running with a bad knee

Question

I hurt my knee about a decade ago. I want to run but I find running normally causes my knee to hurt, sometimes for days on end and it can hurt to bend or put weight on it. I saw a doctor about it. He said the injury has something to do with a small bone fragment stuck beneath my kneecap causing traction issues. He says nothing can be done about it.

I adopted a running style where bend my knees slightly more than you normally would to try and remove all stress from the knee and onto the leg muscle. This definitely helps get rid of knee pain. Problem is when doing this I find I start hitting the ground toes first with the leg with the bad knee, I find myself placing a lot of the weight on the calf muscle and during a run and the achilles tendon will suddenly starting hurting. I looked around the web to see what might be the cause and the vast majority I saw assume that it has something to do with the ankle, which is clearly not the case. I think its just not ready for that kind of stress.

I've been running on and off for a long time. Usually nothing more than 3 miles a day, I had this same issue last year, when I tried to up the mileage and I actually pulled the achilles tendon, and I had this sharp pain that took a month to subside.

I was wondering what I could do, some exercises that would work. I'm interested if there are runners with similar knee issues and how they cope. thanks

Answer 1

Many runners try to adopt this running style simply because it does take stress off your knee. The craze around Vibrams was a good example of how you were forced to change your running style.

I would start with a neutral running shoe. Something with little or no heel to toe drop. The large the heel the more chance you will have to do a heel strike.

Second, you should concentrate on a mid-foot plant rather than a ball of foot plant. This will give you the advantage of not stressing your knee while also easing up on your calfs and achilles.

Finally, start slow and short. You could even try a pair of Vibrams (http://us.vibram.com) but I will stress that you need to go slow and not run too far in the beginning.

Calf raises every day will help as well as stretching. You should start by running no more that 400 meters, then gradually increase your distance and pace. Your calfs will naturally be sore and tight but don't over do it. There are people who complete marathons in barefeet but they have years of experience in running that way