Injury Types Section on Website

by Firebeetle
(Lake Country)

Hello, Dave!

Good hearing back from you! Yes, you are right, long winter!

I thought you had a section about injuries in your website, didn't you? If so, where is it? I cannot find it.

It has been a year that I have been running, and I have gone through a few injuries since then. Nothing major, but annoying enough to keep me all educated about improving my running techniques and avoid them. I try to get plenty of info on runnersworld magazine or online. I know there are so many different injuries depending on each one's circumstances, but it seems like there is a pattern to some common ones.

My questions for you are:

1. At what point do you have to consider going to a sports' doctor to treat an injury?

2. If injured, when do you stop running?

I know that your body is the best guide to follow on regards to pain and when to stop; however, sometimes if the pain is not strong enough, I tend to keep running. I have had injuries that only heal taking a few days off or they just go away by ignoring them. However, lately, I have had a funny feeling on my right knee (the kind of feel that reminds me of kicking a ball real hard without warming up) when I reach 3-4mile runs. If I slow down and walk, the pain goes away. If I continue, it hurts for about a mile or so and then it gradually goes away. After each run, the pain comes back, but as soon as I stretch, the pain goes away. I never felt anything like that before.

Since you are a more experienced runner, have you felt that?

Any advice is greatly appreciated, Dave! I just wanted to hear another runner's advice/experience.

Good luck on your training!

Firebeetle

P.S. I accept the disclaimer for your advice, Dave. So, no worries about legal terms here. I know you do this for fun and to help others like me. :)

Hello Firebeetle... If that is your real name :)

First - Here is the running injuries section. I have it titled "Running Pain" on the side navigation. Maybe I should change it to injuries. Anyways, it sounds to me like you might have some tendonitis in your knee. This is a problem I constantly struggle with. I have had two arthroscopic knee surgeries, so I know why my problems are happening. I have to build up mileage slowly and carefully in order to avoid flare ups. I also notice my knees tightening up, or getting sore whenever I have been doing stuff that requires squatting or kneeling (Gardening - Putting in flooring - Wrestling with my little kids)

This might not be the case with you, but I'll run through the laundry list of things I do to prevent my knees from flaring up.

1. Ice. I ice down my knees for 10 to 15 minutes after most of my runs.

2. Avoid drills or stretches that put unnecessary stress on my knees. I don't do lunges, or high knee drills, or anything that flexes my knee more than I ever would in a distance race.

3. Take a Gluclosamine supplement. I know this might be a placebo effect, but I take one and I have avoided any major problems for a couple years now.

4. Strengthen your quads. I have done some lifting in the past, especially when I was in college and ran shorter events like the 800 and 400. This seemed to help keep my knees stable and healthy.

5. Rest. I am very careful about resting when my knees hurt. I know that it at a certain point of pain, it won't get any better, so I have to rest.

From what I can gather, your knees are doing fine right now. I would make sure to ice after every run, and try not to do any superhuman workouts. You can run a race with your knee feeling like this, but chances are, you'll have to take some time off after running really hard on a sore knee.

I hope all of this helps.

Happy Trails - Coach Tief