Question on Knee Pain

[flambard]

I have run all my adult life. Never had knee problems. Swap out my running shoes fairly regularly though I confess I do tend to beat them into the ground before the new purchase.

Recently I started to have a nagging knee pain in one of my knees. The pain is sort of a 'slight' sharp pain and will make me favor the leg slightly as I walk and move about in my daily routine.

I have noticed that if I go running the knee pain does not hurt during the run. After the run the knee pain is gone. Subsequently the knee pain may return after several days or return after another running session.

Then the cycle will begin again. I'll go for a run, and the knee pain will go away...

Have anyone else had this problem? What is it?

 

[Scrumhalf]

The knee is a complex joint. It is going to be hard to diagnose over the internet even by qualified personnel, leave alone the bunch that hangs out here..

If I were you, I would go to a good sports medicine specialist and have it checked out. A quick X-ray and analysis by a trained doctor should tell you a lot, and if necessary, an MRI can provide more information. If you have a local pro sports team, try to find out who the team doctors are for the team. That's what I did locally when I had some knee issues and at least I had the peace of mind that the doctors would have lots of hands on experience with athletic injuries.

 

[flambard]

Many thanks.

Of course it is Ridiculous to ask for ~!real!~ medical advise here (for the most part). Of course you have outlined the logical answer, but I wanted to see if anyone else has this phenomena.

 

[ken1234]

sounds like u have "anterior knee pain"...which is common among athletes. Its due to either improper running mechanics or the shoes arent right. A real doc might be able to tell u more...i am just a med student.

 

[Scrumhalf]

Originally Posted by flambard

Many thanks.

Of course it is Ridiculous to ask for ~!real!~ medical advise here (for the most part). Of course you have outlined the logical answer, but I wanted to see if anyone else has this phenomena.

It is real hard to figure out what could be happening from your description. I could, for example, pinpoint exactly where I would get pain - it was in the back of my knee towards the inside. And it would hurt when I kicked the leg forward at the beginning of my stride. It turned out to be a hyperextension of the knee which went away with rest, although it tends to come back if I increase my stride too much to make time. Maybe if you describe more precisely where/how it hurts rather than just that it does and you tend to favor that leg, you might get more precise answers.

 

[somatoform]

Originally Posted by flambard

Many thanks.

Of course it is Ridiculous to ask for ~!real!~ medical advise here (for the most part). Of course you have outlined the logical answer, but I wanted to see if anyone else has this phenomena.

Yeah, I've had a sharp knee pain on the inside part of my left knee. A couple of points:

--Someone told me that I overpronate so I bought a motion control New Balance style shoe. It helped

--running did minimize it some what, but I just chalked that up to blood flow and endorphins

--sometimes anecedotal info is better than professional info. I'm not telling you not to go to a doctor, only that there are different methods of rehab and I myself have experienced doctors contradicting one another - eg. one doctor tells you to stretch like this and another tells you to never stretch like that. And I'm thinking "WTF?!" Sometimes joe blow has got better info from trial and error than some doctors

--my knee pain disappeared when I began to give priority to my hamstrings over my quads during leg workouts. So instead of working out my quads before my hams, I started working out my hams first during the workout and performed more sets for them. That's what worked for me. I suppose every so often I can feel it a little bit, but for the most part it's greatly diminished.

 

[flambard]

Thanks all for your input. Very Interesting!

I do have overpronation on the right foot as I walk or run. The intermittent pain is in the right knee. In the lower right/front of the knee. I felt a tinge of the pain as I was walking up a hilly street today. When I eased up on the pace the trouble went away, and hasn't returned since. Aha, maybe I get it when running up hills? Hmm, that is contradictory because hills are always part of my runs (unavoidable around these parts). And hills are part of the runs that are my self found therapy. Oh what a tangled web.

Dang. I will be hunting down new running shoes tomorrow or the next day.

 

[deadly7]

Originally Posted by flambard

Thanks all for your input. Very Interesting!

I do have overpronation on the right foot as I walk or run. The intermittent pain is in the right knee. In the lower right/front of the knee. I felt a tinge of the pain as I was walking up a hilly street today. When I eased up on the pace the trouble went away, and hasn't returned since. Aha, maybe I get it when running up hills? Hmm, that is contradictory because hills are always part of my runs (unavoidable around these parts). And hills are part of the runs that are my self found therapy. Oh what a tangled web.

Dang. I will be hunting down new running shoes tomorrow or the next day.

I had similar pain, although mine was found to not be anatomically based (my bone structure, etc. was all correct). Instead, it was found that my quadriceps muscle had stopped functioning properly--instead of flexing and relaxing in its normal rhythm, different parts of my quadriceps began firing differently. Have you tried taping your knee with athletic tape? If you do it right, you should be pulling your kneecap just a little, and this may help smooth out the motion of your patella on its track, and align your quadriceps properly.

My physical therapist was awesome.

 

[jillyronald]

Daily exercise will helps you to your knee pain problem. One year ago I have experience of this same pain problem. Daily exercise, yoga and oil massage was good to reduce my knee pain, and now a days there are no pain in my knee.

 

[office drone]

Originally Posted by jillyronald

Daily exercise will helps you to your knee pain problem. One year ago I have experience of this same pain problem. Daily exercise, yoga and oil massage was good to reduce my knee pain, and now a days there are no pain in my knee.

At what point did it feel that exercise was working in making your knee feel better? I'm in the same boat....my left knee started to hurt this year during my runs on the treadmill.

 

[S. Paul]

Originally Posted by flambard

Many thanks.

Of course it is Ridiculous to ask for ~!real!~ medical advise here (for the most part). Of course you have outlined the logical answer, but I wanted to see if anyone else has this phenomena.

Yes, I have something very similar going on right now, except in my case it's more of a "jumper's knee" from basketball. Aching just below the kneecap on my right knee, I went to an orthopedic and it's essentially patella tendinitis. Many docs will put you on some physical therapy exercises that you can do in your own home, twice a day or whatever. The real problem is that the inflammation will go away quickest and best if you stop the activity which doing the exercises - which is usually something you enjoy and is hard to give up for a couple months.

At any rate, that's my issue, yours is not necessarily the same. The best advice is definitely, absolutely to go see an orthopedic specialist. The reason is for the 5 minutes of their time when they will grasp your leg, move the joint around, have you stand and bend your knee, etc. to figure out when it hurts and what it is. Even though it seems straightforward, it may not be.

good luck,
SP