more to do with improper load management and progression in running rather than pursuing some mythological perfect alignment.