leapgirl -- question?

ball.and.chain · April 2012

Thought I'd try to get to you before the babies do! Big Smile

I thought I remembered you talking in the past about having knee problems related to running, and I was wondering what you did to keep running without damaging them. Any advice, resources? I've been running for about 16 months and my knees are really starting to feel it. I'm not running super long distances (about 5k per workout, 3x/week), I'm on a treadmill, and I have good shoes. I'm worried that I'm going to have to give this up if I don't make some kind of change.

TIA!

leapgirl8 · April 2012

Yep, that was me! I had occasional pain in both knees after long races, but after the Atlanta Half-Marathon in 2010 my left knee got so bad that I couldn't walk down stairs without wincing/serious pain. I ended up dropping out of the Disney Marathon in early 2011 because I couldn't run and had started too far back to stay ahead of the sag wagon at a walking pace. My first orthopedist told me that I was too old to run and should find something else to do. Thanks Mr. Helpful. I found a new one who specialized in sports injuries and he confirmed my self-diagnosed IT band injury. He sent me to a physical therapist who was very helpful, and by religiously using the information she gave me at home I was able to race triathlons (max run distance 6 miles) that summer, and run the Portland Marathon in the fall.

If you have an IT band injury, you will feel the pain primarily along the outsides of your kneecaps. It's hard to get rid of/heal, but NOT impossible like some people will tell you. The most important thing is to get a foam roller and do this with it before AND after each run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHBDim_fzk (Warning: This IS painful, since it's basically a self-applied sports massage, but it will get less so as you work with it more and it loosens up.) If you don't have one already, you can get a foam roller at Wal-Mart, Target, most sporting goods stores, etc. Even if something else is going on, I do recommend rolling your IT band because this is a pretty easy injury to get, and requires a lot of work to heal.

This is a great book that can help you figure out what is going on. I've used it to help a couple of people figure out what was going with their legs or feet, and it's helpful because it provides descriptions of the symptoms and recommendations. Some problems can only be solved by 100% rest while others just require the right stretches.

https://www.amazon.com/Running-Injuries-Prevention-Jeff-Galloway/dp/1841262846

Ice massage is also helpful for some injuries, and I found it much more effective than just putting a bag of ice on my knee. Fill a paper cup with water and freeze it. Peel the cup off and massage the painful area firmly until it has passed from cold to tingly to numb, no more than 5 minutes. I also take Advil after long runs because it doesn't just block the pain, it reduces the inflammation, which can speed healing.

You probably already do this, but cross-training can really help too. I have less problems with my knees when I'm training for a tri because the biking and swimming uses my legs in different ways. I get in trouble when I'm just running. Also, you said you run on a treadmill but if you do run outside, do your best to walk down hills. Downhill is a knee killer.

Another thing you can do to strengthen your knees is stand on one leg, working your way up to 5+ minutes per leg. I know, sounds kind of weird, but it does build a lot of strength.

Good luck! I'm SO GLAD that I didn't listen to that first doctor and give up on running!

ball.and.chain · April 2012

Awesome -- thank you for all of this! I'm definitely going to check out the book. My pain is more on the front of my knees so it sounds like it's not an IT band injury (Dr. Google says it's runner's knee, patellofemoral pain). And I'm terrible about cross-training -- basically because I hate everything else -- but this just confirms what I already knew, which is that I need to be doing it (for more reasons than just my knees).

Honestly, I run to maintain my weight (and still be able to eat normally), and I'm terrified of having to stop because nothing else (that I can reasonably do on a regular basis) seems to burn as many calories. Your comment recently that we can expect our metabolisms drop in our mid-late 30s made me even more nervous about this (I'm turning 34 in a month). But I do need to get more serious about doing this right if I want to keep doing it.

Thanks again! I really appreciate it.

hlke · April 2012

Chiming in: I have suffered from runner's knee/patellafemoral pain syndrome a few times. Like all knee injuries, it can be difficult to treat and can recur, but there's lots of stuff you can do to help.

For me, the patellafemoral pain was actually IT band related and the IT band rolling helped a lot. Basically if your IT bands are too tight, it can change the tracking of your kneecap in bad ways and cause runner's knee. In addition to the IT band roller, the biggest help for me was ice, ice, ice. Ice massage like Leapgirl mentioned, and also just ice packs on my knees. When mine flares up, I can basically beat it into submission with 20 minutes of icing twice a day for about a week. Ibuprofen can also help, although I have always needed it in prescription doses, which you should really ask your doc about.

A physical therapist can give you strengthening and stretching exercises that help, and this is especially helpful if it doesn't respond to ice/rest/ibuprofen or if it recurs.

Hope you get some relief from your symptoms soon, it sucks to not be able to do the physical activity you like the most.

leapgirl8 · April 2012

Yes, just what Hike said - my original ortho diagnosed me with runner's knee, which was technically correct because my knee was VERY inflamed from the IT band pulling my kneecap out of position. Once ice and ibuprofen settled the worst of the inflammation down, I felt the pain more on the outsides of my kneecaps. I totally left that out, I'm sorry.

I like running best too, except for maybe weight lifting. But there are a lot of fun things out there and maybe being forced to explore them will be the silver lining from this experience

leapgirl -- question?

Re: leapgirl -- question?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards

*leapgirl* -- question?

Re: *leapgirl* -- question?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards

leapgirl -- question?

Re: leapgirl -- question?