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What's New @ Aura Fitness » Tips For Dealing With Knee Pain
Tips For Dealing With Knee PainSome of you may be training for the Times Colonist 10k, the Victoria Marathon or just trying to get into a running routine and find
you're "running" into some road bumps like knee pain. If you are suffering from a lingering or chronic knee pain it
needs attention before it becomes serious enough to hinder your lifestyle. In this article we'll cover three of
the most common sources of knee pain: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (or Runner's
Knee), Patellar Tendonitis, and IT Band Syndrome. Let's go over some of the causes, symptoms and treatments. Note: None of the information in this article is intended to
replace the advice or direction of a qualified medical professional, physical
therapist or trainer. If you are
experiencing severe or acute pain in your knees, visit your doctor to get a
proper diagnosis before beginning any form of corrective exercise. Runner's Knee One of the most common forms of knee pain is patellofemoral pain syndrome
- often called "Runner's Knee". This is pain that occurs directly surrounding or under
the knee cap, and should not be confused with pain directly in the patellar
tendon (patellar tendonitis) above the kneecap which we will address later on. Runner's knee is used to classify a number of conditions caused by
the kneecap (patella) tracking improperly and grinding against the thighbone
(femur). The way your kneecap
moves as you bend your leg is most greatly influenced by the relative strength
and flexibility of the muscles surrounding the knee. These include the "quads" or thigh muscles, hamstrings, IT
band and calves. Most people with
runner's knee have overly tight hamstrings, IT bands and calf muscles, and have
relatively weak quads. This causes
twisting of the knee joint during load-bearing activities (read: walking,
running, climbing stairs, etc.) and the kneecap starts rubbing against things
it shouldn't be. Over time this leads to pain and inflammation in the knee and if
left untreated can lead to serious damage to your bones and connective tissue. Runner's knee can be caused by:
As we stated before, the most common cause of runner's knee is weak and/or tight muscles around the knee. A qualified physical therapist, exercise physiologist or trainer can put a program together for you that can address imbalances in the muscles of the leg. 2. Relative Rest If you run or participate in any high-impact activities, you'll need to reduce the amount of stress being placed on the knee joint long enough for the inflammation to decrease. You can keep your cardiovascular strength high by doing low impact training such as swimming or using an "elliptical" training machine. 3. Ice It After any sort of strenuous activity, or any time you feel pain or discomfort in your knees, take 10 minutes and ice it to reduce any swelling. This will vastly improve the rate at which your knees return to normal and can provide temporary quick relief. 4. Get New Shoes Chances are those three year old runners you wear when you're exercising probably didn't provide enough support when you first bought them, and now they could very likely be the major contributor to your knee pain. Check the bottom of your shoe for excessive wear on the inner or outer edge of the sole, and make sure that you buy your shoes from a reputable and knowledgeable source. Runner's knee can be relatively easy to fix, the vastus medialis
needs to be strengthened, IT band and hamstrings need to be stretched and avoid
all activities that strengthen the vastus lateralis or outer part of front
thigh. For severe cases
strengthening exercises may have to be done up to four times per day until the
nervous system starts responding and pain starts to decrease. This type of knee pain should be taken
very seriously and worse case scenarios can be completely prevented when
treated. Patellar Tendonitis Another common source of knee pain is Patellar tendonitis,
sometimes called "Jumper's Knee", which is swelling of the patellar tendon (the
tendon that connects your kneecap to the thigh muscle) . This is caused by high
impact activities that put stress on the tendon, causing microscopic tears
which become more and more numerous leading to pain and inflammation. Activities such as running, too much jumping and aerobics, walking
or running downhill or any repetitive exercise can lead to patellar tendonitis.
Symptoms include pain around the
knee cap, tenderness, pain when squatting and pain that moves around above the
knee. Patellar Tendonitis can be caused by:
Treatment is similar to treating runner's knee, including reducing
the impact to joint, varying your activities, avoiding hills and repetitive
exercise. IT Band Syndrome Lastly, there is IT band syndrome, an inflammation of the iliotibial
band (a muscle that runs from the outside of your hip to the outside of your
knee) caused by excessive friction against the knee joint. This leads to pain felt at the side of
the knee and can appear at the hip joint as well. IT Band Sydrome can be caused by:
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