Knee injury

[HPLovecraft]

I was out jogging the other day and after about half a mile I felt this twinge on the outside of my left knee. When I ran a little more on it, it felt worse, so I stopped and walked a bit. When I walked the twinge of pain went away, but when I started to run again it came back.

I stayed off it for a few days and it felt better, but now when I go back at it it begins to hurt again after about half a mile. Now, the left side of that knee feels stiff and when moving it in certain directions it hurts, and if I sit Indian style then stretch it out it hurts and feels very stiff. Also, at the top edge of my kneecap it feels tender, if that is at all related.

A bit of background: I haven't jogged all winter, so at first I thought this was just some pain from getting into the swing of things, but at this point I don't feel that is the case. I can't recall having this issue in the past, but I may have and just ignored it. The pain isn't so much that I'm dying, but it's there and is making it difficult to walk right now (impossible to run today, though I feel it will feel better tomorrow).

Could this be an IT band injury? I heard those are quite painful, though, and while this is certainly tender, it really only hurts when I run, it's just stiff and a little sore when walking around or moving my leg in certain directions. Any ideas?

[pylon]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

I was out jogging the other day and after about half a mile I felt this twinge on the outside of my left knee. When I ran a little more on it, it felt worse, so I stopped and walked a bit. When I walked the twinge of pain went away, but when I started to run again it came back.

I stayed off it for a few days and it felt better, but now when I go back at it it begins to hurt again after about half a mile. Now, the left side of that knee feels stiff and when moving it in certain directions it hurts, and if I sit Indian style then stretch it out it hurts and feels very stiff. Also, at the top edge of my kneecap it feels tender, if that is at all related.

A bit of background: I haven't jogged all winter, so at first I thought this was just some pain from getting into the swing of things, but at this point I don't feel that is the case. I can't recall having this issue in the past, but I may have and just ignored it. The pain isn't so much that I'm dying, but it's there and is making it difficult to walk right now (impossible to run today, though I feel it will feel better tomorrow).

Could this be an IT band injury? I heard those are quite painful, though, and while this is certainly tender, it really only hurts when I run, it's just stiff and a little sore when walking around or moving my leg in certain directions. Any ideas?

It sounds like it could be. I had an IT band go out of alignment, and it would go from not hurting, to feeling like a leg amputation, to not hurting inside of 5 minutes. IT band injuries can be fixed with one or two physio sessions. I went in, and the dude worked my knee, I could feel a pop (like it went back into place) and it hasn't bugged me since.

[Coys1882]

May I recommend a foam roller? It solved a LOT of my leg issues for soccer.

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by pylon

It sounds like it could be. I had an IT band go out of alignment, and it would go from not hurting, to feeling like a leg amputation, to not hurting inside of 5 minutes. IT band injuries can be fixed with one or two physio sessions. I went in, and the dude worked my knee, I could feel a pop (like it went back into place) and it hasn't bugged me since.

Two physio sessions? Count yourself lucky. I was in twice a week for over a month.

The physiotherapist gave me a knee brace, which I use if I'm going to be doing anything over 20K. Haven't had the pain return in the two years since, knock on wood.

Actually, my pain was quite different.... It actually hurt more when I would STOP running, so I would either try to find a bus stop, or bear through the pain, because I knew it would be worse if I tried to walk it off. So maybe it is something completely different, but I was told that mine was likely an IT band injury.

[sa226]

Let me preface this by saying I am not a doctor, but I have had a few Knee injuries and there is a ton of Sports Medicine info available.

I don't know much about IT band stuff but isn't it a fibrous band that starts up around your hips? Also I think it is most common in athletes so it could be a result of repetition, and you say you haven't run in quite some time.

Anytime someone says twinge in knee, I think "ligament". The outside of your knee is the LCL, it attaches to your femur kinda close to where your patellar tendon attaches so the kneecap pain could be related.

Only thing is outside ligament injuries usually happen with a twist of the knee. You did this running. Swelling would also be a good indicator of ligament.

The good thing is that there is blood flow to all of those parts of your knee so a "twinge" just needs rest so it can heal. A couple days isn't usually enough. At least a week.

If it is that IT thing, then pylons advice is most likely best.

[Azure]

If you have a sedentary job you should be foam rolling your IT band twice a day every single day until you die.

[Minnie]

On the off chance it's something else and continues and you need to get it checked out, I recommend this clinic - the Calgary AKIC. I saw them in November after I fell down the stairs and sprained my MCL. My worry was that I damaged the ACL repair I had done years earlier, but I realized pretty quickly the ACL was still intact, and I'd done something to either the MCL or the meniscus. I filled out the form online on the Saturday and had a phone call by Monday and an appointment by Friday. They were great.

[Derek Sutton]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

May I recommend a foam roller? It solved a LOT of my leg issues for soccer.

Get a roller anyways, Iced T bans, Quads, calves neck and back, I roll all over the basement on the thing every morning makes my over weight body feel great. I feel like such a sissy thouth as I wear wrist braces while doing my iced tea bans.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate

Two physio sessions? Count yourself lucky. I was in twice a week for over a month.

The physiotherapist gave me a knee brace, which I use if I'm going to be doing anything over 20K. Haven't had the pain return in the two years since, knock on wood.

Actually, my pain was quite different.... It actually hurt more when I would STOP running, so I would either try to find a bus stop, or bear through the pain, because I knew it would be worse if I tried to walk it off. So maybe it is something completely different, but I was told that mine was likely an IT band injury.

