Knee injury

lodge2000

Its me again. So I wore a knee strap on my left knee which was the one giving me trouble when I ran on sunday. On about the 7th or 8th mile my right knee started to have the same pain just below the knee cap.

So I swapped the strap over to my right knee and that fixed it, pain was gone within minutes. By monday, my right knee is in pain when i walk up/down stairs or cycle.

Today I started running with strap on my knee and i had to stop after about 2 minutes, it was clear my right knee was in too much pain. I went on the internet, its pretty evident that I have runners knee. So i put some ice on it for 10 minutes and now it seems like it only made it worse.

Marathons in a week and a half. i felt fine running the 15 miles on Sunday. Can someone please advise me what's the best way I can try and fix my knee. Last time my left knee was sore was after 18.5 mile run, i rested for a week and then it was fine so Im hoping for the same result.

Ill be absolutely gutted if i cant run after all this training. Anyway any advice would be very much appreciated.

Stupid_Private

Get yourself to a physio. I had a slight strain with the tendon right below the knee and a physio sorted it in one visit.

Phil01

Hi lodge2000,
I share your pain. My knee also in pain, i get sharp intensitive pains on the side, even from running fast. I looked it up on net and seems like runners knee too. First thing i did was contact my physo, you should do the same, they will better tell you how to threat it. Also it might not be runners knee, its possible it's something else.
Good luck with threatment.

911sc

Welcome to the club...Got pain on the outside of the knee about 2 weeks ago..Unfortunately, i thought it will go away and continued training until last Thursday. Physio on the Friday & diagnose with ITBS...So, rest for me for a week bare some streching exercise. The physio gave me a insole to put in the shoe. I have been wearing my runners on Saturday and Sunday with the insole but it is not confortable and create pain under the sole of my foot. I do not see myself run Connemara with this in my shoe.
I am pretty down TBH as i am really looking forward to this race.:( Now i have lost confidence, and i am afraid that my knee will give up few miles into the race.

A reference to a Patt Strap is made in the ITBS thread.

Is there an equivalent strap that can be bought in Ireland (or Dublin)?

I would feel more confortable with this in my back pocket on the 06th April just in case...

Also, is swimming OK with ITBS as i really want to keep training a bit just to maintain fitness until i can go back on the road?

--amadeus--

I think Tunney is the expert on ITBS so hopefully he'll be along in a minute. If teh insole is giving you pain then I personally wouldn't wear it and I certainly wouldn't attempt a marathon with it in - pain is a signal from your body that something isn't right and ignoring it is rarely a good idea. AFAIK ITBS can be caused by overpronantion - maybe teh insole is to prevent this? If so a change of trainers may be of more use.

One quick thing - runners knee and ITBS are very different injuries although they can both be triggered by hill running and / or overpronation. ITBS is caused by a muscle rubbing against bone causing the muscle to inflame. Runners Knee is cartilage damage under your kneecap. The location of teh pain will be different - on the outside of the knee for ITBS but around the kneecap for runners knee.

Treatment on both though is broadly the same - rest and ice in teh short term and address the muscle imbalance in the long term. Swimming and aqua jogging are fine for both. I think that you can cycle at low intensity on Runners Knee but not with ITBS but you'd need to check that.

Good luck to you all!

ditpoker

i think i shouldnt have started the ITBS thread!

update on my knee: i ordered the patt-strap from amazon, it arrived soon after but was in the process of staying off my knee. then the other day went to UCD running track with the idea of doing a light 2 miles with the strap around the knee... i last about 4 or 5 laps and the knee gave in. as of friday i'm officially out of training for london in april. also reading that cycling is a no go is quite the worry, im meant to be cycling the east coast of america for the summer! hmmm...

i'm going to give it one more go this evening, a very very light 15 min jog without the strap to see if it makes any difference. i'm gonna try and get to someone about my stride and see if thats a cause. Anyone any advice on who to see regarding this, i know mick dowling in terenure was mention or amphibian king,but i work 9-5 so its hard to get to these places during opening hours. any suggestions?

911sc

ditpoker wrote: »

i know mick dowling in terenure was mention or amphibian king,but i work 9-5 so its hard to get to these places during opening hours. any suggestions?

Amphibian King is opened saturday and sunday. Dunno about Mick

Phil01

I think there should be a sticky for ITBS, got back from physio and seems the pain in my knee is from the other end of the ITBS. I first had it in my hip, now in the knee. So got some massage and that device pregnant women use, ultrasound i think, to reduce inflamation. Seems like it will take from 10 days to 3 weeks to heal. Hope so anyways.

hunnymonster

a couple of people have suggested a sticky with the most frequent injuries. ITBS will certainly be up there if we ever do it. I'm slightly hesitant, because, boards.ie is not here for diagnosis and treatment, vast as our experience is

tunney

ditpoker wrote:

i'm going to give it one more go this evening, a very very light 15 min jog without the strap to see if it makes any difference. i'm gonna try and get to someone about my stride and see if thats a cause. Anyone any advice on who to see regarding this, i know mick dowling in terenure was mention or amphibian king,but i work 9-5 so its hard to get to these places during opening hours. any suggestions?

If you work in town runways are good.

ITBS is caused by a muscle rubbing against bone causing the muscle to inflame.

Not quite. Reach down to the side of your quad beside your knee. You'll feel a band of tissue there on the side (not around the back), If you don't suffer from ITBS it will be quite thin. If you do it will be thick as f*ck. That band connects just below and to the outside of your knee. If runs up over the outside of the knee over some bursia and up to your hip again over some bursia and it connects to the TFL. A very very small muscle. The most common cause of ITBS is when this small muscle is over used or misused causing it to tighten and pull the band tight making it rub off the knee (most common in men) or hip (in women more often). In bad cases the bursia becomes inflammed and infected and this takes months and months to heal.

Tips for ITBS suffers:

* Stretch and massage before you start feeling the problems. Stretch twice and day and get a foam roller and use it.
* Try to avoid blowing the sh!t out of your legs and training on them. At all times your form is the most important thing. When that goes you're open to injuries.
* Strengthen. Not a quick fix but the only real fix. Strengthen your core (note that this is not the six pack muscles but the stabilising muscles). Strengthen your glutes. You're not looking to add muscle mass but learn to recruit the muscles.
* Learn to run with your psoas. You don't *drive* off the ground you lift off the ground. A distinction that greatly affects the muscles you use for forward motion and the amount of stabilisation required (i.e. TFL and ITB) If you're in the triathlon scene look at how Brian Campbell and Colin Turner run.
* Accept your limitations. Trying to run a marathon when you're not a runner is not a good idea. You will get injured (some notable exceptions). Run and have fun for a year and then do that marathon.
* Look after your feet, cut your toe-nails and address and cuts or scrapes immediately. If you don't look after them they will fail you.

Its very important to see an expert as its very easy to misdiagnose.