‘Runners run through niggles. It’s part of the sport – isn’t it?’
When a simple niggle doesn’t go away, becomes worse, or jeopardises your next event, what should you do?
Like most runners, you may ask a fellow runner, search Dr Google, or just stop running for a couple of weeks and return without changing anything. This often ends in disappointment, and expensive errors such as buying new shoes, massage guns and paying for treatments that aren’t even proven to help…
What you really need to know is:
- What’s really causing my pain?
- Will I damage myself if I continue running?
- How do I get better?
If you don’t know the answers, you need expert help.
I suggest you ask a trusted physiotherapist, preferably one that runs, keeps up to date with all the good research, will answer your questions, start you on the road to recovery in that first appointment and doesn’t tie you in to lots of unnecessary appointments. One that’s really interested in your problem and your running. Contact me for help.
‘It’s simple when you know’
Here are a few runner’s stories from my patients, that make you realise it isn’t easy to navigate getting better on your own. An expert will see straight to the cause of the problem, explain it well and give you a structured path back to your running. You might not even need to stop running completely.
Case 1-Creaky, Knee Pain
‘My knee was creaking and I’d just started couch25k. I was new to running so I just carried on. The niggle was only when I was running but started to get worse and I could feel it going up and down stairs. I carried on running but my knee started to get puffy. My friend said get new trainers. £80 later it hadn’t helped so Google said rest a week or so. It didn’t hurt anymore resting so I returned to Couch25k week 1. I was on my own now as my run group had carried on. My new trainers made my ankle hurt but I carried on. I now had 2 problems. My knee and my foot were hurting now. I was miserable’ JS Nov 21.
First appointment we diagnosed a knee cap issue due to a very weak hip and poor stability. When JS was running the knee was rolling in affecting the knee cap. The stability trainers weren’t solving the weakness but pushed strain onto the ankle tendons. JS now knew the diagnosis, more importantly why it was hurting, what to do to get better AND she could carry on some running.
‘That picture shows what my leg was doing on every step and worse when I was getting tired towards the end of my run. I didn’t know my knee needed a good strong hip! When I saw what that leg did and the other one didn’t, it all made sense.’
Achilles Tendon Pain
‘I was running with a friend, happily working to a strong half marathon in a few weeks time. We just decided to do some hill repeats racing each other. It seemed ok at the time, until the next day when my Achilles was really stiff and swollen. I used a foam roller which absolutely was murder but it was on YouTube so I carried on. It was worse. I couldn’t put my heel down in the morning and I certainly couldn’t run.
I finally rang Lindsey who advised me on the phone to stop compressing the tendon and stretching my ankle. I didn’t know that made an acute tendon worse! In our first session she showed me the tendon picture in a book and then how to help my injury get better as quickly as possible. I knew inside that I wouldn’t be able to run my event and Lindsey realised how I felt but put it all in perspective – it’ll be your worst time and you might not even finish – defer, get better, it won’t be your last event.
It settled quickly when I stopped stretching and rolling it. I also started some really boring repetitive exercises that are proven to help my problem. Lindsey showed me why they will work if I’m consistent and sent me some good videos to follow. I started running slowly increasing the distance and Lindsey taught me the traffic light system so I knew that some discomfort was ok as long as it settled down in 24 hours. That reassured me. It was slow but I learnt so much and I didn’t need to see Lindsey often -as she said, it doesn’t need rubbing, it needs to be stronger! I trusted her’ JD July 22.
If your pain is 0-3/10 on this scale, your body is telling you something is wrong but it could be that you are just adapting to something new. If you look at the traffic light advice and use the pain scale image below, you might be able to navigate back to some running earlier than you think. Here’s the pain scale we use –
Remember, I’m happy to have a chat about how I can help. I’ll often have some immediate advice suggestions. I want you back fit and well as soon as possible. Remember, I’m a runner, I know injuries, I’ve done a Half Ironman Triathlon, I know how runner’s think and I know how to get you better without any fuss and nonsense.
