Pain on inside of knee

[Tim]

I started running about 2 months ago and have been averaging around 10 miles a week.  About 3 weeks ago I started to get a pain on the inside part of my knee.  At first it was just a slight pain and I kept running but then it got worse.  So for the past two weeks I have dropped my mileage alittle and tried not to do anything with speed.  After two weeks of lower mileage it feels a little better but not by much.  I am running in Asics DS Trainers that I bought about a year ago but I haven't ran in them much maybe a couple hundred of miles.  I am also schedule to run the Ogden Marathon Relay in a few weeks so I don't want to take more time off but I don't want to overdo it as well. 

Any suggestions would be nice and how to approach healing the knee in time for the race.

[Lulu]

Look at your arches. DS Trainers have very little support and forefoot cushioning. Have someone look at you (and your arches) standing normally with your feet slightly apart. Then squeeze your glutes and tighten your abs. When you squeeze your glutes, squeeze them hard enough (really hard) where you could hold a quarter between your cheeks and not drop it. If you arches raise at all during phase two (squeezing and tightening), it is likely weak glutes and abs leading to arches dropping.

If you really want to test this out, take a piece of athletic tape or two and wrap it around your arch while your foot is flexed (toes toward ceiling). Then do a couple of runs, if the pain disappears, it is your arches/glutes/abs. Hope that makes sense. The athletic tape will get you through until you can get a PT or someone to show you the exercises to correct this which may take a couple of months. It will help if you get new shoes that haven't been sitting around for a long time and have no mileage on them.

If you try this, let me know if you think that's it or if I am just blowing smoke. Thanks.
Lulu

[Dawson Hinton]

My sister-in-law had the same exact knee pain going on when she started running and training for a race.  She got some different shoes, with more support in the arches and as far as I know the pain just went away on its own for her.  Your shoes might be causing most of the problem.

[Tim]

I went out and bought some new shoes tonight, I think I will keep icing it and maybe ride the bike for week and see if that works.  Lulu, I did try your suggestions and my arches did not raise at all, I will try and tape them next time I run though.  Thanks for the comments.

[Tim]

I wanted to provide an update and see what everyone thinks.  My knee pain is more on top but on the left side of my right knee.  I have been to a doctor and he doesn't really have any idea other then the patella is tracking a little to the left and my quad muscle is tight, so he wanted me to wear a wrap on the bottom of my knee to see if it felt any better.  Well after a week of running the pain is still the same.  Now he says that I should try a full brace that goes around the top and bottom of the knee.  I ice after each run.  Should I continue to run and hope that it eventually goes away or should I stop running for a couple of weeks and see what happens?

[Sasha Pachev]

If it does not get worse with each run, keep running. Slow down a bit, try softer surfaces. Maybe different shoes. Maybe barefoot on grass. Try different things. A lot of times an injury will self heal as your muscles get stronger and more used to running.

[James Winzenz]

What kind of shoes did you get?  How high/low are your arches?  Are there any other details you can provide (height, weight) that might help us figure out if the problem lies with the equipment or not?  Do you stretch before or after running?  I mention the shoes because for years I ran in Brooks.  This past year I was having problems with tightness and pain in the outside of my knee.  I switched to Saucony and, with the help of some massage and other techniques, have been pain free ever since.  But going back to the arches/height/weight thing, even with a new pair of shoes, you may have the wrong shoes for your build/arch type.  The stretching is also a critical part of staying injury-free in my opinion.

[Tim]

I bought some Brooks Glycerin, they seem to have a high arch, which I have been told I have a medium to high arch.  I am 5'10" and weigh 140.  I try and stretch after a half mile or so into the runs and then afterward.  I'm hoping that as I run more my muscles will just get used to the stress and heal themselves as Sasha has mentioned.

[James Winzenz]

The stretching is good and should definitely help with your quads loosening up.  This may very well be part of the cause of your patella tracking a bit laterally and causing some knee pain.  I also agree with Sasha - maybe slow down a bit to give your leg a chance to heal.  Here are the things that helped me out in recovering from my knee problems:

1.  Different shoes (didn't have to be different brand, but I was not having luck with Brooks, so I switched to Saucony).  Everyone has a certain few shoes that work best for them.  Saucony appears to be the best for me.
2.  Slowing down.  I was running my easy runs at about 7:40 pace and was incorporating quite a bit of speedwork in my weekly mileage - runs at marathon pace or faster (6:50 or faster).  What pace are you running at?  Whatever it is, try to go about 30 seconds slower per mile until the pain goes away.  No fast running (speedwork) until the pain is gone and you have some good weekly mileage.
3.  Good stretching (what you are already doing)
4.  Ice, massage, scraping.
5.  Finally, consistency in training - 6 days/week, no exceptions.  Get your legs used to running every day and they will thank you.

[John Murray]

I started running in March 2008.  I have been running 20-30 miles per week in the last month or so.  In May, I had very similar symptoms:  pain on the inside of the right knee.  As time continued, the pain dropped a little to the inside lower right, near the knew.  The pain started after my first long run (15 miles) which included a long downhill (1/2 mile at a 10% grade) on pavement.  I have tried to avoid downhills.  For three weeks, the pain stayed the same.  During the runs, the pain would subside.  With more running (another 3 weeks), the pain has gone away completely.

John

[Jeffrey McClellan]

Who knows if what you had is the same as what I had, but back in 2005 and again in early 2007 (I think) I began to have knee pain in a similar location to where you are experiencing pain.  I went to a PT and he told me that it was an inflamed bursa.  Basically, my knee wasn't used to the stress of running after a mission, and later after some time off of running, so the bursa got inflamed.  For me it helped to keep everything easy and to keep the mileage consistent every day.  Eventually the pain went away on its own but it took a few weeks.

[Jon Allen]

Sounds like the exact same thing I have been fighting, though it has slowly gone away with ice.  Though, my knee is still painful if I hit it on the inside edge of the kneecap- is this area still sensitive on any of you guys?

[Tim]

I took a couple of weeks off just riding the bike and icing and it felt a lot better.  I was even able to run a race on the 4th without any pain, however I then ran 4 miles the following monday and it was back after the ran but not during it.  The race might have been too soon to fast.  I think I will just try and run slow again for a while and see what happens.