I recently finished IMMOO, but with a great deal of pain in my right knee. I scheduled an appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon and was told that I had a little arthritis between my patella and the trochlear groove. The pain never occurs during shorter races. In fact, I raced the Muncie Endurathon (1/2 IM distance) only two months prior to IMMOO and felt absolutely no pain. However, only five miles into the run at IMMOO, my right knee started hurting like wild-fire and was reduced to running/walking the rest of the way. What a bummer. The pain only happens on the up-take of my foot and only after riding a bike. My long-runs prior to IMMOO were around 22-23 miles and I never experienced pain. In addition, my knee never hurts during the morning. Has anyone experienced this type of arthritis? Has anyone experienced this type of pain and ‘not’ had arthritis?
It might help to know that “arthritis” is a catch-all term that includes any inflammation of a joint. You have inflammation in this joint surface, but, it doesn’t mean you have “osteo-arthritis” or “rheumatoid-arthritis”, two biggies that certainly aren’t good to have. If you just have some patellar-tracking issues that may be corrected by therapy…or, goodness forbid, less biking/running, the inflammatory process may stop and healing may restore the joint surfaces back to “normal”. The term “arthritis” doesn’t neccessarily mean you are stuck with a continuously degrading condition, worsening until the day you die. Find out a bit more from the Orthopod so you’ll know exactly what you have, and therefore can know what to do, and what to expect from this current (hopefully non-osteo, non-rheumatic) inflammation, and how to best treat it. If it is overuse and mal-tracking, you can make it worse and create a problem that can stick with you much longer, or, it could heal and you’ll be fine fairly soon by doing the correct treatment regimen. Good luck with it!
Thanks for the help. I will ask the Doctor for more detail. When he spoke to me, I was at work and couldn’t spend a lot of time on the phone. This is the kind of input I was hoping for. Thanks again.
Even if it’s OA (osteoarthritis) that doesn’t mean your days of running/cycling are over. Lots and lot and lots of middle-aged active people have OA and don’t know it. Many people who have OA that does cause them discomfort are able to return to their prior activities with appropriate therapy/treatment. There are lots of options out there for you. I would certainly recommend that you ask for a consult to physical therapy, preferrably someone who specializes in orthopedic or sports physical therapy. Also I would recommend you have your bike fit checked out, sound like you are only having pain after long rides, could be as simple as tweaking your fit.
Best of luck.
Dan Hollingsworth, MPT, ATC