As I’ve mentioned in a few of my posts, I’ve been getting a bit of pain in my knee during long runs. This has now progressed to foot pain on shorter runs. I’m a great one for ignoring things until they go away, but when I woke up this morning unable to put weight on my foot, I had to admit that it was time to phone a professional.
By mid morning I was taking to a local Orthopaedic doctor for the first time. I was immediately put at ease by the fact that he had also done the Greifensee half-marathon too a couple of weeks ago. For some reason I’d assumed I’d get someone who would be very anti-running so this was a definite plus.
To cut a long story short, there appears to be a problem with my muscles struggling to keep up with the demands of running long distances which could have originated from an under lying problem ‘that I do not walk properly’. When I heard this diagnosis I did say that it was surprising to get to my age and be told that I don’t walk properly!
Anyway, I have to be video recorded walking and running (so more on this later) so that my action can be analysed further. More disturbing is that I have to take a full month off running to give my muscles a good rest. I’m disappointed but it could have been worse so I’m going to take all the advice on board and follow it to the letter to ensure that I can get back to running ASAP.
In the meantime I have been given some anti-inflammatries to help reduce the swelling I didn’t even know I had in my knee. As you can see from the picture the name says it all!
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Hope you get it sorted soon. Lots of ice and elevating the knee for you then?
Thanks John! Have been advised to try cycling and/or swimming in the meantime to try and keep my fitness level up. So, I’ll be giving that a go alongside keeping the knee rested and on ice
I’m so sorry to hear about your injury :(. We runners feel your pain! I wrote a post recently about Injury Prevention for runners, which may not help you now – but you might find something useful here or at the very least know that you are not alone! http://therunnersmuse.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/why-a-foam-roller-is-runners-best-friend/ How you get better soon! 🙂
Hi there.
Thanks so much for your comments and the link to your blog. It provided a lot of useful information and I’m off to buy myself a foam roller today! I definitely want to make sure that when my one month suspension from running is over I can get back into it without the problem reoccurring so all information is much appreciated.
Thanks for your help.
Regards, Victoria
Victoria, if you haven’t already, look into Altra zero drop running shoes. Zero drop is the concept, not the model name. Instinct for guys, Intuition for women on the road shoe. I think they have a trail runner too. Gives your foot a chance to splay out in the shoe and let the smaller muscle chains throughout the lower leg share the impact with the knee. It also gives toes all the room they need which should help prevent deformities from overly restrictive shoes.
Hi Mike. Thanks for the advice. Have never heard of these shoes so will definitely look into them. I’m all for finding solutions to this problem instead of having to quit running.
Advice came from a running coach and I’ve been feeling great. The shoe and technique take something from barefoot running yet also provide enough cushion for running on manmade surfaces.
Having looked at the website I’m pretty sure I tried these shoes in Australia but went for the Asics model instead. Will take another look next time I am there as haven’t seen them in Switzerland.
Interesting to read this blog entry. I too suffers from pain in the right knee and I have been a quest for pain-free running.