Tuesday, August 29, 2006

PATELLAR TENDONITIS...

That's what came out of the physiotherapist's mouth about my knee problem. This is also combined with a really tight IT band as Frankie mentionned to me in a previous post. I guess all these names seem way worse than it actually is! I took care of this on time as this is not hurting me constantly when I walk.

From the orthopedics about website:

"The patellar tendon connects the kneecap (the patella) to the shin bone. This is part of the 'extensor mechanism' of the knee, and together with the quadriceps muscle and the quadriceps tendon, these structures allow your knee to straighten out, and provide strength for this motion. The patellar tendon, like other tendons, is made of tough string-like bands. These bands are surrounded by a vascular tissue lining that provides nutrition to the tendon. "

She said that I can keep my training schedule like it is BUT when I do my long runs if I feel pain, I HAVE TO STOP, even though I'm not done with my milleage.... hard words to hear... she also said that if I don't listen to my body I will not make it to the marathon... which would be even worse that missing 1 or 2 miles in a run. She gave me some new stretching exercises to do (knee extension over roll and IT band stretch) and suggest putting some ice after the long runs. She stronly recommended cross-training if/when I see that I can't finish a run.... hopefully that won't have to happen.... THINK POSITIVE!! ;-) I'm going back on Thursday morning for a treatment and exercices. And we'll see then if I should buy a knee brace.

On a better note, I ran 8 miles this morning, taking it really slow and I didn't have any pain! Yay finished in 1h35 (11:54 min/mile). I'm thinking about switching my morning runs to afternoons. I don't truly enjoy running in the dark and now that the sun isn't up until 6:45 and I always go out for 6 AM... that means 45 long minutes of darkness! It's also less humid and hot outside in the afternoon....

I hope you all have a great running week -injury free!

2 comments:

Arcane said...

Hey maybe that's what I have. I'm going to try some of those stretches to see if it helps any. Hope you recover well.

jellypepper said...

Glad to hear you caught the problem early. Hope you heal quickly, and hard as it may be to stop when it hurts, that's the best advice from the doc. Missing a couple of miles is nothing compared to missing race day. Good luck.