It’s running festival season! With the City2Surf, Lane Cove Fun Run, the Sydney running festival & Oxfam Trail just around the corner, many people are probably placing greater amount of load on your knees.
Knee Pain & Running Events – Although it’s great that we are out and about, getting fit and raising money, we may have lacked a key component of preparation leading up to these events – A comprehensive training program.
The knee is a well reinforced structure that can take on the load of the body and most forms of physical activity. However, without efficient supporting musculature from appropriate training, strenuous feats like running for long periods of time can cause pain to the structures of the knee.
This is often the case to be with ‘runner’s knee’. It is an umbrella term describing some painful symptoms at the knee, particularly around the knee cap. These symptoms can come on at a certain point of time during exercise and are caused by fatigue and weaknesses in the trunk, hips, thigh, leg and feet. Muscular fatigue with prolonged exercise ultimately results in deviations to normal knee joint function, meaning your bones and ligaments take excessive load they’re not used to. After some time, these symptoms become more prominent and persistent especially with physical activity.
Have you been experiencing knee pain since picking up running again and (knee)d a resolve?
For further information:
Title: Patellofemoral pain syndrome
Source: Springer Link – Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy
Read Time: 30 Minutes
Title: Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS): a systematic review of anatomy and potential risk factors
Source: Bio Medical Central
Read Time: 30 Minutes