I have a friend who is interested in doing an IM, but has some problems with one of her knees. The problem is that one of her knees has no cartilage in one area, so there is bone on bone contact when she runs. This is quite painful for her when she runs due to the impact.
She told me that her ortho has suggested a total knee reconstruction, but that she would not be able to run with it. I don’t understand why that would be, as long as she didn’t do extreme running. She also told me that there are some shots that she can get to ease symptoms/pain (not cortisone, something else).
Has anyone on here had bad problems similar to this, and have completed an IM? Or, any other major knee issues? Or perhaps reconstructed knees?
If you have completed an IM with similar issues, I would be curious how you did your run training. (We already know about water-running).
Are there any treatments that anyone has found useful?
I am currently attempting a comeback from a knee cartilage injury. My story is here:
Ironman Triathlete Recovering from Microfracture
The KneeGuru website is a wealth of information, especially the bulletin boards. If she is bone on bone (known as kissing lesions) I think it will be nearly impossible, but will depend on how big the lesions are and whether they are in a weight bearing area. There are repair and regeneration surguries that can be done (ACI, OATS, microfracture). The injections you mention are Hyaluronic Acid type, sort of like oil for the joint and have various brand names. Seems about 50% of people get some limited short term symptom relief. Have her PM me if she has any questions.
I had the Synvisc injections (cartilage fluid); I ran 20 miles of LA marathon and then walked/ran. If you friend can make the cut by having a fast enough bike split, she can run/walk the marathon of an IM easily. I know many older athletes who do this all the time. I know young guys who do Boston Marathon who end up walk/running the IM marathon too. She doesn’t have to run the whole marathon.
Drea, I’d agree with jackiey that if the plan was to walk a lot of or most of the marathon, that would certainly be more possible. My frame of mind is running the whole way (for me no walking, sub 3:30 IM marathon many times). But she needs to realize a bone on bone injury is more than likely to get worse with continued usage. She needs to be under the care a very very good sports medicine orthopedic doctor.