Runners Knee or Patellofemoral pain syndrome as its technically known by, is something I have been battling with for about six months now on and off. I’m not a doctor, so I cannot go into the specifics on what causes it other than a variety of reasons like running form, overuse or bad shoes. I’m fairly well kitted out with my running gear and I’ve put a lot of work into my running form, so I think its either bad knee alignment or general overuse.
Its not bad on every run, and I notice it more on colder days where my muscles may not have been fully warmed up, or a couple of days after a particularly hard run. Some runs are worse than others. For example my run on Thursday night consisted of a fast 5k. It couldnt have gone any better and I glided around the park like a springer spaniel. My Sunday morning easy run on the other hand, couldnt have gone worse. I felt stiff and sore, and my knee was aching throughout. My feet felt heavy and overall it was a terrible run. Thankfully it was my deload week on my way to half marathon.
Here is what I have been doing to try and fix the issue, and here is what I will start doing:
- I have been regularly doing strength training to build some extra muscle around the knee and in particular the quads. This is proving to be challenging but I’m just trying to be as consistent as I can be. 5 mornings a week I do my squats, and my lunges. I started on quite a low rep set of 10. For the squats I am holding two dumbbells just for extra gain. The lunges I am doing free style and I might be ready to push up the number of reps. Strengthening the core muscles is also important, so standing bicep curls, planks and press-ups are also been done five mornings a week. I have noticed a gradual improvement but I need to keep going.
- Second of all is to keep working on my running form. Keep lifting those knees and gently putting them back down is not so easy. Trying to stay upright with the correct arm movement and most importantly not taking too long of a stride. I have quiet long legs so this is something I have been guilty of in the past. Shortening those strides and increasing that cadence is key to good form.
- Next on my list and something I am not currently doing is mixing up my type of runs, and trying to incorporate some trail or cross country running into my weekly schedule. This is not a tried and tested method yet, but it is something I have heard is good for strengthening that pesky knee.