All runners I'm freaking out please help!

PinkkCamel

For a number of years I was easily running 4km every single day with no pain at all. However issues arose when I suddenly increased the milage ridiculously and I stupidly didn't think of the consequences this could've had on my body. Surely enough within 1 month of maintaining my daily routine but doing double the distance, I began having knee problems. I went to the doctor and he referred my to a physiotherapist. Turns out I'd developed a tendinopathy in my patellar tendon which has taken several months to even begin to heal.

I got the the stage about a month ago where I was allowed to run for a very restricted amount of time and gradually increase. It was going well until I had a random set back that came out of no where and pain unexpectedly returned. Moreover, I recently damaged my fat pad (very painful) and consequently, I can't even walk without pain. It will take ages to heal apparently. So now my initial injury is almost healed, but I've got another one... Sigh. I understand the stress for you. So frustrating!!

Also, like you, I had a lot of biomechanical issues which affected my running style. My physio actually instructed me similar exercises to strengthen quad muscles, primarily my vmo because the timing of contractions with my other muscles were out of whack, causing a misalignment with my knee cap tracking. There are a few muscles that attach around or cross the knee so it would all affect alignment. So yeah, he's not bull****ting you haha

She gave me modifications of my running style as well such as keeping up high cadence (ie. the number of steps you do per unit of time when running - so a lot of sort of bouncing I guess, as opposed to longer deeper strides with large knee flexion which puts large loads on your knees) and maintaining straight up right posture. The main issue with a lot of people (well with me, lol) is that when they strike the ground, they do so with the wrong part of their foot. You're apparently supposed to strike the ground around the mid foot region. However using the modifications as above, this can be achieved without thinking about it too much.

I hope you can gain enough strength to get back into everything, especially your marathon! Just make sure when training you're always listening to your body and even the slightest pains should be an indication to take a break. Don't end up like me lol. And just keep in mind recovery isn't unidirectional - as with weight loss, there are often a lot of set backs you can experience, or other injuries you can sustain along the way as a consequence of having vulnerable knees. Just be patient, trust the medical professionals advising you and understand that it requires time. (: Hope my advice has kinda helped you!