I was reading the latest US president Barack Obama Health report, the doctors certified him “fit to rule” but one item that caught my knee was this one : Obama suffers from occasional pain in his left knee. Medics call it chronic tendinitis.
Left knee pain is a very common injury in people who run. I remember my first year of marathon training, the left knee pain dogged me right to the day of the race. I still remember turning up at the start line holding an anti inflammation gel on one hand and the other hand rubbing the gel on the knee.
Why Left knee and not right knee?
My guess as to why the left knee and not the right knee is affected has to do with the fact that majority of humans are right handed. We use the right leg to kick stuff around and that effort makes it stronger. On the other hand, the left leg is never used seriously, leaving it a weak partner. Have you heard of the statement “USE IT OR LOSE IT!”? It makes sense to me.
Cause of Left Knee pain while running
Apart from my theory of “neglected left knee” medics say the cause of knee pain is due to excessive training; running too much. Another cause is when you suddenly switch from running flat routes to running hilly routes.
Prevention of knee pain
I believe prevention is better than cure. One way to prevent a sudden attack of knee pain is switch your running speed gradually. A sudden change of pace will be a shock to the system leading to injury.
Four step Treatment of knee pain.
Icing – The first line of treatment, sometimes this alone is enough to fix it!
Every amateur runner is ever seeking the answer to how many miles he should run per week. The answer to that question depend a lot on sex, age, years of training and a runners tolerance to pain.
The best answer I found was from a physical therapist and biomechanist Irene Davis, Ph.D., from the University of Delaware’s Running Injury Clinic. This was her take on the question when asked in a runners world article.10 laws of injury prevention.
“Your threshold could be at 10 miles a week, or 100, but once you exceed it, you get injured.” Various studies have identified injury-thresholds at 11, 25, and 40 miles per week.
To know how many miles you should run per week, just clock the miles and the level at which you start experiencing injury, thats your level. Your threshold is waiting for you to discover it!
The more you train the stronger you get, but when training gets too much it leads to fatigue. When fatigue builds up you experience reduced performance and risk sudden training injury. It is important to take breaks from your regular training to allow muscle recovery.
Tips for speedy muscle recovery
Take a complete rest from training – missing one or two days cant hurt?
Massage
Hot baths with bath salts,
Stretching properly
Stay hydrated day in day out
All the above will all add to the big picture of good recovery and reducing injury.
The tips can also be followed by runners who want a speedy recovery from a half marathon or a full marathon.
With all the amazing advancements in sports medicine, you’d think that our rates of shinsplints, runners knee, ankle injuries and stress fractures should be under control.
A recent runnersworld.com poll revealed that 66 percent of respondents had suffered an injury in 2009.
When American skier, Lindsey Vonn, injured her shin muscle it was reported part of her treatment was a home remedy of Topfen Curd cheese.
She wrapped her leg in Austrian topfen curd cheese – a product similar to cream cheese that’s mainly used for eating but reported to also bring down swelling. This sounds to me something similar to Ice treatment.
The speculation is topfen curd cheese has some anti inflammatory properties.
According to a Washington Post article several other U.S. Ski Team members have tried plastering the product on ailing body parts to speed recovery.
There is no scientific backing for the soft white cheese but it seems some people are using it and it is working!
Lindsey Vonn injured her shin muscle a few days before the start of 2010 Winter Olympics games and the ski girl tried every treatment Idea on the book.
5. And finally she tried the unorthodox idea : tried a home remedy as she wrapped her leg in Austrian topfen curd cheese – a product similar to cream cheese that’s mainly used for eating but reported to also bring down swelling.
There is a lot of news flying around claiming that running barefoot is better than running on some fancy running shoes. Although am yet to try running barefoot there are many runners out there who swear by barefoot running, at least on grass. Running barefoot on tarmac is a big NO!
Research on Barefoot running
The latest research on barefoot running has been done by a team from Harvard University. The team studied runners from the United States and Kenya as they ran on tracks.
