• Kelly Leugers, Sara Mathews, Rhoda Anderson, Nicholas Reilly, Henry Haltiwanger, Maria Gonnella, and Don Goss.
• Physical Therapy, Womack Army Medical Center, Fort Liberty, NC 28310, USA.
• Mil Med. 2024 Aug 30; 189 (9-10): e1976e1981e1976-e1981.

IntroductionAll branches of the U.S. Military have a running component of their physical readiness testing battery. Running-related musculoskeletal injuries affect 20 to 40% of DoD Service Members each year. Running form has not historically been addressed with military running-related injuries. To assess the utility of a structured gait retaining protocol designed to treat the onset of running-related pain and/or injury by correcting identified biomechanical risk factors for injury and improve clinical outcomes.Study DesignCase series.Materials And MethodsA total of 160 Active Duty Service Members (ADSMs) with running-related lower-body musculoskeletal injuries were referred by a physical therapist for a multisession gait retraining program termed "Run with CLASS" (Cadence, Lean, Alignment, Soft-landing, Strike). Run with CLASS utilized various drills to emphasize impact progression, proximal strengthening, and proprioception and spatial awareness.ResultsResults revealed that the implemented gait retraining protocol significantly improved running parameters following lower-body injury as evidenced by increased cadence, improved functional assessment scores, and a marked transition from predominantly heel strike to forefoot strike patterns during running.ConclusionsA 3-week supervised gait retraining program focused on the gait retraining program termed "Run with CLASS" (Cadence, Lean, Alignment, Soft-landing, Strike) was successful in altering biomechanics of self-selected running gait by increasing cadence and transitioning ADSMs to a forefoot foot strike. Additionally, ADSMs reported significant improvements on the self-reported functional scores on the University of Wisconsin Running Injury and Recovery Index and Single Assessment Numerical Evaluation.Level Of Evidence4.© The Association of Military Surgeons of the United States 2024. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site–for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.

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