Subject: RE: completed 50 mile ultra on 10/24...left knee still bothering me Ian,
I am having and have had continuous issues with my knee over the last year as well with no visible swelling or discoloration. Everything came to a head when I was in the middle of my marathon at the IMMD last year and couldn't walk without a limp for a couple of weeks. I have had a couple of MRIs - have you had a chance to get one yourself? - and nothing structurally was noted, but I was diagnosed with Medial Plica Syndrome (nothing wrong with the ligaments or meniscus either ). I have also had injections and lots of physical therapy. The sports doc also told me that genetically I did not get the best kneecaps either. He said that my groove that the kneecap floats in was not really a groove at all, but pretty flat and my kneecap just slips around probably causing a lot of the pain over time and over the longer miles. I am 41 and I have put a lot of miles on my knees and I just had a meeting with my doctor yesterday to explore getting my knee scoped to resect the plica and "clean" things up. He said there are risks of course, but I could certainly benefit from the procedure and get several more years of strong competition with a successful scope. I have exhausted all other options...MRI, physical therapy and injections, so this is another and final option or I could just stop all together, but I am not ready for that yet! When I have stopped and rested completely for about 4-6 weeks everything feels fine, so my need to "fix" things would only be to compete, not to get around. You may get to a point where you just can't do 50 miles anymore, we sometimes aren't built for that like others are, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't keep trying to find a solution if it is your passion!
Having said all of that, running ultras is no joke and you definitely need some time off to see what is going on with your knee - could take months from my experience. If you haven't done it already, go see a doctor and talk about physical therapy to look at strengthening all of othe support structures to a different level - quads, hips etc. Generally as pure runners we need to focus on different types of strength training outside of just running to keep the "balance". Then you can look at an MRI and see where that takes you. Keep fighting and you will find what is right for you!
Scott |