What’s Up With That: Why Running Hurts Every Part of Your Body

I’m already dreading my New Years resolution, and it’s still weeks away. Like millions of other Americans, I’m going to start working out—specifically, running. I love the way running makes me feel, but only when I’m not running.



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Exercises for Knee Pain

Exercise may be the best medicine for chronic achy knees. "Strengthening the muscles around the joint protects you from injury by decreasing stress on the knee," says Willibald Nagler, MD, chairman of rehabilitation medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell Campus in New York City.



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To Relieve Runner's Knee, Strengthen Your Hips

Study: Hip exercises trump knee exercises for ending pain. Over the last few years, a growing amount of research has linked weak hips and runner's knee. For example, one study published last year found that women who developed runner's knee had greater hip instability in their gait.



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A Pain in the Rear: High Hamstring Tendinitis

What it is and the exercises you can do to fix this frustrating injury. The hamstring muscles are responsible for propelling you forward, but high hamstring tendinitis can hinder your stride and be a real pain in the rear.



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Runner Breaks Leg in Three Places, Finishes Race

Connor Callihan crawls the final meters of his last race of the season. A North Carolina high school runner’s tibia snapped in three places during a cross country race on Monday, but Connor Callihan didn’t let that stop him from finishing his race.



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Three Workouts to Increase Pain Tolerance

Pain wasn't just a risk in the 2009 TransEurope-Footrace, which covered an average of 43 miles per day for 64 days straight–it was a given. Researchers tested the pain tolerance of competitors in that year's race by dunking their hands in ice-cold water for three minutes.



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Knee Pain

THE KNEE

The knee is a modified hinge joint which means it can flex (bend/swing backwards) and extend (straighten/swing forwards). It also can very slightly rotate. The hamstrings at the back of the thigh control flexion of the knee, and the quadriceps at the front of the thigh control extension. The strength, size and position of the hamstrings and quadriceps muscles can affect the way the leg moves, and therefore the way that the patella (kneecap) moves.

The patella is a small triangular-shaped bone within the quadriceps tendon in front of the knee joint. There are tendons and muscles above and below the patella and if they all work properly the patella slides in a groove on the upper leg bone (femur; femoral groove) as the knee joint moves. However when the patella is pulled out of alignment (typically towards the outside (lateral) aspect of the knee joint) it fails to glide easily and centrally in the femoral groove and this is known as Runner’s knee.

CAUSES

Weakness of the vastus medialis (the inner of the quadricips) muscle relative to the other thigh muscles

Knock knees (genu valgum)

Excessive/abnormal rearfoot pronation

Flat feet (can cause internal rotation of the tibia)

Tightness in the iliotibial band

SYMPTOMS

• dull aching pain under or around the front of the patella. Running down hill, walking up or down stairs, squats, leg extensions at the gym, sitting for a prolonged time with the knees bent can all make the problem worse

• sudden, stabbing pain in the knee while running

WOMEN

More women suffer from the problem than men because of the angle of their hips/knees

DIAGNOSIS

patella femoral grinding test to test the quality of the patella articulating surfaces. Lie supine/face up. Get someone to place their hand over your patella and push the patella down and distally i.e. towards the foot, and hold while you straighten your leg. This means you will contract your quadriceps and elevate your knee holding it in extension. The patella should glide easily and smoothly up the groove in the femur. If there is degenerative change on either side of the femur or the patella you will feel a grinding sensation, and sometimes extreme pain.

SOLUTIONS

• Rest

• Wear orthotics in your shoes to control your foot movement

• Buy new running shoes if your old ones are worn out

• Cross training to help muscle weakness/imbalance. Cycling good, Swimming good – crawl rather than breaststroke (the leg movement from swimming breaststroke can irritate the area)

• Stretching the quads and hamstrings after exercise (latest research suggests stretching before exercise can increase chance of injury)

• Exercises – straight-leg exercises are best (knee extensions on a machine might make your problem worse)

• Knee strap – can help for some people

 

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My plan for my knee...

For the next several days, I will be following this simple plan for injury. RICE.

RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. When you’ve got muscle aches or joint pains, these four things are best for immediate treatment. These measures can relieve pain, reduce swelling, and protect damaged tissues, all of which speed healing. The only problem with RICE is that too many runners focus on the “I” while ignoring the “RCE.” Ice reduces inflammation, but to ice-and-run, ice-and-run, without giving the tissues enough time to heal, is a little like dieting every day until 6 p.m. and then pigging out. Special attention should be paid to the “rest” in RICE; do not run until the injury is healed.


RICE is most effective when done immediately following an injury. If you twist your ankle or strain your hamstring, plan to take a few days off from running. Apply ice for 10 to 15 minutes at a time, several times a day. If you can, elevate the area to limit swelling. Compression can also further reduce inflammation and can provide pain relief, especially when you first return to running. An ACE bandage is the simplest way to wrap a swollen area.

The present problem is that I am on the road and have little access to ice, but will be able to take it easy and not run, but simple walk around Astorias. If I can find a knee brace bandage, I will buy one, but I think that's unlikely. I will just have to put up with the tightness in my knee and the inactivity.

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Recent Problems

I have been unable to effectively run uphill because I've had an Achilles tendon strain.

 

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Rest On

Pain isn’t a lot of fun, at least not for most folks, but it is utterly unique to life. Pain—physical, emotional, and otherwise—is the shadow cast by everything you want out of life, the alternative to the result you were hoping for, and the inevitable creator of strength. From the pain of our failures we learn to be better, stronger, greater than what we were before. Pain is there to tell us when we’ve done something badly—it’s a teacher, a guide, one that is always there to both warn us of our limitations and challenge us to overcome them...For something no one likes, pain does us a whole hell of a lot of good.

 

Ghost Story: A Novel of the Dresden Files (Jim Butcher)

 

Robert's Observations

Some ways to prevent nipple chaffing in those long runs...

 

I've used to in my life: one Band-aids and deodorant, a gel kind. Both of these have worked for me. Though I will always swear by Bodyglide for any other area on my body.

 

7am Run

First good run since 16-1-12

My GPS lock failed on my NEW Nike.  Grrr.

I did my One Hill run in the freezing cold.  It was windy dark.  I saw two other runners on the way, but I was mostly on my own.

I didn't sweat until I stopped to stretch out my legs behind the Temple.  Then it was a waterfall.

My left foot began to hurt around my old piso.  But the right ankle was weak and sore on the hill.  Left ankle hurt at the top of the hill.

I'm going to rest tomorrow.  Maybe run on Monday if no pain.

I really hate this enforced laziness.  I WANT to run.

Going to shower for 15 MINUTES and relax.

Then work.

Still Hurting...

I do think I did some damage running in the USA.

I feel really bad shin splints after my run today.  Even while I am sitting teaching I can feel it.

IF this continues, I will need to take some serious time off to heal.  I don't like it, but there is no other option.  I can not lose the year.

My Close Friend, Pain

Make friends with pain, and in your training you’ll never be alone. I find pain accompanies me to dinner, walks through the city, the shower, happy hour, and to bed. It alternates between mind-boggling tear-provoking to dull background fist blows to the muscles. From the agony of the final miles of the long runs to the exhaustion of hill repeats – unfortunately the presence of pain won’t end there. Getting up in the morning, your muscles and joints will complain and your feet will be howling. Sometimes showering, getting in and standing, is challenge on weakened legs. I thank my maker that I have been blessed with somewhat of a high threshold for this kind of pain and a will power that sees my through the tougher agony. Most of the time you can stick with the no-pain, no-gain rule. Though mine is the last generation to truly believe that old adage. If you are really hurting, take sometime off. But you do need to be aware that certain level of pain is required in marathon training. No pain can really mean no gain.


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Toughen up!

At some point, marathon training will expose your weakness. When you’re tackling something as tough as a marathon, it’s inevitable that you will have to overcome some obstacles. Many times it is going to be mental. And no amount of advice in a book or from a fellow runner is going to help you. For the majority of your training the challenge of completing the marathon seem huge. Daunting. But if you put the work in, it will be within your reach. Suddenly the enormously impossible will seem a lot more possible. Perseverance is the key here. You will find that your single-mindedness in the face of the mental challenge of a marathon is what will help your over the obstacles in your way.


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