Re-Teaching the Sprint: A Phase-Based Approach to Returning to Max Speed

Most clinicians wait too long to introduce sprinting mechanics in rehab, then wonder why the jump to full speed feels like zero to a hundred.John Allan Furgeson, DPT, sits down with Dr. Azita Nejaddehghan to break down how to scale acceleration and deceleration work down to technical, low-load pieces early in the rehab process instead of saving them for the final phase. Sprinting phases can be trained at submax-effort while isolating movement patterns and muscles before getting back to max-effort sprints. What they cover:Why deceleration training and eccentric strength work are not the same thing, and how to train deceleration early using yielding and overcoming isometricsHow to isolate sprint phases like late swing to prove to an athlete their body can tolerate the pattern before testing max effortMatching objective testing with visual observation to find the real rate-limiting deficit, strength, confidence, or something else entirelyWhy an experienced athlete's subjective feedback on compensation is an underused diagnostic toolThe control-to-chaos continuum: moving return-to-sport from anticipatory to reactive, individual to team, closed to openWhy every clinician should get on the field and sprint and cut themselves before programming it for someone elseRehab doesn't fail at max effort. It fails months earlier, when nobody trained the pattern at all.Social Media:Rehab2PerformR2P AcademyDr. Azita Nejaddehghan