My knees painful when I run but I’ve ran all my life?!
You would not believe how many times I hear this statement across all ages….and not just with knees. Knees however take the biggest brunt of everything we do in our lives from twisting to help us in and out of the car, bending as we go up the stairs to taking our bodyweight when lunge and squat in the gym.
Therefore the littlest thing wrong with your knee and you feel it after or sometimes even towards the end of the exercise you’re doing. This pain will go but will keep coming back until it becomes permanent.
The knee is designed to be a hinge, not twisted and turned like we use it for in our lives. A knee that is being used in the wrong way or isn’t inline is therefore going to rub and get very irritated. It can be anything that causes this poor alignment or your hinge to be adjusted and then bones will then impact where they simply aren’t designed to. This causes pain and the bones to very simply wear down; just like the road that develops potholes over the years.
This wearing down of the road is called Arthritis, it’s not as scary as you think though or the debilitating “You can’t do anything and you’ve got to live with it” the GP will give you. As therapists we get very good results with arthritis as although we can’t fix or replace the wearing down of the bone we can take the pressure off so you don’t feel it when you’re enjoying your free time or exercising.
The main causes I see in the treatment room are feet that are not inline or a muscle imbalance. When the feet aren’t inline this causes the knees to roll in, bow or even snap back….therefore placing the hinge with more emphasis on one side than the other. A muscle imbalance does the same as the muscles are like pulleys and if one side of the pulley is too strong the other loses the battle and the knee or knee cap is simply pulled to an unnatural position.
So why now? It never hurt 10 years ago!
If you rub sandpaper over your hand it might hurt but it will fade……rub it every day for 10-15 years and that’s going to be tender. Your knee is exactly the same, it never one run that causes the issue but the accumulation of many runs over the years. I bet your gran used the saying…….”It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back”…….
So as you can see with your knee pain there’s never one cause but rather a number of things that need addressing if you want to continue running those miles or enjoying your free time. But there is light at the end of the tunnel….Arthritis isn’t all doom and gloom!
Until next time
Kev
KBS Sports Therapy
KBS Sports Therapy 