Before I even got back into running, my knee had been feeling kind of achy. Sure, the added weight during my pregnancy didn’t help, but it was still hurting in the 6 weeks following giving birth where I had less extra weight on my body and was still not running. It was hurting in the same way it did that prompted me to get it checked out a little over a year ago – it felt achy, stiff and just uncomfortable. The short version of what the doctor told me about my knee pain a year ago is this: it’s a typical case of runner’s knee, it won’t go away until I take 6-8 weeks off from running, wear a pateller tendon strap, run on softer surfaces like the track or treadmill. A year later, I am older and wiser (haha!) and know that this wasn’t the best advice.
Ironically, I was whining to my husband about how I was so annoyed that my knee still hurt even though I had not been running for months (the part about taking 6-8 weeks off for it to heal is therefore disproven) when a new comment popped up on my year old post. Apparently, my post comes up in Google searches so I thought it was time to follow up on how my knee is now. The comment was spot on – to sum it up: my doctor gave me crappy advice. I was too dumb to know any better so I just listened to what he said. The commenter was kind enough to share his treatment plan with me via email which I really appreciate. It gives me insight into what steps I need to be taking.
What my doctor should have done was refer me to get some physical therapy to determine the root cause of my injury – could it be weak quads, hips, glutes, inner thighs, etc? So where do I go from here? Well, I’m pretty darn stubborn so I won’t be taking anymore time off from running, especially since that didn’t make a difference anyway. I have found that KT Tape is much more effective than the knee strap for me so I’ll continue to tape myself together when I run. My knee pain is something I can deal with when I run; my ankle pain was not (speaking of which, so far so good with the ankle and running! Crossing my fingers, knocking on wood and thanking God for that!).
I’m deciding now if I should head back to the chiropractor that helped with my ankle injury or if I should try to find a physical therapist who specializes in sports injuries. I have this thing where I’m really leery of physical therapy because I went through it for a neck injury from a car accident almost 6 years ago. It did not help me at all. I still have neck pain now occasionally so that has always made me hesitant to try PT again. I know that was probably just a bad experience and I could find a better physical therapist.
So that’s where I am now with my runner’s knee. Stay tuned while I figure out what to do next! Suggestions are welcome 
Happy running!
Good luck figuring it out! Mine turned out to be week quads…lots of lunges and squats. I also switched to minimalist shoes and switched up my form, the heel striker that I was really messed with that knee. So much better now.
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Carrie M. recently posted…Watch out
I have a good person that I used for both my knee and my back. She got me through knee pain when I was training for the Disney marathon the first time. She also did my husband’s physical therapy before and after his knee surgery. She is a masters swimmer so she gets adult athletes. Let me know if you want her info. She works at a physical therapy place in Stevens Forest.