I’ve been diagnosed with runner’s knee. The doctor just said it was common, especially in women, and I should take ibuprofen.
Does anyone have maybe some more extensive advice? Do you use bands or any other knee support? Can I look forward to having this for the rest of my life? Do I have to wave bye-bye to my beloved treadmill?
Sincerely,
Decrepit with Crepitus
What is crepitus? Is it a tendon injury? Have you asked your doctor about a regular icing regime to reduce inflammation? Can you afford physical therapy?
What is his experience with sports injuries? Does he support your return to sport? Does he even realize that’s a goal for you? Almost any doctor can diagnose a sport-related injury… not all doctors can help you return from one.
My old housemate was a XC runner and iced her joints after every run with a bag of peas. 
Crepitus is bone directly wearing on bone. In the OP’s case, she’s lost the cartilage in her knees. It’s also apparent when bones break.
If you have a joint that creaks, snaps, and pops when you move it, that’s crepitus.
Wow, that sounds awful. I have some arthritis in my left knee, it grinds a little and predicts rain, but nothing that bad.
I have personally found, as far as reducing the pain, that the stronger my muscles are, the less my knee hurts.
My surgeon just told me I have this as a byproduct of the knee surgery I just had, he said it should go away and is mainly caused by the extra fluid in the joint. My knee was really noisy(sounded like a wooden sailing ship, that creaking nosie) before my surgery, but now post surgery it makes noises(mainly pops, cracks, and chunks), but only when its been stationary for a few minutes plus.
The only things he did to my knee was remove the torn cartilige from under my kneecap, and clip part of the tendon for the kneecap to realign it.
Fry
Crepitus is crackling or popping noises, as someone pointed out.
My specific problem is runner’s knee, which is when the patella isn’t quite in its track, which causes it to rub against the end of the femur. It’s quite painful, and mine causes my knee to stiffen up when it’s not in use. If I have my knee bent, and you put your hand right above my knee, you could feel and hear a series of stutters in the joint. It’s pretty distinctive.
This is the surgery I had. Its a very easy procedure and the recovery has been pretty easy, I highly reccomend getting it done. I was walking a little bit sans crutches the day after my surgery (and said surgery started at 7:39am and ended at 7:59am). I admit I am still sore (cuts and pulled muscles), and there is still a bulge where they did the main incision. But, like I said earlier, no more creaking in the joint, and other than the sore muscles I can go up and down stairs now with no joint pain.
Fry
Women often have weakness in the VMO part of the quadriceps. This can be part of tracking troubles. Also the ratio of hamstring vs quads strength can be significant: weak and tight hams do not guard the patella well. These things could be addressed before surgery, it might be enough to make the problem go away, or just make for an easier surgery with faster recovery.
I’m definitely not considering surgery for this right now. This is a recent problem, so I’m looking more for what any sufferers might have used to help.
I had this exact problem, once upon a time. Know what cured it? Using a stairmill machine. This is different from a stairmaster; a stairmill machine is like a miniature escalator with three steps. You get on and start it up like any other machine, and the steps start rotating in a loop. It’s basically like climbing an endless staircase. (This site says the stairmaster is better for those with weak knees, but they work basically the same muscles.)
SInce I started using this machine my knees have stopped popping, my kneecap has stopped shifting, and my joints are noticeably stronger.
My understanding (and experience) of runner’s knee is that it’s caused by over pronation. I had my left knee seize up on a run one day (it suddenly got too painful to run on, a bit worrying that). After a bit of Googling for knee related stuff the next day I padded the arch of my shoe and the problem went away. In my case at least it isn’t knee support that’s the fix, it’s supporting the arch of the foot.
Now if I could find a cure for my Achilles tendon trouble. . .
I have this - my doc gave me some leg lifts to help strengthen the quads:
Since I’m currently on a no-weight-training regime (back injury), I do 20 of these on each leg without weights, tightening my lower stomach muscles to keep my back stable. When I’m in better shape, I strap on ankle weights and gradually increase to 5 pounds (~2 kg).
From my research on patella-femoral syndrome, strengthening the quads and stretching the hamstrings seems to be the way to go. I haven’t yet eliminated the popping sounds, but I no longer have pain going up or down stairs.
Tracking of the patella problems can be down to the dreaded ITBS - illiotibial band syndrome (sp?)- very common in runners and a wealth of information out there on the net. It is exactly as you describe, the ITB tightens and pulls the patella onto the femur slightly, resulting in inflammation. It can be sorted properly with a rigorous stretching regime.
I had/have it from hillwalking, the stretching was beneficial but it is so hard to keep up. In the end, I settled for ibuprofen. This works fine for me, as I only go hillwalking about 10-15 times a year, and for some reason the ITBS doesn’t interfere with my main sport, cycling. However, ibuprofen is no solution for a runner who is putting the miles in, and it needs to be addressed with specific stretching.
A runner who reaches “a certain age” develops achy creaky knees? I doubt there’s any real “cure” other than stopping running and taking up something with less impact - like an elliptical, or biking or skating. At least you run on a treadmill instead of pounding the pavement (tho I can’t imagine how someone can tolerate running inside on a treadmill! Different strokes …)
There are all kinds of things that can go wrong with your knees, and all kids of treatments. You will have to find a doctor you trust to properly diagnose and treat your specific condition.
You must also learn to distinguish between acceptable discomfort, and pain which signifies a condition that must be addressed.
Also, with some conditions, once the damage is done just about all you can do is treat the symptoms; it isn’t going to get any worse whether you keep running or not. With other conditions, continued use may exacerbate the underlying condition, or give rise to other problems.
You may need to decide how much discomfort/pain you personally can/will tolerate, and assess the longterm side effects of various medications.
My specifically diagnosed and scoped condition was a torn medial meniscus. Knees still ache much of the time, and that knee occasionally “pops.” But the pain, locking, limp, and instability are gone.
About time to head out for my lunchtime run. I think we are doing 5 today!