I'm So Kneedy
I don't think I've posted about this before, but even if I have who cares? I've had some knee issues for the last three years that have limited my running to some extent. When I've tried to increase my mileage to train for a marathon, or just run faster, I've always had to back off. I would get swelling, and sometimes soreness.
Last year I went to physical therapy, and they thought it might be related to a lack of range of motion in my ankle. So I worked on it for a couple months, and things got better. But early this year the swelling started to come back. Eventually I decided to go to a doctor, who recommended an MRI.
The MRI showed that the cartilage on my kneecap has some damage, though the extent isn't totally clear. The doctor said it doesn't appear to be damage cause by running, but from some other injury. The motion of running can cause inflammation, which explains why it recurs, especially when I change things up or try to increase my load.
He suggested I try glucosamine chondroitin, which has helped a lot of his patients. If that doesn't help after a month, he said I could try physical therapy again. There's no reason it should help much, but it may be worth it since last year it seemed to. Finally, he said they could do an arthroscopy and clean out any loose pieces of cartilage and trim any areas sticking out that may be causing irritation. So if things don't get better in the next couple months I may do that. As long as there is still cartilage left, that should greatly reduce the irritation and inflammation.
Last year I went to physical therapy, and they thought it might be related to a lack of range of motion in my ankle. So I worked on it for a couple months, and things got better. But early this year the swelling started to come back. Eventually I decided to go to a doctor, who recommended an MRI.
The MRI showed that the cartilage on my kneecap has some damage, though the extent isn't totally clear. The doctor said it doesn't appear to be damage cause by running, but from some other injury. The motion of running can cause inflammation, which explains why it recurs, especially when I change things up or try to increase my load.
He suggested I try glucosamine chondroitin, which has helped a lot of his patients. If that doesn't help after a month, he said I could try physical therapy again. There's no reason it should help much, but it may be worth it since last year it seemed to. Finally, he said they could do an arthroscopy and clean out any loose pieces of cartilage and trim any areas sticking out that may be causing irritation. So if things don't get better in the next couple months I may do that. As long as there is still cartilage left, that should greatly reduce the irritation and inflammation.
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