My injury (apparently), was the band moved out of place, and need to be readjusted. On my second visit, there was a distinct pop, and immediate relief. The therapist said that was it popping back into place.

[GGG]

Anyone have a link to a good roller? Are you talking about the 2" sized plastic stick kind of like a pvc pipe or the 6 " x 3ft long foam rollers?

[Azure]

http://www.roguecanada.ca/rumble-roller.php

Otherwise you can easily make your own with a PVC pipe, yoga map and some duct tape.

[HPLovecraft]

Hm, thanks for the advise, I'll probably give it awhile, then try running again. If it returns, I'll head to the doctor. I'll look into the foam roller, as I've heard others bring it up before too.

[TheSutterDynasty]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

Hm, thanks for the advise, I'll probably give it awhile, then try running again. If it returns, I'll head to the doctor. I'll look into the foam roller, as I've heard others bring it up before too.

Sounds like IT band friction syndrome, but it'd be best to go to physio to get it checked out. There are a lot of exercises for this sort of thing so a good physio would have you come in once, give you a bunch, then maybe see you a few weeks later to make sure everything is going well (as Pylon mentioned).

Taking a break from running won't solve your pain unfortunately.

Edit:

Originally Posted by pylon

My injury (apparently), was the band moved out of place, and need to be readjusted. On my second visit, there was a distinct pop, and immediate relief. The therapist said that was it popping back into place.

The IT band can slip / click over the lateral epicondyle of the femur, and often times this is where people experience symptoms, but it's not a case of 'readjustment', because a tight IT with poor knee alignment will continually cause pain unless stretched out along with strengthening of the proper muscles.

[CedarMeter]

If you're concerned go see Terry Kane the old Flames trainer. I had a Knee injury as well and he pinpointed the problem and got me on the right track. http://terrykane.ca/

[sun]

Looked this up on webmd for you and I'm sorry, but it sounds like you have cancer.

[Zulu29]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

I was out jogging the other day and after about half a mile I felt this twinge on the outside of my left knee. When I ran a little more on it, it felt worse, so I stopped and walked a bit. When I walked the twinge of pain went away, but when I started to run again it came back.

I stayed off it for a few days and it felt better, but now when I go back at it it begins to hurt again after about half a mile. Now, the left side of that knee feels stiff and when moving it in certain directions it hurts, and if I sit Indian style then stretch it out it hurts and feels very stiff. Also, at the top edge of my kneecap it feels tender, if that is at all related.

A bit of background: I haven't jogged all winter, so at first I thought this was just some pain from getting into the swing of things, but at this point I don't feel that is the case. I can't recall having this issue in the past, but I may have and just ignored it. The pain isn't so much that I'm dying, but it's there and is making it difficult to walk right now (impossible to run today, though I feel it will feel better tomorrow).

Could this be an IT band injury? I heard those are quite painful, though, and while this is certainly tender, it really only hurts when I run, it's just stiff and a little sore when walking around or moving my leg in certain directions. Any ideas?

You might have sprained the LCL. I've done that before and it's quite painful.

[Sample00]

As part of my lifestyle change (weightloss, fitness regime) I tried jogging. I took about 3 steps and then pretty much what happened to you, happened to me.

Saw the doc, went for an MRI and found out it was the miniscus.

The MRI revealed that it was pretty much shredded. Kind of like opening up the fingers on your hand. This causes a fair amount of discomfort but the worst part is the weakness in the knee. No stability, feels like its going to fall off etc.

Anyhow, I was fortunate enough to get a phone call last week that they had an opening in the surgical rotation and I am off on Wednesday to get it fixed. Its Orthoscopic surgery and doc says that downtime is about 2 to 3 days.

[macker]

I used to get this all the time and it sounds like ITBs which is an overuse injury and results from muscle imbalances. For me it meant strengthening the VMO and quads and hips. There are lots of tedious excercises like leg lifts, wall bangers, lunges, squats etc. that you can do but for me the best solution was biking. Run 3-4 times per week and try to balance that out with 3-4 bike rides per week and haven't had ITBs since.

Before finding my ultimate solution of biking to build up my leg muscles and muscles around my knees I had some luck with other things such as :

Foam Roller, wearing a Pho Pat Strap for additional knee stability, going to physio where they basically just monitored me doing a bunch of boring leg/hip strengthening excercices and hooked up electrotherapy and reminded me not to peddle/run through the pain and RICE therapy so basically just common sense. Also the Walt Reynolds method worked but too tedious to do long term......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE7uUVhMVkQ
Yoga and working on your flexibility could also help also as lots of times this injury is also do to tight hamstrings. One muscles imbalance is out of whack such as VMO, Glutes, Abductors, hips, quads, hamstrings and your knees have to compensate and eventually wear down/out. Keep everything built up and stretched out. Good luck and runnersworld has likely 30% of their forum devoted to this type of thing so it is another place to look for information.

[macker]

Also at one point I thought my knee injury was caused by not enough lubrication on my knees and I started taking glucosamine in liquid form. Not sure if it did anyting or not but I was trying everything

[Russic]

I've been meaning to post something like this for a couple months now. I started getting slight pain on the side of my knee near the end of January. I figured I tweaked it in a minor way and it just needed some rest. Since February I've gone on 5 runs, and even with large chunks of rest the pain always returns. It feels good after about 3 weeks of rest, but the full pain returns on the next run.

Thanks for all the information.