Messed up my knee running a 1/2 marathon on Saturday, and I’m trying to figure out what, exactly, I injured. It’s not one of the two big tendons on the back of the knee, nor is it the patella. It feels like a “cord” of some sort as thick as my pinky finger on the outside of my left knee, about halfway back or so. It mostly hurts when I put weight on it while my knee is bent, like when getting out of a chair or climbing stairs. It didn’t start hurting until I got home, well after the race. There is no swelling and it is not sore to the touch.
Any idea what I did? I think it’s a minor strain of some sort. I was hobbling around quite a bit on Saturday, but I’m about 85% back to normal today already.
Sounds like your fibular collateral ligament, according to this Online Gray’s Anatomy page. It looks to run from the top to the bottom of the knee joint along the outside of the leg. I am not a doc, though.
You know, asking for medical advice on a public message board like this is an incredibly stupid thing to do. No doctor will give a diagnosis without a firsthand examination. All you will mostly get is the uninformed opinions of anonymous strangers who’s veracity you can’t verify.
Second, your running career is basically over. Running is the absolute worst form of exercise. Once you damage your knees they never fully recover, only deteriorate. If you stop now, maybe you can avoid a lifetime of crippling pain, if your lucky. Every long-distance runner I know has destroyed their knees, most to the point that they wish they never ran in the first place.
For what it’s worth Jet I did the same thing to my knee about a month ago while moving from our condo to our new house. Don’t know exactly when it happened because I didn’t feel anything at first. My knee just started to hurt (no swelling or tenderness to the touch). Got so bad that I could barely walk by the end of the day. It was fine if I didn’t bend it or put much weight on it. Climbing stairs really made it bad. This went on for about two weeks before I got to the doctor. Doc looked at it and pulled and twisted for a while then finally told me that it was a bad sprain, try and stay off of it and use cold compresses a few times a day. That and some Flexall 454 and I was fine in a few days. No problems since then. Hope this at least help a little.
Had the same symtoms and it was something called “runners’ knee”. Got it after a 190 mile race for which i hadn’t trained properly. Hard to get rid of.
Yeah, what the hell are you trying to do?
Medicine and health are none of your business.
Leave it to the quacks!!
And opinions have no value right?
Thankfully MDs have little lights on the top of their heads which let us know if they’re 100% correct or not…
Bullshit. And you determined this without a physical examination?
S. Mussberger , that is one hell of a distance!!! How long did it take? 2 or 3 days? A week???
Cite?
I tore my MCL. It took a long time to heal but is now in as good order as before the problem. It is pain free.
They’re all wheelchair bound then?
Ignorance is not a crime (I’d be guilty as hell!), but posting rubbish like this suggests you need to read a bit more before you post.
I’m so sorry I’m cutting down on my coffe but I guess I should consider giving that up. I’ve been a total waste of oxygen today. 19 miles… on the famous “Lidingöloppet”.
After reading some more about it, I think it may have been a minor case of runners knee. It doesn’t seem as bad as some of the decriptions I’ve seen of it, but the symptoms generally match. I’ve already gone running a couple more times, including a 9-miler, with a knee brace and the problem hasen’t come back. I think I just overdid it a bit in the race (PR’ed though :)).
I’m just pointing out that Jet Jaguar is an idiot for asking this question here. We’ve crossed paths before and I find he is consistently full of BS. In fact I’m not so sure he is not making this all up for some reason I fail to understand. Looking for sympathy perhaps, or to brag about a 1/2 marathon he may or may not have actually entered? Admittedly my first statement is more of a jab at Jet than a statement of fact but there is some truth to it.
A good doctor knows he can’t diagnose a condition without seeing the patient firsthand and would never try. Therefore the opinions you get are not going to be from reputable medical professionals.
I determined it through experience. I know many runners and used to run myself before thankfully giving it up for swimming before I did any serious damage. This is just the start of the inevitable, as long as you keep running. Exery runner I know who ran longer distances than 5k have destroyed their knees and ankles.
Pick up just about any book on exercise. Swimming and cycling are far better workouts and are non-impact. Running just pounds your joints into oblivion…
Maybe pain free, but not 100%. You are more likely now to re-injure yourself than you were before. With each sucessive injury your joints become incrementally weaker and more suseptible to re-injury.
Not wheelchair bound, but in enough pain that they can barely go through the day without painkillers or perform simple daily activities like climbing stairs or picking up with their children.
Are you speaking from the viewpoint of an anonymous stranger who’s veracity can’t be verified? 