Oddbean

GM! Doc I need some #DocChain advice. I haven't ran a 5K in over two weeks 😭😭😭 I hurt my knee somehow. I don't remember twisting it or doing anything that hurt it. Two+ weeks ago it felt different laying in bed and the next morning it hurt bit. I ran a 5K that day. It hurt more that night. Next morning it was still not feeling 100%, but after moving around it was fine I thought. I could run without issue so I ran another 5K. That afternoon my knee really hurt and became really stiff. It was noticably bad. I haven't ran since. It doesn't hurt now, but it's a bit uncomfortable and gets stiff if I don't move it. It's odd. It feels like there's something stuck or pressure under the knee cap or on the side of my knee. Katie wants me to go get X-rays. I assumed I'm old and somehow hurt myself and it would be fine in a couple weeks. Thoughts? 😂👀

Probably not. I didn’t read your report carefully enough. Not gentle, tender pain. Sit up in bed, middle of the night screaming pain. As we age, we need medical attention more than we would like to admit. Like high mileage used cars.

Yeah I have none of that. It's not overly painful. It's more of an annoyance. I can feel the difference between my knees. The one I basically can't feel because there's nothing wrong or touching it, the other feels more of a pressure or uncomfortableness which makes me want to adjust and move/bend and straighten it. Normally I wouldn't think anything about it, but it's been this way for two weeks without improvement.

Felt something similar when I started running. It was runner’s knee. Fixed it by not stopping running and stretching a lot, theragunning and doing strength workouts. Also, knee specific exercises like sissy squats and a lot of mobility exercises. If it happened without you increasing the miles per week rapidly though I would assume it’s something different. Good luck!

I've been running for about a year and a half. The only thing different is I went on two long hikes in a two week period that included walking up and down 1000+ large steps each time. But again the next day after doing these I felt fine with zero pain. The people I went with had leg issues the next day. I felt great and ran as I normally would have without issue. Then a week later the knee issues started.

This guy on YouTube is famous for curing knee pain through Tibialis exercises. You do Tibialis raises and it will strengthen those muscles and prevent knee pain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miqsg9DGPX0

Dear friend, we can take it step by step. If you don't remember any trauma or twisting your knee, that's okay. I would suggest that you first manage the pain, because there’s no reason to be in pain. You can apply ice to your knee for intervals of 15 to 30 minutes when it hurts and take Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) 500 to 1000 mg every 8 hours or Diclofenac (Voltaren) 50 to 75 mg every 12 hours for 3 to 5 days while you have pain. Then, for your knee, try not to run until it improves for a couple of weeks. It would be helpful to get a front and side X-ray to evaluate the bone and check for any fractures or anything. If that doesn’t provide any information, the knee and its ligamentous apparatus need to be properly assessed, and the best way to do that is with an MRI of the knee in T1, T2, and STIR sequences to consult with a specialist in traumatology and see what’s really going on or if it’s the menisci of the knee that are bothering you, particularly because those are meniscal symptoms, such as the sensation that the knee is locking or having pinching sensations near the kneecap. Finally, if all of that is normal, I would then start a rheumatological study, but a lot has to happen before that bridge because that’s the most unusual thing I can think of, and I don’t think it’s relevant right now. #DocChain

Thanks! The pain hasn't been bad. It's more uncomfortable than anything. I don't need to take any pain medicine since it's not bad. I thought about taking ibuprofen for potential inflammation, but I would think two weeks without running any inflammation would be done by now? If I didn't twist or remember doing anything that hurt my knee could that still be an injured meniscus?

Sure. The main thing is rest and treating the pain first. The dosage of ibuprofen is 400 to 600mg 2 to 3 times a day. The meniscus is a possibility since it wears down over time. But first give it a couple of weeks of rest and pain treatment to see how he behaves so as not to be invasive. If it doesn't improve, the steps to follow are as I told you. This is told to you by a person who tore his cruciate ligaments playing football as young 😂🦴🩻