Occasional knee pain

I was wondering if anyone could help

I have been suffering occasional knee pain for the 5 or 6 weeks. I think i may have pushed too hard on a set of hill sprints.

Most of the time i am OK, running Ok cycling ok etc.

It is every now and then it manifests itself.

 - At first it hurt when i Kicked my shoes off, but this is not as bad now
 - When i sleep with my leg straight it sometimes hurts when i first bed it
 - when i carry out a turn and push off during swimming i have to be carfull

the pain manifests itself under and on the outside of me knee

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Will

 

Hi Will,

I have suffered knee pain in the past (on the inside of the knees though) and when it got too bad I went to the doctors and got physio on the NHS at the local hospital which basically involved single leg squats, jumps etc. which cured the problems. now I train with weights regularly and do legs at least once a week and although i get the odd slight niggle I havn't had a problem for a while.

Im worried it is a Torn meniscus

The thourgts of an op dont apeal to me

Quick trip to a physio could at least tell you what it is, I tend then not to return and treat myself. I got mine after doing a turbo one night then some hill sprints the next. Turned out to be my ITB. I treated by rolling, icing , massage, Ibuprofen and then slow and I mean slow base line training again. I lost 8 days, 8 long days (I cycle to work every day) and stated by 5 mins on the bike then 10 etc. That was mid Jan, back on normal 27 mile cycle round trip commute, upto 6 mile runs again and am going for a 50 mile bike tomorrow, 35 last weekend. Not upto full mileage yet, but do not want it to go again. I also do knee, ITB and Adductor strengthning excercises.

I am still aware of it and I would say a pain level of only 1 out of 10, but its still there

Good luck on the recovery and take it very slowly

+ 1 for the trip to physio to get it diagnosed if nothing else. I then tend to go and see my massage therapist, tell her what the physio said and get the problem treated for half the price!

Hope you get it sorted soon

I've hurt the inside of my knee last weekend on the turbo trainer.  Physio on Tuesday morning.  Its uncomfortable rather than painful.  Last time I had this it was okay after a couple of easy weeks.  I'm avoiding the bike this weekend, but still intend doing the hour long easy run on the plan.

I would recommend a trip to the physio.

Could be IT band issue, I had something similar a while back.  Foam roller hip to just above knee, hurts if you're doing it right but seems to work for me.   

have you been doing steep hill repeats or over geared turboing WW ?

 

before my meniscal tear was trimmed (on the inside of my knee)........

i had pain on a v deep squat, or any yoga positiion that combined a deep bend with a twist of the knee.
I had pain doing breast stroke or kikcking off from the wall if I did not kick straight against the wall

the pain was generally sharp, unpleasant and not something I liked to do.... but it generally did not effect running or biking......

however.

if its torn, then the area thats torn is essentially non functional - the meniscus acts as a shock absorber. if its compromised then the rest of the knee / cartlage on the end of the bones is taking the impact.

I ended up with damaged cartilage - essentailly OA.
I used to get the feeling of a tight knee following long or hard runs - due to swelling but this would go down in a day or so. It would also tighten up after sitting following the above, or the following night. it would loosen up quickly - ie after walking 20 yards to get a coffee.
If i ran on it again it felt a lot better - so i did not worry.

i found 3-4 months of consistent training also brought it on - ie 'damage' accummulated to where i would notice it more often. / consistently. Add a fast half marathon and that took me a week to get over
At that point lying in bed at night became v. uncomfortable. I needed a pillow under it to prevent it being straight.

All of the above happened / took 2 years to progress.
I don't know which issue caused which symptom, but I think the root cause was a rugby injury 20 years ago. add 10 years of increasing running volume and intensity and oops!

however I had also had an issue / pain from the other knee 3 years ago. I went so far as to getting an mri on the nhs. However that took so long that by then rest and doing gym work etc resulted in it just going away.
dont despair as it might not be that serious.

i would recommend seeing a physio - good one should have a pretty good idea if its meniscal. A crap physio will have no idea. The one I saw was linked to a professional football team so had seen plenty over the years.

finally an mri will show it up. again if you need a trim, find the best person you can. If you are nhs it will take a while. GPs are generally useless on this - I got 'sorted' in about 4 weeks going private, (on company private health ins)

not sure if any of that helps but it was fun / theraputic to write

Cheers all

Think a visit to my physio is on the cards