My Forum

I believe I saw Scott Overall a couple of weeks ago running along the Thames Path (although he went past quite fast, but it was DEFINITELY someone I recognised and it looked an awful lot like him). When I told my boyfriend, he said he didn't count that as a "celebrity spot" because he isn't a real celebrity.

Sorry, I meant to reply to this ages ago but forgot. I have had problems with my right knee for several years - way back, I tore my ACL and about 10 years ago, I had surgery to fix that, but was back on my feet as normal after 6 months of physio. I wasn't a runner then, so the question of whether I should run and how far never came up. That knee has always swelled when I do longer distances, although it rarely hurts, just feels tight and slightly uncomfotable. It usually goes down after a few days of rest and ice. Before the surgery, I could comfortably run without any pain, but I couldn't really bend my knee very well and I certainly couldn't stretch my quads! I feel much more comfortable now and glad I had the surgery (the surgeon tried very hard to talk me out of it, but I am glad hat I now know the extent of the damage and how I should avoid pushing it i.e. by giving up BMF, which I probably wouldn't have done otherwise, and I would probably have caused further injury).

Strength exercises I was doing were clams, bridges and side leg lifts to strengthen glutes, very basic quad strengthening (sitting on floor with leg stretched out in front and pressing the back of the knee into the floor as hard as possible - then checking it's even with the "good" leg), and then getting more advanced with weight bearing doing things like hopping and jumping (hopping in particular makes me very scared because I have minimal trust in my knee, but I am physically capable of it!).

I tore mensicus in my right knee in June last year. It didn't cause me too many problems to run, but it did catch and lock every now and again if I bent my knee too far, and I would have to manipulate the joint to loosen it off. I had surgery at the end of November, as it was sufficiently torn to warrant it.

After the surgery, the consultant told me my knee was buggered, basically, and I should cease all impact sports. He suggested swimming and yoga as an alternative. However, my physio, who is a runner and triathlete, said that while I should probably avoid anything that involves twisting and jumping-like impact (i.e. British Military Fitness which I used to do and loved), the straight motion of running and cycling should be fine. She did say I probably shouldn't do a marathon, but I did a half last weekend and apart from a bit of swelling afterwards, I was fine (and got a PB!)

I spent a month follwoing the surgery hammering the strengthening exercises the physio gave me - it was mainly building my quads back up and working my glute medius to keep my hips and pelvis stable when I run. I can massively feel the benefit of the glute strength and it has ultimately made me a stronger runner.

Don't get too down about it, this isn't a complete roadblock, just a small obstacle

SixPhysio - my physio has never mentioned any supports for use while running, however, my knee does swell when I run further than about 8 miles. Would you recommend using some sort of compression on it?

I have done 4 sessions at Running School so far - I still have 4 more to go, but currently recovering from knee surgery (injury sustained pre-running school!). I did a 10k race the week before my knee surgery and after 3 running school sessions and I knocked 4 minutes off my PB - good result. I feel so much more comfortable when I'm running too, like I'm propelling myself forward rathaer than fighting with myself to go faster. And it gives me something to concentrate on when a run gets hard, I think about swinging my arms more, or lifting my heels etc and it takes my mind off the other discomfort.

As the title suggests, I had a rather horrible discussion with my surgeon today regarding my many and varied knee meniscus issues.

2 weeks ago, I had an arthroscopy to remove some torn mensicus (posterior horn if that means anything to anyone). The surgery did what it was supposed to do and full motion of my knee has been restored. I have previously had surgery on this knee - in 2008, I had an ACL reconstruction and some other torn mensicus removed, all of which I fully recovered from.

However, the investigations of my knee revealed that the meniscus in that knee is buggered. Grade 3 tears (on a scale of 1-4, with 4 being bone-on-bone) on both sides which basically are not in a position to be fixed. He showed me the pictures and I have to admit, it looks a bit of a mess compared to what a normal meniscus should look like. I'm too young for a knee replacement (26) and I'm not sure I would want to go down that road anyway even if it was an option, but if I continue the way I am, there's a good chance it will get worse.

The upshot of all this is that I have been told to stop all weight-bearing exercise, which obviously includes running and my beloved British Military Fitness. To say I'm gutted would be an understatement (I was in tears this morning as the consultant was explaining all this to me).  I can cycle, swim, do yoga and pilates "until the cows come home", but... it's not the same. Those things don't excite me and my brain cannot compute the idea of not running again. I haven't beaten my boyfriend in a 10k yet, for one thing.

Just wanted to know if anyone else has had anything similar and how they've overcome it... hopefully by posting on here, I'll get responses from runners who are still runners!