Anybody rehabbing runners knee/patellar tendinitis?
marymccarthyrn
Posts: 3 Member
I am a nurse so of course between my own opinion, the surgical residents and orthopedists I work with, we *think* it’s runners knee. I know, I know, I need to get it imaged....Anybody have any tips, tricks or exercises they use? It starts to hurt on long runs or when I try to go hard on paced run days. GRRRRRR!!!
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I've been going for a sports massage every two weeks and I try to foam roll and stretch every single day. I have runners knee, diagnosed 3 years ago - spent three months at physical therapy and slowly have worked myself back and am now training for a half marathon.0
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Work your glutes.
Single leg bridges, side planks with hip abduction, superman (or woman), clamshells, donkey kicks, fire hydrants, single-legged squats, etc.
Doc said I most likely have ITBS but it could also be patellar tendinitis. He said it wasn't worth finding out for sure because the solution to either is the same - build up your glutes.
I went to a PT and based on my running analysis, she confirmed it was a strength issue for me and I'm doing glute work 3 to 4 times per week and it's helped me quite a bit.
My PT also told me to work to increase my cadence. I was around 158 on average and have worked to get it up to a 172 average in my last several runs. They say 180 is ideal but my PT says for me 170 would be good.
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Saunas and hot tubs.1
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Work your glutes.
Single leg bridges, side planks with hip abduction, superman (or woman), clamshells, donkey kicks, fire hydrants, single-legged squats, etc.
Doc said I most likely have ITBS but it could also be patellar tendinitis. He said it wasn't worth finding out for sure because the solution to either is the same - build up your glutes.
I went to a PT and based on my running analysis, she confirmed it was a strength issue for me and I'm doing glute work 3 to 4 times per week and it's helped me quite a bit.
My PT also told me to work to increase my cadence. I was around 158 on average and have worked to get it up to a 172 average in my last several runs. They say 180 is ideal but my PT says for me 170 would be good.
Wow, sounds almost exactly what I was told! Only other thing is after watching me run, mine also said that I'm clearly compensating for a bad ankle.0 -
I developed a "bad knee" towards the end of marathon training last year. I never went to see a doctor, so I don't know if it was patellar tendinitis or ITBS or anything else. At that point I didn't care too much, other than that I wanted to run the race.
My quick fix was to take two weeks off almost completely (8km running in total in the two weeks leading up to the race), run the marathon, took the next two weeks off almost completely again (only 3km the first week, 8km the second week), and then slowly start building back distance again.
During that time, I did a lot of reading on the topic (bought a few books on running anatomy, hundreds of online forum and blog posts, ...), and the general consensus to prevent knee problems is what @7lenny7 wrote: strength and running form.
(that's for prevention, I think in addition the therapy when it's already too late is mostly "stop running when it start to hurt")
Strengthen your hip muscles, learn to engage your glutes when running, make sure you are not overstriding.
I first followed the programme from a book called "Quick Strength for Runners". I finished the 8-week schedule (two different workouts every week), but rather than starting over, I now made my own 15-20 min workout with exercises from the book that I (try to) do at least twice per week.
In addition I've just started doing some Yoga/Pilates workouts from fitnessblender and plan to do those twice per week too, just to mix things up a bit.
There are tons of exercise suggestions for glutes & hips online, for example
http://blog.mapmyrun.com/6-hip-and-glute-strength-exercises-every-runner-needs/
http://about.mapmyfitness.com/2016/07/10-exercises-to-prevent-runners-knee/
https://medium.com/@KineticRev/runners-knee-exercises-10-minute-rehab-routine-cfcfdceddf71
http://spechtphysicaltherapy.com/hips-strengthening-exercises/
It isn't always easy to find the time and motivation for these exercises. I don't really enjoy doing side lifts and lunges, but I love running enough that I'm willing to put up with them if I have to...1 -
Dr Google makes me believe I was struggling with Runners Knee in the final 3 months of last year. I believe the cause was foolish, dogged determination to stick to my monthly mileage targets, despite work/life getting in the way at times, so I would try and cram in my mileage in the final 7-10 days - too much mileage, not enough rest.
I've self treated and its a lot, lot better now. What I did was:
- rest completely for a couple weeks
- no running on consecutive days
- gym work (squats, leg extensions, leg curls, deadlifts) to build up the muscles and take strain off the knee.
My knee isn't perfect but it is a lot, lot better. It felt a bit uncomfortable for the first two minutes of last nights run, but I completed 18 kms with no issues0
