And this is why I love my job! The client came to me with runners knee. He is an experienced runner and is used to running through pain, but after his last half marathon, his knee pain got so bad that he could barely walk. He could no longer ignore the pain.
My assessment showed that his knees were not the problem. He was feeling pain in his knees but the cause of the pain was actually his tight hip flexors, quads and inactive glutes. After focusing on releasing his tight muscles, activating his glutes and then putting on my personal trainer hat and giving him a total body strength programme, he is back to pain free running at the same pace as before his pain, as well as feeling much stronger overall.
His story is a great reminder firstly that running through pain is not such a great idea. If you are in pain then something is amiss and you should be checked out as it will only get worse. Secondly just because your knees are in pain , the cause of the pain might be elsewhere. For this client, once I assessed him I discovered that he wasn’t actually using his glutes at all and therefore they were quite weak. When we run, our glutes should keep our legs, pelvis and torso aligned as well as propelling us forward. If our glutes are not working properly this will cause problems and may manifest as runners knee, shin splints, Achilles tendinitis or general knee pain. If you have suffered with any of the above , maybe you should check your glutes out.
So if you have suffered with knee pain or any of the above conditions, don’t just live with it. Get your glutes checked out and if they are inactive, activate them.
Don’t just live with the pain!
Contact us now if you would like an assessment.
