Eureka! A diagnosis!
After the pain I experienced in my knee during Disney, I knew it was time to finally go to a doctor. I am not a stranger to orthopedists. Roughly 10 years ago I face planted while running hurdles and banged myself up pretty bad. Then the following year, I smashed my knee into the ground while dancing. The second injury partially tore my meniscus and PCL. 2 years later I fractured my ankle on the same leg. It’s a never ending saga with my left leg. I know that I will never run a 6:03 min mile… (PR btw…) again. But I knew that I shouldn’t be in this much pain.
So I muscled up the courage and scheduled my doctor’s appointment. After a consultation, xrays, and a MRI we have a diagnosis! My patella is off track. It veers laterally toward the inside of my leg. So instead of fitting into the joint perfectly and staying on track while I run, it tries to move laterally while moving up and down to the inside of my leg then it’ll lock. (WHAT?!?) This also means that since it’s not tracking against the proper area it’s grinding on whatever it can. (WHAT?!?)
huh?
This is great news! A diagnosis means we can start fixing the problem. What’s even better, is that the first step to try to fix is doing physical therapy. I can do physical therapy. I am truly thrilled that I finally went to see a doctor because I would of never known what was wrong if I hadn’t and now I’m super hopeful that I can see a future where running more than 8 miles isn’t painful.
Unfortunately, there is one big downside. I will not be able to run the Key West Half Marathon in January. The next few weeks will be full of swimming, biking, yoga, and lots of walking. This season for me will be all about strengthening and getting ready to get back in the game for the Asheville Half Marathon and Zooma Annapolis.
How are your knees? Are you recovering from an injury? Have you injured yourself while running or doing sports before? What’s your fav form of cross training?
BikeRunBake 
So glad you got a diagnosis! I love cross training and for me, winter is all about cross training as it’s hard to just run when it’s so cold all the time.
Sometimes it helps just to know what’s going on! Winter is the perfect time to get more into cross training. I’m kind of excited about it.
Interesting–so glad that you have a diagnosis and a path to try to figure this all out! Sad that you won’t be able to do the Key West Half, but hopefully, this will help straighten things out in the long run!
Weird… not what I thought they would say! Key West isn’t going anywhere, there’s always another year (although it would have been awesome!). Agreed, I’m very hopeful 🙂
Just getting back into it after a sprained ankle. Not a horrible injury, but a month and a half off running helped me to learn to enjoy the indoor bike and cross-training, something I never used to do! Feel better soon!
I’m setting up my indoor bike this evening (it was in our storage room)… I’m looking forward to learning to enjoy it too! Glad you’re feeling better 🙂
That diagnosis makes it sound like your patella is just bouncing around. Glad you know how to move forward from here. IVe had runners knee and a stress reaction under my kneecap. Both the result of poor strength. That’s what winter is for, right? Strength training.
Yes! I like that! In winter we strength train to prep for all the awesome races coming up next year!
Glad you got a diagnosis! It really is so much better when you have something to work off of. Winter really is a great time to build up strength, too, regardless of injury status.
I consider myself a connoisseur of physical therapy methods. Having been in PT for each of the past three autumns, plus one for a figure skating injury 5 or 6 years ago, I have learned quite a bit about how the body functions and many wonderful exercises which I still incorporate into my workouts today. I tend more towards soft-tissue injuries, though (massive posterior shin splints in particular, pulled achilles, strained hip flexors, torn abs, plus a tibial stress fracture for good measure).
Thanks 🙂 I’ll definitely be putting this winter to go use. WOW!! That’s a lot of PT. I’m glad to hear you’re doing better. I’m sure there’s a lot of info I’ll be able to pull out.