Think you know the secrets to running and knee pain? Rest? Strength? Stretching? Think again.
Let me paint you a picture. You’re a runner with pain on the inside of your knee. It seems to be worse when you’re walking or running downhill or down stairs. You’ve even noticed the same pain when you stand after being seated for a while, like after watching a movie or taking a lengthy drive.
Enter Doctor Google who tells you its patella femoral pain. Enter your mate who knows a thing or two about running. Enter the foam roller, the spikey ball, squats and lunges. You name it, you’ve tried it. You’ve done every stretch and strength exercise you can find on the internet but nothing seems to be working.
Emerging research suggests running retraining, focusing on technique, could be the answer. For example, increased knee flexion when you land (how bent your knee is when you land) places increased stress through the kneecap joint. It could also be how you land- are you a heel, midfoot or forefoot striker? Or maybe you have no idea how you land. Hint – look at your shoes.
If you wear a smart watch that tracks your run you can check your cadence by looking at how many steps per minute you take. If your cadence is too slow it could be forcing you to heel strike. A recent client of mine was overstriding and after we addressed it her pain subsided entirely.
You can throw yourself into strength training and stretching, but if you don’t address the source of the issue, you won’t eliminate your pain. A running assessment can illuminate the source of your pain so you can banish it for good with a few running cues. Save yourself some time at the gym so you can spend more time around the track.
If you’ve been experiencing pain while running we’d be delighted to perform a running assessment for you; so you can pound the pavement pain-free as soon as possible.
