UKC

Has anyone here suffered with this? How long did it last? How did you treat it and rehabilitate?

Would appreciate personal insight as I can Google for general info.

Thanks.

In reply to Ava Adore: runner's knee is a non-descriptive diagnosis to describe pain in the knee area brought on by running. it doesn't really give any idea of what the underlying pathology might be. get a referral to a physio from your GP or pay for a chartered sports physio for an assessment - they will be able to better diagnose the SPECIFIC problem and how to prevent it. No two knees are the same.

In reply to highclimber - non descriptive? The descriptions I've found on Google are very descriptive and outline exactly what I've been experiencing. I can't afford physio hence trying to do my own research. Anyone else?

In reply to Ava Adore: Hi Ava I'm a qualified sports masseur and my sports injuries bible says the following for runners knee.

avoid pain causing situations, running downhill or on one side of the road
apply heat before running
ice after
stretch tissues on lateral aspect of the thigh

anti inflam's may help
rest!!
lateral wedge orthosis
steroid injection

In my experience it can be a overly tight hip flexor that can cause problems in this area.

Hope this helps a bit

Rob

In reply to Ava Adore:

I have heard the term "runners knee" applied to every knee pain there is from what you have said to illio-tibial band problems and even torn ligaments. So in that way it is non-descriptive.

For what it's worth, I had a knee injury mis-diagnosed as patello femoral syndrome by a GP and I was told to rest and take anti-inflammataries. I can't tell you how long to recover because that wasn't the problem.

If you genuinely can't afford even one session with a physio or sports therapist (£25-£40) at all, get a GP referal (may be 12 weeks to wait) and in the meantime describe your symptoms fully on here and you might get a friendly (qualified) person who will give you some pointers!

I went to the GP with ankle trouble and had it seen by a consultant, sent for an MRI and back to the consultant within 3 weeks so it's always worth trying the NHS route. Conversely I've had 6 weeks to wait to even make a physio appointment before.

In reply to Eric the Red:
Good recommendation. Seeking medical advice from Google is not reaaly a good idea.

In reply to Eric the Red: Runners Knee is IT band friction syndrome

In reply to bobbybin:

Which is not what the OP has assessed themselves as having. Runners knee is vague as a diagnosis because it means many things to many people.

In reply to Ava Adore: I had patello femoral problems. Go to a sports physio who will understand what is going on and recommend stretching etc. They passed me on to a podiatrist too. I was impressed all round by their knowledge and explanations, having started as being a bit sceptical of podiatrists in particular. Cleared up pretty quickly. It's worth paying for this. I doubt most GPs would be much help.

In reply to Eric the Red: It doesn't to a qualified person like me. PFS covers a huge range of knee problems and would need an exact diagnosis by a professional to be certain what the problem was

In reply to bobbybin:

I think we're agreeing.

In reply to MG:

I agree with this. But had some counter experience - a sports physio spent weeks treating my knee for the wrong thing. When there was no improvement I got an immediate referral from my GP for an MRI scan, which found a torn cartilage.

So don't write your GP off without trying them.

In reply to Ava Adore:

Pretty varied stuff on Google, my diagnosis came from a physio based on a fairly general knee pain. I remember most the wooden feeling my knee would have after a long slow run and the feeling that my knee would just not quite 'lock out'. Never really hurt whilst running or walking, just seemed to get worse and quite painful sitting around.

Basic treatment was to improve quad and glute flexibilty with hard core massage (big ouch) and do some hip streghtening exercises.

Miraculously over a few months it got slowly better, from the point I was near to quitting running altogether to now where I am back to being a very average and very happy runner.

Out of interest is it just one knee?

In reply to The Shelf Puffin:

'streghtening'

Just made that word up. Quite proud actually.

In reply to Ava Adore: Ignore all of the above, and just stretch stretch stretch stretch stretch stretch.....

IT band stretches, hamstring stretches, calf stretches etc etc...

Ignore all the above and amputate. Sheesh, is no one an unqualified butcher round here apart from me?

In reply to Amy Kilpin:

If you have a tight IBT then all the stretching in the world won't sort it. You need a decent massage on the IBT which a physio can provide. As mentioned earlier, if you can't afford a physio get a referral from a doctor.

In reply to Ava Adore:

While you're waiting for the physio referral do some knee and core muscle strengthening exercises, wall slides, bridging etc, there are plenty lists online.

I recently had my first knee pain in 6 years which I self diagnosed as runners knee. A month of daily strengthening exercises seems to have fixed it.

In reply to Amy Kilpin:

How would stretching fix a torn cartilage? I spent months stretching on the advice of a sports physio with no improvement at all, after a quick operation I was back in the hills in a couple of weeks.