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Andreina B.
Andreina B. Sendmail

Pain behind knee

asked over 1 year ago | Report

I did a long (long for me!) 6-mile run on Sunday and yesterday I went out for just over 3 miles at an easy pace. During the run and even today I have a pain behind my knee...sort of on the outer side behind my knee.

I have never had this before...any ideas on what this is or how to treat it?

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4 answers

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  • Joe C.
    Joe C. Sendmail

    Possibly Runner's Knee?
    http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_5/194.shtml#runknee

    answered over 1 year ago |Report

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  • Cheryl S.
    Cheryl S. Sendmail

    Do a little research on IT Band or lower hamstring injuries and see if your symptoms fit.

    answered over 1 year ago |Report

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  • Jenessa
    Jenessa Sendmail

    I had a really similar pain during the last few weeks of training for a marathon back in May. After a long run it would hurt for the next day or so everytime I walked up and down the steps. I went to the sports medicine doctor and he said that I had a hamstring tendonitis. More than likely due to lack of stretching and warming up before a run. I went to a few physical theropy sessions where she did some rubbing on the tendon (very painful!) and gave me some stretching tips. For the next 2 weeks before the marathon I didn't run at all, I rode my bike, iced right behind my knee, and did a lot of stretching.

    I still did the marathon, I had spent all of that time training I just didn't want to let my marathon dream go. At the half way point my knee got really stiff and I ended up having to walk/run the rest of the race. After the race I didn't run for a week and a half. And now everytime I go for a long run I do a warm up ride on the stationary bike for about 5 minutes, and stretch. Since then I haven't had any pain.

    If this is turns out to be what you have, I would recommend not running for a few weeks (the PT said that biking is a good alternative), icing, and stretching. Since then I have also been working on my running form so that I no longer heel strike.

    Good luck! Hopefully this helped a bit.

    answered over 1 year ago |Report

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  • Holly H.
    Holly H. Sendmail

    I had the same thing happen to me. I kept taking time off, but when I ended up having to walk the rest of a race I went to the doctor. Mine was sometimes behind the knee, but mostly the interior back part of the knee. I had a strain of the hamstring, gracilis, and sartorius tendons. I did PT for a bit, which included lots of specific stretching for each of those muscles including one for the popliteus, short stints on the treadmill to where the pain would almost start, then i would stop and also the weight machine for my hamstring. I am now back to running outside and started training recently for a half marathon in September. Aand "knock on wood" my knee has been fine. Not pushing it, but with this heat we are having on the east coast, can't push it anyways! Always ice it after using it.

    This is not runner's knee at all, as my doctor told me and I had suspected the same thing. It is an imbalance with your muscles and where you put stress on your knee during impact. It is something that happens to women more than men, due to the shape of our hips and strength of hip muscles. I was a dancer for many many years, so my abductors and external rotators in my hips are extremely strong. And my internal rotators are not., inlcuding the innermost hamstring muscle.

    answered over 1 year ago |edited over 1 year ago |Report

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