With winter almost gone and as we now heading towards summer, you may have decided to be more active outside and take up running around the neighborhood or walking longer distances. Some of you may already be running, but may have decided to step it up and run a little longer outside than usual.
And then, out of nowhere, you start to have knee pain when you are 10-30 min into the run (or much later in some runners). This knee pain may disappear as you keep running, only to return afterward again, and sometimes even when you walking down the stairs. If this is happening to you, then you might likely have a case of 'Runners knee', its a nickname for obvious reasons as it’s common among runners and even those who are brand new to running.
So how do you get Runners knee pain?
If you run often enough, after a while the stress of running can cause irritation around the knee area. The pain that results can be sharp and sudden, or irritating and dull. Sometimes, it even disappears when you’re running, only to return again afterwards. The pain will generally feel worse when bending the knee, like walking or running downhill. Even something as simple as walking down a flight of stairs!
Think of it like this…
Each time you run, your knee bends, causing the knee cap to chafe against the thigh bone. Just like if you were to rub your hand against your arm, eventually your arm would turn red and become sore. Well, the same thing happens with your knees! Especially when we have muscle tightness, hip weakness and poor running mechanics.
If you aren’t used to running or if you are used to running but if you haven’t slowly built up how long you run for, then this is going to be a shock to your knees. In short, you may have increased your distance, speed or intensity, before your body had enough time to adapt to this extra strain.
In addition, if the muscles around your knees are weak and tight, they aren’t going to be able to support you through a run.
And without strong muscles to support your knee joints (or just really tired and weak ones), you are much more likely to suffer from aches and pains.
Often at times, problems in your knees do not stem from the knee alone but as a result of poor running mechanics . Your knees could be bearing the brunt of poorly controlled movement at the hip, ankle and even your pelvis. We see this very often in our clients with this particular problem. We can assess your running mechanics for you at Empower Physiotherapy by analyzing your running in slow-motion video. This gives us a good insight on how to progress with the treatment of YOUR knee problem, which will be specific to your running style. We would love to help you by inviting you to <<book a no-obligation Free EXPLORA session with us>> or if you are ready to commit to an appointment then call us.
What is the Solution?
It’s likely to be a simple case of strengthening the knee muscles (and hip and lower back ones as well). This, instead of MORE running or elliptical, will make them stronger in order to support you when you run. See, a lot of people think that the more exercise is good for them, and to a certain extent, it may be so. But this is only helpful if you’re doing the right type of exercises to benefit the activity you take up, in this case, it is exercises specific to running.
Not just any strengthening exercises will do. The type of exercises you need differs from person to person depending on the severity of your knee pain, whether it is acute or chronic, if you have previous injuries or not, your running style which may determine which muscles need strengthening and if flexibility issues need to be addressed as well. These exercises then need to be progressed in accordance to your body’s adaptation response. If your exercises do not meet the above criteria, you may not get the results you are hoping for, that is, resolution of your knee pain or it may get worse. If you suffer from knee pain when running, don't just keep pushing through your knee pain. Click Here to find out the commonest reasons why Running or other Sport Injuries persist longer than they should.
We see running injuries here at Empower Physiotherapy, with Knee Pain being the the commonest one followed by Foot pain/heel pain. If you would like some more information beforehand about our treatment approach, call us or start with our <<Free Explora Session here>> Or if you would first like to find out about the session Cost & Availability here
Doing the right type of exercises to strengthen the muscles means that your knees will be strong enough to walk and run for longer, with less pain at the end of the day.
You have to first build a strong foundation before doing more, in order to prevent any aches and pains that suddenly creep up on you, putting you out for a few weeks. So getting into shape to run is important when you decide on running to get into shape!
