Knee Pain - Advice needed (Read 849 times)

Okay I have had some minor knee issues but after yesterdays race it has me a little worried. I have 6 weeks before my marathon and not running is not an option. So the question becomes what is the best thing to do. I think it has a lot to do with hill running. I can feel it most then. The pain is on my right knee on the outside top. What do you think it is? What would be best to take for it? My plan of action is to try and slow down on my next run to see if that helps. If it doesn't then I am going to run on flat surface's. I plan to tone my running down but how much is the question. I've ran a 26 mile training run two weeks ago but feel I need to get in another 20 mile run. Any thoughts or suggestions? Do you think using an eliptical machine would be a good idea or a bad idea. I could substitute that in for a run or two a week.

Well I don't plan to run 26 miles again for another 6 weeks. Hopefully by then with the taper the knee will feel better. I worry about losing my fitness level and endurance level by not running. If I could stop running right now and knew I would be at the same fitness level and endurance level for the race that I am now then I woudl do it. However, I am pretty sure that is not how it works. So now the big question is how to deal with the issue. For starters tonight I am not going to run. I had 6 miles planned.

Thanks I appreciate that. Injuries generally have a way of working out for me. I just need to find the best way of taking care of this issue. I have been pushing myself way to hard and I am hoping that if I back it off a little that it will start to take care of itself. I thought I did that last week with taking 3 days off. It did feel a lot better but then I ran a very hilly 15K and it came back to life. I'm thinking of getting one of those knee ice wraps and then putting it on my knee right after my runs. Anyone try those before?

I had a similar problem with my right knee, and I just finished a marathon a day ago and it worked out. Since it was the outside of my knee, I kind of assumed it was an IT band issue, but I'm still not sure. I basically iced it for 10-15 minutes 2 or 3 times a day. I took ibuprofen 2-3 times per day. I rubbed arnica gel into it a 2-3 times a day. And I tried various IT band stretches and even rolling a foam roller along the IT band - this was painful by the way! Unfortunately, I don't know which, if any, of these things actually helped! The last thing I did before the race was purchase a pro-tec IT band (I think cho-pat makes one too). It wraps around your thigh about 2-3 inches above the knee. It has a pad that applies pressure to the outside of your leg, above your knee. I think it is supposed to somehow reduce the rubbing of your knee against the IT band when you run. All I can say is I never had any problems with my knee during the marathon. I can't say why - maybe it had healed enough during the taper, or maybe the IT band helped, or maybe it was a combination of things. Good luck!

Yes, I tried to ice it everyday for a few minutes. Maybe a couple times a day. Once I began to think it was IT band (still don't know if that is what it is), I also massaged and iced the IT band between the knee and hip (on the outside of the leg). This is the band they make specifically for IT band syndrome: IT band compression wrap But I was at the expo before the race, and all they had was a knee wrap, which they salesman said was basically the same design, but just a little shorter. He said as long as it could wrap around my leg, it would work, and it did. Which can be seen here back of the knee compression wrap I wish I could tell you which if any of these things helped for real - I just don't know. The pain I had started kicking in after running about 2-3 miles. And it wasn't really a pain as much as a growing ache. But it concerned me. After I tapered and iced and all that stuff, it became less prominent, but it was still there. But once the marathon started, I never felt it. Could've been the IT band, adrenalin, or maybe it was just that much more healed.