Lee Welch

Lee treats patients in our running and lower extremity specialty clinic in Cary, The Running PTs. Visit our specialty clinic website here. He heads up our speed development program at BYoung Physical Therapy & Performance.

Lee is a Board Certified Orthopaedic Specialist with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. While he enjoys working with a variety of patients, he has developed a specific niche in the evaluation and treatment of runners, sprinters, and endurance athletes.

Lee is passionate about his work and started working with runners during his time at ECU, as a researcher and graduate assistant in the Running Assessment Clinic and the Human Movement Laboratory. In the Running Assessment Clinic he performed clinical and biomechanical analysis on both injured and healthy runners, and performed research on running-related topics. Lee has extensive experience with observational gait analysis in runners, including both 2D and 3D biomechanical gait analysis using Dartfish and Qualisys motion capture software.

Lee uses a multimodal approach to evaluating and treating runners using a static and dynamic examination, formalized gait assessment, and by incorporating a variety of skilled manual therapy techniques, dry needling, corrective therapeutic exercise, and biomechanical gait re-education programs that are personalized to each individual patient based on their personal presentation and history. Lee has spent years coaching and educating runners, and has hosted clinics on running biomechanics and injury prevention techniques. Lee has published research and informational articles about running, and is an author for Oolrun.com, in which he writes articles and “infobites” on running-related topics for an online audience of over 64,000 followers. Lee also has experience working with professional athletes, serving as the assistant to the Athletic Trainer for the Carolina Hurricanes during the 2011-2012 season.

Lee was recognized during his time at ECU as a student who demonstrated dedication to the profession, for his academic achievement, and for a commitment to a career in physical therapy through receiving the Student Academic Award, the Outstanding Research Award, as well as the George Hamilton Scholarship.

• Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopaedic Physical Therapy
• Certified in Functional Dry Needling
• Running Injuries
• Running Biomechanics Specialist
• 2D & 3D Gait Analysis
• Manual Therapy
• Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
• Sports Medicine
• Back pain and SI Joint Dysfunction
• Injury Prevention
• Comprehensive Lower Extremity Evaluation and Treatment

• Student Academic Award
• Outstanding Research Award
• Quality Assurance Award
• George Hamilton Scholarship for Academic Achievement

• Research on the effect of six-week static and dynamic hamstring stretching programs on hamstring flexibility and lower extremity biomechanics.
• Male and female runners demonstrate different sagittal plane mechanics as a function of static hamstring flexibility.
• Research on utilization of the intrinsic foot muscles during shod and barefoot running using MRI analysis.
• The Delicate Balance of Running
• Breathing Awareness for Runners

• American Physical Therapy Association, Member of the Orthopaedic Section