UKC

any tips or advice for treating/managing this? have set myself a target of a couple of half marathons this year, started running twice a week, just short ones on lunchbreak, building up to 5-6 miles a time, now my knees are pretty sore. they feel weak and swollen internally - after some googling it seems very common. so have had 2 weeks with no running and instead various stretches to strengthen the knees, which seemed to be helping but then in last few days the pain is back.

so looking for any ideas, hoping to avoid going to physio as pretty skint but will do if needed.

In reply to d508934:

I have been having problems with my quadriceps above the knee and feel there weak. I shifted more to cycling in the mean time. Use one of those foam rollers (got mine from Argos) before and after. had some rest like yourself. I was well over doing it 45miles a week and nearly 1500m uphill and downhill pounding after only 3 months starting.

Someone recommended Mega Cissus as a supplement and some folk rave about it but I don't really see much from it to be honest. From My protein works for some but not me.

On you tube there's videos of various stretches that are good and how to use the roller properly. The roller was only £10 from argos and is very good I find.

I would get something frozen for 10 minutes onto the area immediately after exercise. I have a frozen bag of peppers that are for this purpose only not for human consumption, the family know the bag well. Stretches after exercise as well and I also try to do some mid run these days. Although still only doing about 12 miles a week at the moment.

In reply to d508934:
It could be a number of things.. 'Runners knee' is a bit of a catch all like shin splints.

I'd get it assessed.

What most do is run, get the pain, rest pain goes away, run get the pain, rest pain goes away and they never actually deal with the cause which is often weakness/imbalances elsewhere in the muscles which track the knee..

In reply to fmck:

thanks for the foam roller idea, will pick one up. although feel a little pathetic, ur doing waaay more distance than me!

In reply to Roadrunner5:

ur probably right - would i just need any old sports physio, or is there a specific branch of physio for running injuries?

In reply to Roadrunner5:



This.

I had a "runner's knee" issue that flared up a couple of weeks before my first marathon and I thought I was going to be stuffed but actually it was the result of running too often on cambered roads that was putting uneven strain on one knee. I moved to mixing up my running to be more level or mixed up and have never had the problem since.

But that's one simple case and yours is likely to be very different.

In reply to d508934:
Ideally a physio who deals with runners, your local running club may advise.