Dr. Grant Ralston
Sports Medicine Physician
1 Podcast on BackTable
Dr. Grant Ralston is a family medicine and sports medicine physician based in Springfield, Missouri, affiliated with CoxHealth Springfield.
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Episode # 113 • 08 Sept 2026
Overuse Injuries: Causes, Diagnosis & Management
Why do overuse injuries keep coming back even after the pain settles down? On this episode of BackTable Bone & Sports, Dr. Larry Balle welcomes Dr. Grant Ralston to define overuse injury as a load-related disorder, and to work through its causes, diagnosis, and management in both pediatric and adult athletes. They review common conditions like bone stress injuries, chronic tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, and apophysitis, and discuss why year-round play, early sport specialization, social media, and name, image, and likeness (NIL) pressures are making these cases more frequent in clinic.
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About
Dr. Grant Ralston is a board-certified family medicine and sports medicine physician at CoxHealth in Springfield, Missouri. He earned his medical degree from the University of Medicine and Health Sciences in St. Kitts before completing his family medicine residency at CoxHealth, where he served as chief resident. He later completed a sports medicine fellowship at the University of Arkansas and holds a Certificate of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine from the American Board of Family Medicine.
Dr. Ralston specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of sports-related injuries and other musculoskeletal conditions, with an emphasis on helping patients and athletes safely return to activity. A former Division I track and field athlete at Wichita State University, his background in competitive athletics helped shape his interest in sports medicine. In addition to his clinical practice at CoxHealth, Dr. Ralston provides sports medicine coverage for local universities, professional teams, and school districts and is involved in medical education as an assistant professor.
Visit CoxHealth to learn more about Dr. Grant Ralston.
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