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Knee Pain: Runners Knee

The lighter evenings are coming and as I stare out the clinic window I can see many a runner putting in the hard graft and mileage as that running event nears ever closer.

It starts with a slight niggle in the knee, then the discomfort gets worse and before we know it our damn knee is letting us down and messing with our training program. There is a good chance that Runners Knee has entered the party and its not welcome at all!

Runners knee or in my game Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS) is a common knee injury that seems to affect a high number of my clients as they embark themselves into their training program.

Lets take a little look at some of the nuts and bolts of the knee!

Some of the key components that are linked to Runners Knee

• Knee cap (patella)
• ITT or Iliotibial Band
• Patella tendon
• Medial and Lateral Retinaculum
• Fat Pad
• Synovial membrane

Most of these structures are involved in stabilising the knee joint and helping to transmit the forces we expose to them when we jump, bend, squat and run amongst many other things. They all have tiny little nerve endings that innervate them so when we start to “P” off the the knee we soon get told about it.

One of the biggest problems that I see with runners knee is that people tend to ignore the problem and blast on through. “Only 1 mile to go, must complete my mileage quota this week” and then boom there goes the dynamite and your knee is shutting down for business.

Symptoms of runners knee

When a client presents with this problem the locality of the pain can be mixed and vast but here are some of the common complaints:

• Knee pain around the knee cap
• Knee pain on loaded movements such as running, squatting and lunging
• Knee pain when going up and down stairs.
• Knee pain and stiffness when sitting for long periods of time

I tend to have some simple strategies that we can implement straight away to approach this problem.

1. Reduce the load…This doesn’t mean we put out feet up and chill, we may well still be able to run. This one is very case dependant on the severity of the symptoms
2. Lets find the cause…yes the foot and hip are a knees best friend
3. Time to work on dealing with fixing the cause
4. It graded exposure time…lets start reloading those tissues and get you back running

External causes of runners knee

• Returning to your training program to early: I see this a lot. Its like a deadline at work that you have been set by your boss. Clients feel this enormous pressure to return to their training as quickly as possible and get back on their plan as they feel they won’t get to the level of fitness that they set themselves. Unfortunately these are the clients that don’t progress well
• Muscle strengthening: I see clients rolling out their ITT bands. Firstly this is really painful top watch and more importantly we need to try and understand why this band gets a sense of stiffness. Big clue here, lets take a look upstairs at the Gluteus Maximus muscle. The ITT is the Glute Max and the Glute Max is the ITT
• Decreased flexibility:  If we spot a muscle imbalance in the foot for example, which is leading to poor control of the knee, then there is a good chance that other muscles are going to overwork and get tight. These guys need some TLC so we can improve the way they glide and absorb forces. Muscles that feel like beef jerky aren’t very efficient at doing this.

If you feel that any of these signs and symptoms ring true with you the please don’t hesitate to contact me. Alternatively if you would like to discuss the problem first, you can fill out the enquiry form in the link below and we can schedule in a time to chat things through.

Till next time.

Motion in lotion

Mario

http://www.sgosteopaths.co.uk/contact-us/

Call today on 01494 870815