Sheffield Running Clinic

The Sheffield Running clinic at the White House Clinic pulls together the vast expertise, knowledge and services the clinic has to offer specifically for our running clients.

The White House Clinic Physiotherapy & medical team are highly experienced in offering the best assessment and treatment to local runners.

Whether you are a seasoned runner or just starting out on your first couch to 5k session, the chances of coming across an injury or issue that halts your progress is high.

Although there are a variety of things that can cause injury, training error and overload alone account for around 60-70% of running related pain. Ramping up your training too fast for a race or returning to your previous running distance/pace straight after having some time off are prime examples.

Our staff not only offer the skills and treatment; we are actively involved in the local running community, clubs and races as well. Steve, Abbie, David and Emma have a high level of running experience themselves, which aids in their understanding of injury and rehabilitation. We understand the frustrations when you can't run and we do our best to get you back in the hills or on the roads as soon as you can. Learn more about our team below.

Steve runs a weekly strength and conditioning class for runners to help prevent injuries and improve performance. We are supported by the additional skills of James (ultrasound scanning) & Dr Higgins (Sports medicine doctor).

Running Services

Physiotherapy

Seeing an experienced physiotherapist is usually the first step when managing a running injury. We will perform a detailed assessment of you and your injury before informing you of our recommendations for treatment, running and rehabilitation. This may lead on to the other services we offer if necessary. Treatment we can immediately start includes manual therapy, soft tissue release, acupuncture, shockwave, run specific rehab exercises and training advice.

Shockwave Therapy

There is a growing use of shockwave in the treatment of running injuries due to the ever-increasing evidence base of this treatment. Shockwave is a non-surgical treatment, and works by delivering impulses of energy, targeted to specific damaged tissues within a tendon. The most common running injuries which are treated with shockwave are achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis and patella tendinopathy (runner’s knee).

Sports Massage

Runners often complain of tight and sore muscles. When you’re training for an event, or are increasing your running volume, sometimes you need a bit of extra help in recovery.

Sports Doctor

We are fortunate to have a very experienced sports doctor available at the White House clinic; Dr Higgins brings a wealth of experience to the clinic. Our Sport & Exercise Medicine Service provides help to manage a large range of injuries and medical conditions affecting amateur to elite sportsmen, and the general population. This service includes injection therapy for a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture is often utilised in injury management with the aim of settling pain and symptoms down. It can help relieve a variety of running injuries, and help you make a more comfortable return to running at the right time.

Strength & Conditioning Class

We all know we should be doing regular strength and conditioning aside from running, don’t we?! Our weekly class is on Zoom and is led by Steve Canning. He will guide you through a variety of exercises for strength, balance and flexibility – all aiming to help make you a better, more efficient runner and keep away from injury. This is very popular for runners once they have made most of their recovery from injury and want to keep any other issues well and truly at bay.

Pilates and Yoga classes

In a similar way to the strength & conditioning class, Pilates and Yoga can be excellent adjuncts to your run training. Ensure you stay strong and flexible by attending a regular class, led by one of our excellent and highly experienced instructors at the main clinic.

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Meet the Team

Steve Canning

Steve is a highly experienced musculoskeletal physiotherapist who has been at the White House Clinic for 18 years and has built a reputation amongst local runners as the go to Physiotherapist. He offers in depth run specific assessments, run technique advice, shockwave, acupuncture and a weekly strength & conditioning class for runners. His main focus is on marathon distance, having recently competed in Berlin, London & Manchester. His PB was achieved at Manchester in 2023 with a very respectable time of 2:40:23. He is also a member of Sheffield Running club, and competes locally at club events, the Percy Pud and Round Sheffield Run.

Abbie Pearse

Originally from London, Abbie graduated in 2015 from Sheffield Hallam University with a First Class BSc (Hons) Degree in Physiotherapy. During this time, Abbie fell in love with Sheffield and running in the peak district and couldn't move away.

After graduating, Abbie spent the next 5 years in the NHS rotating through various departments, working in all areas ranging from Respiratory to Neurological Physiotherapy, but she found her passion in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy. She worked in the NHS MSK service gaining invaluable experience of evidence-based practice. She then decided to branch out to private practice and joined the White House Clinic in 2021 to have the freedom to spend more time with individual patients.

Currently alongside her MSK physiotherapy role, Abbie also works as a First Contact Practitioner (FCP physiotherapist) in General Practice for the White House Clinic. This role relies heavily on her ability to make rapid and accurate diagnoses to ensure patients receive the best treatment available as soon as possible.

When she's not in the clinic helping people stay active and healthy, she's running herself and can often be found on the step of a podium at local and national races. She qualified for the championship place at the London Marathon and hopes to qualify for Great Britain in 2021 to compete at the World Championships in Duathlon.

Abbie is a run leader for Steel City Striders running club and truly believes in the restorative powers of exercise and the outdoors.

David Sprot

David is an Extended Scope Physiotherapist with a specialism of foot and ankle injuries. He has developed this throughout his 17 year career, and is qualified to masters level working alongside orthopaedic consultants in hospital clinics.

Since working at the London 2012 Olympics in the athletics stadium he has been heavily involved in sports, leading the Derbyshire institute of Sport physiotherapy provision which has included athletes competing at European, World, Commonwealth and Olympic level. Because of this, David understands the need for athletes to maintain their training and return from injury as soon as possible. He has also been a runner for a significant time, competing on track, road and cross country. Although family life means he now looks back at his 800m pb of 1:58, he still runs regularly as he knows that we all run ultimately because we enjoy it!

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James Walker

Whilst not a runner himself (he prefers to spend his time going vertically up climbing walls, rather than the horizontal direction!), James is our go to guru for ultrasound scanning – this can really help diagnose and examine progress of a variety of common running injuries. The physio team will liaise with James as to when an ultrasound would be of benefit in the diagnosis and rehabilitation stages.

Emma Clements

Emma is a senior musculoskeletal physiotherapist who has treated many sporting injuries while working in this sector. She understands the importance for runners to keep running in a safe way through training plan guidance, hands on treatments and tailored exercise plans. Emma teaches Pilates at multiple levels and uses it as a functional rehabilitation tool, great for runners with a key focus on building core strength.

Emma combines her enjoyment for swimming and running by taking part in 'Swimrun' events which involve open water swimming and trail runs around the lake district. She runs with a local club and relishes the social aspect of running, participating in team cross-country events and local park runs. In addition to chasing her Sheff half marathon PB each year.

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