Archive for March, 2009

In particular the sharp pain that often builds up on outside of the knee when you have run for a little while. I have had some new clients recently who are in the last stages of their training for the London Marathon and as the mileage has increased they have felt this pain which can be very debilitating and a real cause of concern.

Especially after all the long winter months of training the last thing you feel you need now is an injury that will prevent you doing the event you have worked so hard to get to. Fortunately it is normally an injury that we can resolve quite quickly leaving you pain free and able to enjoy the training and the event.

Everyone is different and it will need to be properly tested but generally speaking this condition is a result of a tight Iliotibial Band or IT Band, it is commonly referred to as ‘Runners Knee’. One of the clients I am seeing at the moment is an excellent example of the problem and how working together we can rectify the problem.

He told me that after he has run for about 6 or 7 mile he starts to get this very uncomfortable pain on the outside edge of his knee just about where you will find the top of the fibula bone. He was very concerned that this would seriously impact on his training and the Marathon itself, this will be his second London event and the last one was dogged by this same pain in both legs.

He had decided to call me because he needed to understand what was happening and how serious it was he is keen to have a good event and finish in a good time. When I examined him I found that his IT Band was very tight. I treated him using a combination of deep tissue massage and muscle energy stretching. I discussed with him some options for stretching and pre-warming of the area before a run to soften the tissue and reduce the tension over the fibula bone.

It is the constant and repetitive rubbing of the IT Band over the fibula head that causes the pain and inflammation. He was due to run the Silverstone Half Marathon four days later and was concerned that he would have to withdraw. I assured him that if he was careful and kept his effort at 75% he should be okay, with proviso that if he feels any significant discomfort he considers stopping. He called me the day after and told me that he completed successfully – pain free. I have seen him in the last week and he is now doing his long runs without the previous pain.

We will have one more appointment about a week before the London Marathon just to make sure that everything is still working as it should but he is now much more optimistic about completing in his target time. So if you are feeling a similar pain or other aches and pains it may be something that can be easily and quickly resolved so that you can really enjoy the event and fulfil your maximum potential.

Just a quick note of congratulations to Stephen and Paula [I do have to declare a very close personal interest in Paula - we are married!] who I have worked with and continue to do so through a programme of regular maintenance and injury prevention. They both successfully completed the Leith Hill Half Marathon http://www.trionium.com/  and achieved personal best times for the off-road, hilly event. Although for Stephen that was a little easy – he had never run it before!

I can directly vouch for how well they both ran as Paula had persuaded me to join them. It is an excellent event, very tough.

Both Stephen and Paula have a number of targets for the forthcoming year: for Paula the London Marathon in April and the Atlantic Coast Challenge (3 marathons in 3 days) http://www.votwo.co.uk/votwo2007/events-and-adventure/race_view.php?i=73 at the end of September 2009.

Stephen is building for the Swiss Ironman http://ironman.com/events/ironman/switzerland event in July and we have put together a specific package for him that compliments his training programme.

Something that came up the other day when I was with a new client was the question of ‘how long should this take to heal’.

He had sprained his ankle whilst out running about four weeks previously and had attended hospital for an x-ray to rule out a fracture. Fortunately he had not fractured it, he was advised to rest and elevate the ankle but was not given any advice on what to expect. He was concerned that after what felt like a long time it should be okay and the swelling greatly reduced.

It led me to think that there are probably many people in a similar situation. We all have experience of straining a muscle and normally within a couple of weeks we are okay. Without going into all the science of this ligaments which are what you damage when spraining an ankle take longer – significantly longer. It is not an exact science and there are many variables such as severity of injury, age of person injured, steps they take to assist recovery and many others.

Generally though ligaments take about six to eight weeks before you will feel comfortable enough to start some light running. This is followed by a slow period of increased activity before some months later you can expect to be back where you were, so don’t despair if it seems to be taking a long time we can support the healing process and when you are able to use it again make sure that it will work effectively.