my left leg!!!!

[kwinstone]

hiya

in the last few months i have been having a few issues with my left leg. the area that is painful is behind my knee and up a little. sometimes it is ok and other times it aches and niggles when i am running and can be painful for a few days after. i have backed off of running a little to rest it, but now cycling is affecting it to!!!!! (and i must train)lol.
a guy from moti analyed my running when i got my new trainers and said that my hips dont stayed aligned when i am running and has given me a stretch to do.
is there anything else i can do to get back to running
thanks for your time
kelly

[mbeveridge]

kwinstone
I did wonder if I'd misunderstood where your pain is - knee pain is more common at the front and sides, and I could talk about my experience of that. If it's your hamstring, I could talk about that (but again your position is less normal/familiar, and cycling isn't an obvious 'sudden' trigger)

So for "pain in the back of the knee" , the couple of books I looked at mentioned : arthritis, meniscal tears, Baker's cyst/ popliteal bursitis, gastrocnemius tendon strains and hamstring tendon strains. I'd say you could rule out some of these by the type of pain you feel and (I assume) lack of swelling, so you'd be left with a tendon strain, which I covered in a hamstring thread last year [mymoti.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=3&action=display&thread=58]. Personally, I'd prefer to see a therapist to confirm [mymoti.co.uk/bristol/therapies.php], if it was unfamiliar and I was concerned; but that's up to you

For the cycling, pain in rear of the knee is often eased by lowering the saddle (but you didn't say that you'd altered yours from 'normal'). You could also try raising the handlebars slightly, and/or moving the seat forward. These will variously stress things less, and move some effort from hamstrings to quads. I assume you've already tried just using a lower gear (and pedalling faster instead)

Weak hips can cause a lot of injuries found lower down the leg, so strengthening the core and hips (stretches, balance/drills, Pilates, etc) wouldn't be a waste for a runner. But hip 'collapse' (if that's what your Moti run analysis said) causes problems at the front/outside of the knee (not, I think, where you describe)

So, I'm afraid none of that is an instant solution. If you want to run and not see a therapist, I'd do some dynamic stretching (like leg swings) beforehand, then run steady and see how that feels. Then stretch/I.C.E./anti-inflammatories after, depending on what you feel

[kwinstone]

thank you for your reply

the pain is behind the knee and the hamstring, it was only running related for a little while now it is causing problems with cycling, i havent changed anything about my bike so i dont think thats it, and now it can be uncomfortable to walk long distances.

i will keep doing core exercises and hope to get it looked at soonish.

thanks

[mbeveridge]

kwinstone
[I'm going to say 'hamstring' as shorthand for wherever your pain is]

A tight hamstring may loosen with local stretches, but you haven't found that; (and lowering the bike seat etc wouldn't fix your hamstring, but may make cycling more comfortable until you do). So if the pain in your hamstring/knee is actually referred from tight glutes, you could try to loosen them with tennis ball massage. Or if it's referred from higher up than that (ie. back), you could try a foam/wooden roller, but I would see a physio (and have). Etc

That's a variety of ifs - afraid I can't tell, from your description. But the longer it's failed to properly respond to local stretching, the more likely that the underlying cause is not local, and the harder it is for me/someone to guess over a distance. I could guess (say, that it's tension in your back) and tell you how to use a roller. That may work, but I may be wrong, and you may find it both slow and hard to self-treat with a roller (inefficient and partially ineffective). Also, I'm not likely to guess at a cause that requires surgery (cartillage damage for someone, say), as I have no experience of it, she can't self-treat/test(?), and it's much less likely

Going to a therapist would (ideally) shortcut the trial&error, reduce risks, and be a better fix (ie. more efficient and more effective) ...but at a £cost. You'll have to weigh that up yourself - I've no vested interest.

Good luck, anyway. Feel free to post again if you have more symptoms, or as you rule things out

Update: A few changes, to try and make some language less ambiguous, and to mention "GP"

[kwinstone]

thank you very much for your advice
i have booked myself in to see a physio, im a lil nervous, i just dont want to be told i have to rest any longer!
but i guess as a runner these things happen
thanks once again

kelly

[mbeveridge]

This isn't directly related to the injury, but...

As I wrote (above) that "Weak hips can cause a lot of injuries found lower down the leg", based on a Dec-09 (USA) Running Times article and others, I wanted to also share an article that says this is unproven :

saveyourself.ca/articles/weak-hips-weak-theory.php

(It includes a link to the Running Times article [runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=18359&PageNum=1])