The researchers found that while people run in a variety of ways, most barefoot runners tend to “forefoot strike — land first on the outer ball of the foot before bringing down the heel.
Advantage / Benefit of Barefoot Running
By contrast, more than 75 percent of runners who wear running shoes land on their heels first. The study suggests this is more likely to cause running injury.
Detailed information is published on harvard univesity website on barefoot running.
Nipples bleeding when running is a common running problem among male runners. The bleeding happens when your running T-shirt rubs against your tender nipples.
This is how the bleeding happens
When you run your t-shirt moves up and down, that movement rubs on your nipples. The friction on your nipples makes them tender. Open wounds form and blood starts to flow out. When the salt from your sweat rubs on the open wounds you start feeling pain. Experts call this Nipple Chafing!
How to Avoid Bleeding Nipples
Apply a layer of vaseline over your Nipples, some marathons even offer Vaseline enroute.
Put a bandage over the nipples. This will prevent direct contact.
Another funny solution that I found at a Runners world article on this topic was this one:
Here is an easy solution, although a slightly embarrassing one… wear a ladies sports bra. They hide easily under a t-shirt and stop the chafe! Go ahead and laugh it up… I’ll see you at the finish line… bloody nipple free!
Suffering injuries is part of the deal of choosing a running lifestyle.
The last week I suffered my first injury as I continue training for 2009 Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon. I have suffered an Achilles Tendonittis in other words it is an inflammation of the Achilles. For a good description look at the image below.
If I was to take an x-ray of my leg it would look something like that.
Thanks to the injury I had to cancel one day of speed work and I have decided to cancel my weekly long run.
I have this nagging pain on the area, it is not serious and I could still run with the pain but I have decided to take precaution and avoid see it turn into something more serious. After all time is on my side, I started marathon training two months ago and I have made great progress and I still have two more months before the marathon. Start your training early and you will have time to treat inevitable injuries and get back to training.
What caused the Achilles Tendinitis.
I speculate it has something today with the changes in my training. The last two week I have been doing serious speed work and I guese the fast running was more than my body could handle.
Treatment of the Achilles tendinitis
A one week rest,wearing my sports shoes instead of my heavy boots to work, a few calf muscle strength exercise plus applying an anti-inflammation cream should heal the archilles tendonitis.
Weak knees affects a few runners. A reader of this blog sent me an email asking me what she can do with her weak knees.
The New York times had an article on the issue of running and knees.
Running Makes your Knees stronger
In a Stanford University study researchers followed middle-aged, longtime distance runners (not necessarily marathoners) for nearly 20 years, beginning in 1984, when most were in their 50s or 60s. At that time, 6.7 percent of the runners had creaky, mildly arthritic knees, while none of an age-matched control group did. After 20 years, however, the runners’ knees were healthier; only 20 percent showed arthritic changes, versus 32 percent of the control group’s knees. Barely 2 percent of the runners’ knees were severely arthritic, while almost 10 percent of the control group’s were.
Debunking the myth that Running leads to degeneration of the knees
The word on the street is that running may weaken your knees but In another scientific study runners knees were scanned before and after 1997 Vienna Marathon. Ten years later, they scanned the same runners’ knees again. The results were striking. “No major new internal damage in the knee joints of marathon runners was found after a 10-year interval,”
According to Ross Tucker, a South African who blogs about running injuries he said the best solution for weak knees is targeted strength training. If you work on the the muscles that support your knees, hip stabilizers, quads, hamstrings you will have strong knees. It is weakness in one of these muscle groups that causes knee injury.
Another interesting solution I picked from comments on the NY times article was this one by a Dr. “The issue is weight, not running. The more you weigh, the greater the chance you will develop osteoarthritis as you age. The key is to remain slim lifelong.”
VIDEO : EXERCISES TO STRENGTHEN KEY LEG MUSCLES TO PREVENT INJURIES
If I was to take an x-ray of my leg it would look something like that.
Recent Comments