Runner's Knee or injury?
FurtherUpstream
Posts: 11
Has anyone ever had runner's knee and then it just went away? I was running last summer 50+ miles some weeks and on a run had a intense pain in my left knee. It was so bad that I had to walk the bike path the rest of the way back to my car. I tried to run again at different times after the pain because I was registered for my 8th marathon Fall of 2012 and never was able to run it because it didn't go away. Sometimes the pain would be sharp just walking down stairs a certain way. I never got it checked out and kind of gave up on running and healthy eating. I gained weight and two months ago after about a year of not running tried again on the treadmill just slow 10-12 minute miles. I didn't have any pain at all. So far I have been running outdoors now again too and the pain is gone. Was this some sort of freak injury or just runners knee that was severe? I just hope I can continue to run again and get back to the shape I was in before without worry of the knee pain happening again.
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Replies
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Well, most running injuries are over use injuries that are healed by rest. So, the fact that you rested the injury and it went away makes perfect sense.
I don't know if it was runner's knee or ITBS or something else based on your description, but is sounds like rest is what it needed. Did it need a year? Probably not.
My advice, start back slowly so that you don't run into the issue again.0 -
Has anyone ever had runner's knee and then it just went away? I was running last summer 50+ miles some weeks and on a run had a intense pain in my left knee. It was so bad that I had to walk the bike path the rest of the way back to my car. I tried to run again at different times after the pain because I was registered for my 8th marathon Fall of 2012 and never was able to run it because it didn't go away. Sometimes the pain would be sharp just walking down stairs a certain way. I never got it checked out and kind of gave up on running and healthy eating. I gained weight and two months ago after about a year of not running tried again on the treadmill just slow 10-12 minute miles. I didn't have any pain at all. So far I have been running outdoors now again too and the pain is gone. Was this some sort of freak injury or just runners knee that was severe? I just hope I can continue to run again and get back to the shape I was in before without worry of the knee pain happening again.
It could be as simple as the fact that the muscles in your upper leg have changed.
Runners knee, now called "patellofemoral pain syndrome" or PFPS, is, many times, caused by how our muscles developed in our upper leg.
One crucial role those muscles is to position the kneecap so that the head of the tibia tracks correctly as your lower leg moves back-and-forth. If the muscles are properly developed the kneecap may be a little too far for the inside or to the outside and that may cause pain.
Due to changes in weight, it could well be that your legs have gotten stronger and everything is tracking correctly.
Knee pain ended my participation in sports in college in 1977 and continued for 34 years. In 2011, after I'd been running for four months, my knee pain disappeared.0 -
I agree with the above posts re: overuse being the cause of most running injuries. I'd also wonder if your pain was truly "knee pain" / "runner's knee" or if it might be something else. As an example, IT band syndrome will cause pain on the outer side of the knee so may seem like "knee pain". I think it would be good if you could identify what your initial injury most likely was, so that you might be able to prevent it from re-occurring (e.g. doing some focused strength training on weaker areas of your legs, improving your running mechanics, stretching properly etc.)0
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Thanks for your input everyone, I really appreciate it.0
