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A couple of weeks ago I got myself a pair of Nike tights to keep me warm while running during winter. And since I've been running in them, my right knee is hurting, to the point where even simple walking down stairs is causing a significant amount of pain.

I've been doing all kinds of sports ever since I was little (volleyball, jiu jitsu, badminton) and since a year or 2 I started running. I've ran over a 1000 kilometers between Septemeber 2010 and September 2011, including 2 marathons. And all of this without any hint of an knee injury or even a sign of pain in my knee.

I run about 4 days/week, a couple of short (7-10k) runs and 1 longer run (between 15-25k).

With my background being computers and programming, I tend to approach this as a function with a set of variables. The variables include: weather, temperature, time of day, socks, shoes, clothing, how much sleep I got the night before, ....insert those into the "running" function and you'll get a good or a bad run.

And since the pain only started after I started wearing tights on my runs, I'm sort of putting those under suspision. Has anyone expierenced this or know that this is possible?

(PS: Yes, I am seeing a specialized doctor about this, just waiting for my appointment and wanted to get the question out there.)

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I can't say whether the tights can be the cause for your problems, but I have been using tights - both long and short - for the last 2 years, with no problems at all. – Tonny Madsen Dec 23 '11 at 9:15
Did you start running in colder weather because of the tights? Or did you change routes at all? – user2567 Dec 23 '11 at 21:16
Didn't change my route but I did start running in tights in colder weather. – Jannemans Dec 24 '11 at 8:56
...perhaps, have you stretched/warm-uped well your muscles in your back thighs before running? Or do the tights somehow intercept blood circulation. Many possible causes, knees are not simple things... – user2598 Dec 27 '11 at 11:57

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Probably not - unless they're restrictively tight and are cutting blood circulation. You haven't described what the pain is so it's hard to tell.

I would point out that 1000km a year isn't all that much. You might have some form of overuse injury from upping your training or changing your motion because of snow or ice conditions.

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Valid point indeed. In the meantime I went to see a sports doctor about this and he immediatly knew what the probleem was: ITB Syndrome: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliotibial_band_syndrome – Jannemans Jan 5 '12 at 13:45
Very common. Presumably you've been given instructions to rest and stretch? – Sarge Jan 6 '12 at 14:40
Yep, rest & stretch and physiotherapy. – Jannemans Jan 8 '12 at 14:49
Jannemans: It can be very had for runners to do but I strongly suggest following that advice. I've seen people who rush back too early continue to have problems and those that do follow the physio's instructions get back to running properly. – Sarge Jan 10 '12 at 18:38
up vote 0 down vote

A "normal" pair of tights cannot be injurious; no way.

Right now the only differentiating factor is the weather: cold. Under 2mi/day is nothing.

Since you mention ITB issues, I'm far more likely to attribute the issues to cold/lack of warmup/inherent tension. Your specialist should have given you a number of stretches; I suffer (still) from ITB issues and if I don't do a few stretches I notice it within days.

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