By Principle Four Osteopathy

05/31/2011
Knee pain is a common injury that occurs in many runners and cyclists and does not discriminate between the novice and advanced athlete. Knee injuries in runners and cyclists can occur for many reasons, with overuse typically being one of the biggest factors leading to injury. Overuse can result from an increase in mileage, duration, frequency, intensity and lack of rest between sessions. Other factors such as past medical history, an individual’s biomechanics and technique, ergonomic factors such as footwear and bike set up and the environment can also predispose one to developing pain in the knees.

One of the more common knee injuries affecting runners and cyclists is known as patellar mal-tracking syndrome. This is a condition where the tracking or movement of the patellar during flexion and extension of the knee becomes dysfunctional and as a result of this, tissues in and around the knee become inflamed and pain develops. Whilst stretching and strengthening of the knee can help a great deal in reducing the risk of injury or recurrence, the most important factor in reducing ones risk of injury or recurrence is in understanding what and how the injury occurs in the specific individual. If an individual has various biomechanical dysfunctions in the body (this could mean dysfunctions in foot/ankle, knee, hip and spine) and the individual continues to exercise with perhaps incorrect footwear and rarely stretches, the likelihood of them developing knee pain is greater. As an Osteopath I recommend that if you are a regular exerciser, then just like we do with our car every 6—12 months, get a check up and body service. The cumulative nature of overuse injuries is that often we don’t find out about the various problems until the pain develops. Often long after the problem started.

An osteopath will be able to take you through a full musculoskeletal screening process, not only looking at how you move, but also the ergonomic factors relating to your sport. By identifying early on any potential movement dysfunctions, muscle weaknesses or areas of tightness, a combination of treatment and home stretching and an exercise program specific to your needs will help greatly. Often when one suffers an injury they will think that the worst thing possible has occurred and that their exercising career is going to have to finish. This is simply not true. The majority of knee injuries are not life threatening and with a combination of rest, modification of the training program and a specific corrective exercising and stretching routine will have you back up and running before you know it.

Osteopath Heath Williams of Principle Four Osteopathy has put together some quick tips on what you can do to prevent knee pain when running or cycling.

· Have your running shoes assessed and correctly fitted. It is recommended that if you run frequently, you should replace your running shoes approximately every 800km

· Have your bike set-up correctly fitted to you

· Include some rest days in your training program to allow for recovery and avoid the overuse of the muscles involved in running and cycling

· Ensure you warm up adequately and stretch often. Typically the quadriceps, calves, gluteal muscles, hip flexor, ITB and spinal muscles will tighten up

· Make sure you cross train. If you run or cycle a lot, include other forms of exercise in your week such as swimming, resistance weight training, yoga and Pilates to work your body and allow for adequate recovery

· Change the surfaces or environment that you train on or in. Running on hard surfaces every day or riding up hill out of the

What should you do if you have knee pain when running or cycling?

· Stop training and/or reduce your training loads

· Follow the Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation rule of treatment

· Try stretching out the lower leg, hip and back muscles

· Visit your general practitioner or osteopath for further assessment and management advice

Osteopath Heath Williams of Principle Four Osteopathy has treated many individuals who regularly cycle and run and have developed overuse related knee pain. Make sure you are doing the right things and not making your knee pain worse by contacting Principle Four Osteopathy for an appointment.

The osteopath will be able fully assess your knee and surrounding areas and help make the right changes to prevent further recurrence. It should be expected that the Osteopath will prescribe you a variety of stretching and strengthening exercises to further aid and prevent ongoing issues with your knee.

For more information, please call Osteopath Heath Williams at Principle Four Osteopathy on 03 9670 9290. Heath Williams is available for appointments in the city on Tuesday, Wednesdays & Thursdays.