Originally a Strength & Conditioning coach with the National Academy Of Sports Medicine, Matt turned his attention to Sports Therapy back in 2004, and became part of a multidisciplinary team on the South Coast of England that included Sports Therapists, Massage Therapists, Physiotherapists, Podiatrists and Osteopaths.

As a keen runner himself (famed for running multiple marathons & half marathons in a blue morph suit!), Matt started working in particular with distance runners & endurance athletes, and in becoming increasingly aware of  the high levels of contradicting advice & misconceptions within the running industry decided to create his website www.runchatlive.com to try and help both runners and therapists evolve from outdated ideas and embrace a more evidence-based approach to running injury prevention & management.

Running Gait Analysis & Runchatlive Podcast

As an established writer for multiple running magazines & websites, and a popular speaker at many national conferences, Matt was invited in 2018 to Kenya to help set up the first 3D Gait Analysis lab in Nairobi for the company Run Beyond. So impressed was he by the time he spent in Kenya that he decided to do a live stream to talk about it, and with that started Runchatlive Podcast. Matt was soon having guests from around the world, all specialists in the area of Running Injury and Performance. Well worth checking all the episodes out! As far as Running Gait Analysis, we are proud to say that Matt offers a Running Gait Analysis Course exclusively for The ST School, details of which can be found here.

Runchatlive International Running Conference 2019

In 2019, Matt decided that he would fly some of his esteemed podcast guests in person to present at the inaugural ‘Runchatlive International Running Conference‘ in his hometown of Brighton, UK.  The incredible line up of speakers came from as far as Australia, Canada & The United States. I had the privilege of personally attending the two day conference, and was absolutely blown away listening and learning from such an incredible group of multidisciplinary practicioners & researchers, including Dr JF Esculier, Ian Griffiths, Dr Izzy Moore, Simon Bartold, Mike James, Paul Coker, Chris Johnson, Dr Derek Griffin, Mike James, Paul Westwood and Jack Chew.

Runchatlive International Running Conference 2020

Due to the Covid Pandemic, Matt decided to make his Runchatlive International Running Conference an online event in 2020, allowing delegates to in the comfort of their home share their screen with once again an incredible selection of world class running injury specialists from around the world, including Matt Fitzgerald, Dr Claire Minshull, Emma Brockwell, Alice Sanvito, Kevin Maggs, Mike James, Ben Cormack, Tom Goom, Trevor Prior, Nick Knight & Jess Bruce. This conference without a doubt set a new benchmark for future online conferences, and was also streamed with simultaneous translation into Spanish!

Sports Therapy Association Podcast

The Covid Pandemic left a lot of soft tissue therapists with more questions than answers, so Matt decided in late 2020 to create the ‘Sports Therapy Association Podcast‘, a weekly live podcast with special guests from the world of soft tissue therapy, aimed at helping therapists gently evolve to bring their business in more in line with modern evidence informed  practice. Matt is super aware of how scary and frustrating social media can be for therapists, and the Sports Therapy Association (founded by Gary Benson in early 2014) does a fantastic job as a professional association that truly cares for its members and our industry. All episodes of the podcast are availalble on your favourite podcast apps and YouTube!

And so much more…

As our Injury Rehab and Running Performance Specialist here at The ST School, there is so much more I could tell you about Matt, but space is running low! He is an integral part of the Hands On Hub Team at Therapy Expo, which he somehow does whilst also running the STA Therapy Update Theatre next door to us! He is also part of the Touch Matters Podcast team, and probably most importantly someone who I know will always make time to listen to my ideas, and will tell me straight up if and when I am sounding crazy.