Runners knees

snoopy29

Hello,

Not sure if this is the correct forum for this but i started running short distances about 1 yr ago to train for a 10km race (my first one). Since then my knees gave a bit of trouble so i eased up on the distance running.

I recently started interval training and have been having lower back problems and knee problem (lot of clicking and crunching). Im thinking lower back problems are from the jerking action while moving from high speed to slow walking during the intervals. My knees have become quite painful so i bought air orthotic insoles but at the moment i have had to give up the running. Doc has said i need to build up my quads as runners knees can be from weak quads.

Basically wondering if anyone has any advice? should i stop the running altogether, do weights on my legs to build them up, at the moment im doing some swimming but i do miss the gym and i find its the best way to keep the weight off too.

Please let me know if this should be moved to a different thread.

Cheers

RayCun

see the charter

We do not give out medical advice. Injuries may have common symptoms but are unique to the individual - just because you were able to keep training with X injury or were out for months because of Y doesn't mean that the same will apply to someone else. Bad advice given here and followed through could aggravate an injury and prevent an athlete making a full recovery in as rapid a time as possible. This restriction is Boards-wide and purposely heavy-handed. So don't feel offended if your thread about a sprained ankle (which you may deem "non-medical") gets locked.

If you don't run much and have sore knees, jumping into interval training is a bad idea.

ecoli

Do you stretch your IT bands? here are some stretches which may help:

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6099

too much trifle

as above, + patience & time, increase slooooowly:D
good luck:)

tunney

ecoli wrote: »

Do you stretch your IT bands? here are some stretches which may help:

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6099

You can't actually stretch the IT band...........

You can release the TFL and stretch that and stretch surrounding muscles.

The IT band is a tendon not a muscle.

huskerdu

Same advice as above.

Interval training is not much use to you until you have built up a solid base of running and increased your basic strength anyway and will increase the injury risk unless you are rrady for it.

The fact that you are getting sore knees indicated that you are probably not ready for it.

How often and how far do you run, at the moment ?

Have a at the video ecoli linked to and others on that site for strengthening exercises you should do.

Deego01

I wouldn't agree with the quad strengthening thing. The ITB in runners knee is tight and needs to be treated, but the ITB stiffens because of a number of factors. Find out why the ITB's are tight, sort that, then work on the ITB's.

lway

Pain would point to the ITB, however if it's just the crunching and clicking noise from the knees then from my experience I used get that a lot when I started running, especially when going up a flight of stairs. What I found was going to the Gym and working on the Quads helped immensely. I don't get any noise from my knees anymore.

Deego01

Anterior knee pain or lateral knee pain can have a multitude of causes. Traditionally, runners knee is accepted to be the result of a tight ilio tibial band causing lateral knee pain, which will not be helped by strengthening the quads. Crunching and clicking in the knee can come from wear and tear in the knee joint or from chondromalacia patella, or wearing in the undersurface of the kneecap. Quads exercise will help this and can even stop the clicking noise in some cases. Runners knee is different though.

TFBubendorfer

I found that doing exercise to strengthen the glutes had a much more positive effect on the ITB/knee area than stretches.

I firmly believe that the right strength exercise will solve the underlying problem. Stretching gives you temporary relief and does nothing to solve the real issues IMHO.

Deego01

That's what we see in the gym here. Over-stretching without doing a gluts strengthening regime doesn't seem to work longterm. Believe it or not we find the same with shin-splints. We get a lot of good results here without actually touching the shin-splint area, by triggerpointing the gluts/itb and then strengthening the gluts, the symptoms seem to abate faster.

dernipper

Spent the last months stretching / foam rolling / icing on a daily basis and trips to physical therapist with minimum short term improvement, introduced some basic strength work of leg raises, bridges etc and within a couple days a huge and Continous improvement

Deego01 wrote: »

That's what we see in the gym here. Over-stretching without doing a gluts strengthening regime doesn't seem to work longterm. Believe it or not we find the same with shin-splints. We get a lot of good results here without actually touching the shin-splint area, by triggerpointing the gluts/itb and then strengthening the gluts, the symptoms seem to abate faster.

dernipper

Spent the last months stretching / foam rolling / icing on a daily basis and trips to physical therapist with minimum short term improvement, introduced some basic strength work of leg raises, bridges etc and within a couple days a huge and Continous improvement

Deego01 wrote: »

That's what we see in the gym here. Over-stretching without doing a gluts strengthening regime doesn't seem to work longterm. Believe it or not we find the same with shin-splints. We get a lot of good results here without actually touching the shin-splint area, by triggerpointing the gluts/itb and then strengthening the gluts, the symptoms seem to abate faster.

HelenAnne

Everyone's different, so you should probably get your knees checked out by a physio, but I had a lot of knee problems when I first started increasing my distances a little bit and the physic prescribed strength training for my thighs. I do squats holding weights and one-legged squats and planks now a few times a week and my knees have been fine for months. (I stretch a lot too!)