In December of 2015 I did a long run that was a bit too long, where I sustained a knee injury. I have a strong running background, but after a couple week of inactivity I probably dove too deep my first week back.
Anyway fast forward to know, I am still experiencing knee pain (joint specific). Since December I have met with PTs, chiropractors, and sports specific MD, and have gotten MRI and X-rays, which came up blank. I have been tedious with foam rolling, and PT strengthening in my hips, quads, and hamstrings. I’ve also done massage therapy.
After all this my knee has still not gotten better. I was in no rush so I took time off from running when it initially happened. Maybe about 3 weeks. I was still riding and swimming like normal.
In another attempt to figure out what’s going on I stopped doing all disciplines thinking maybe it had to do something with my cycling or the way I was coming off the wall on flips in the pool. I’ve been doing this for a week and it actually seems to have gotten worse. Before I would only feel pain in my knee when I would attempt to run. Now I feel slight pain even when I’m just walking around.
Could inactivity be the issue? Since everything came up blank on the X-rays/MRI and I know it’s not structural, is this injury just being sustained because I need to run on the pain for a while to (essentially) restrengthen my knee or other potential muscle deficiencies?
But, assuming pounding on the roads is not good for your knee now, you might want to consider the Bionic Runner which is what I am using.
Since I got my back shot yesterday I did not want to run on the road today. Instead, went out on my Bionic Runner so I felt I got in some run
training, nice and safe.
Good luck. Injuries are the pits, but once the legs act up, …
where does the knee bother you? I had one heck of a time with mine at one point ( for a year). I went to all sorts of chiro, pt, etc. I kept wandering if the rest was making it worse. I had a PT tell me that I shouldn’t stop training, but I had an awful stabbing pain that I couldn’t just run through it. If it’s runners knee I’ve heard you need to stay active to keep up with the connective tissues, etc. Finally I had surgery because I couldn’t do any form of exercise ( including kicking in the pool) for more than 10-15 minutes. The doc took out my plica and I rode my bike for 20 minutes the next day with out issues. It has been good since then. good luck!
You must be the other Me! Or this is just part of getting old(er). I’ve done PT, kept up with the exercises, gone to an Ortho and I seem to just get days where my knees don’t hurt as much. I can do an easy bike, but will be muscle and joint sore the next day(s). If I try to go hard, I get the deep muscle fatigue. This was going to be the year of doing fun things like OCR, MTB, other multisport events. So much for the “Summer of George!” Now it’s me just trying to get where I can walk up (but mostly down) the stairs at work without pain.
I do think that inactivity does help stagnate the recovery of certain injuries, to give an opinion on your question.
I might note that I am a healthy 24 year old male. Ran 2 years of collegiate running 90-100mpw during base with little issue. What type of surgery did you end up getting?
Since everything came up blank on the X-rays/MRI and I know it’s not structural…
As someone who just went through 1 1/2 years of knee problems that were only diagnosed in surgery I can tell you that X-rays and MRI’s are definitely not always correct.
Kinda’ the same thing for me. I went to seek a second opinion to confirm that my knee pain is not internal (might be a small, small meniscus tear not uncommon for a 47-year old who has been running for 35 years), and was told that inactivity doesn’t help. While doing nothing might feel good, some activity is beneficial and will help with recovery. I was told to exercise to the a point where there is no discomfort, and to continue with chiro for the SI joint issue, and medical massage for SI Joint/IT Band. My plan is to run through it (cycling doesn’t hurt), but not as much and not as often (every other day).
I haven’t been diagnosed so basically all I can say is that it’s internal right in the joint of my knee. It used to only be on impact when running, but now it’s even when I walk or sit for a long time.
Lack of activity is what makes my body ache more than anything I can do to it in the pool. The more I swim the better I feel the less my joints ache. It’s my crack vial. I have an ~ 1-1.5cm SLAP tear in my right shoulder too. The more I do my shoulder maintenance routines the better I feel.