It’s common for runners struggling with knee pain and soreness to get stuck in a cycle of re-injury.
As a Physical Therapist, I see it all the time.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
If you handle the injury correctly, you can get back to running and avoid re-injury easily.
Watch the video for more:
Avoid This Mistake
When runners get knee pain, they will typically rest the injury for a few days. This is necessary in the beginning stages of injury.
They might also try ice, foam rolling, ibuprofen, and braces to help with the inflammation.
After a while, they will feel better and try running again – only to get re-injured.
Why does this happen?
While rest and ice will calm down the inflammation, the original cause of the injury has not been addressed.
Without understanding WHY you got hurt, you will likely get re-injured.
Fix Knee Pain for Good
Knee pain is usually caused by imbalances – most commonly tight quads, weak core, or weak glutes.
Imbalances result when you’re stronger on one side of your body than the other or when key muscle groups are weak. Over time, other muscles will compensate for the weakness and cause injuries.
To fix imbalances, you need runner-specific exercises.
That means exercises that look and feel like running, where your foot is on the ground.
Runner-specific exercises fire chains of muscles – the same way they’re used when you run.
The Takeaway
If you want to avoid re-injury, you need to fix your imbalances. The only way you do this is through runner-specific exercises.
For a full routine of runner-specific exercises, I encourage you to check out RunSmart.
Our Physical Therapist-designed workouts were created specifically for runners to help you run fast & injury-free.
Whether it’s your knee, ankle, or hip, the RunSmart training program can get you back to running your best!
Ready to Run Injury-Free?
Learn how you unlock injury-free running with this free webinar from Physical Therapist, Steve Gonser.
