It’s been 9 days since the Seashore Nature Trail 50K, and unfortunately there’s not too much improvement to report with regards to the knee situation. More for my own benefit than anything else, the following is a quick summary of what went wrong:
Timeline
- 12/2/18: Cayman Marathon – aside from hitting the wall at Mile 12, no issues.
- 12/3/18: Post-marathon rest day/flying home.
- 12/4/18: Easy 4 miles w/ no issues.
- 12/5/18: Easy 4.2 miles w/ no issues.
- 12/6/18: Easy 4 miles w/ no issues. Out for dinner at night – twisted knee standing up.
- 12/7/18: Knee didn’t feel quite right. Unplanned rest day.
- 12/8/18: Easy 8 miles. Knee a bit sore, but no real issues.
- 12/9/18: Goal was 20 miles, but bailed after 16 due to a fair bit of knee pain. Despite post-run ice and compression, knee locked up Sunday afternoon/evening making it difficult to climb stairs etc.
- 12/10/18: Significant knee pain. Decided to rest in the hope of recovering in time for the Seashore Nature Trail on 12/15.
- 12/12/18: Chiropractor visit helped loosen things up. Decided to tape the knee with RockTape kinesiology tape.
- 12/13/18: Walked an easy mile on the treadmill. Tape helped, but still slight pain on foot strike.
- 12/14/18: No activity.
- 12/15/18: Seashore Nature Trail 50K. Experienced slight pain right from the start of the race. Managed to ignore the discomfort for the most part and crossed the line in just over 4 hours to maintain my streak of finishing each of the 10 Seashore Nature Trail 50Ks since the inaugural event back in 2009. Not the most sensible of decisions, but the streak was/is important to me and I have no regrets about running.
- 12/16/18: Difficulty bending the right leg. Significant knee pain. Unable to walk/weight-bear without limping.
- 12/17/18 – 12/24/18: Gradual improvement each day, but definitely an issue with the medial right knee. Meniscus tear? Cartilage issue? Something else?
So, based on a recommendation by Mike Robinson, Owner of Running Etc., on I made an appointment on 12/24 to see well-regarded physical therapist, T.J. Stites, at Pivot Physical Therapy in Norfolk, VA. The 30 minute consult was excellent – lots of prodding, poking, bending, twisting, and after a session of ice compression on a pretty cool machine (pun intended), TJ came to the conclusion that I was suffering from synovitis – i.e. inflammation of the synovial tissue, which is the tissue that makes the fluid that lubricates the joints. Of course, without the benefit of an MRI, an accurate diagnosis is pretty much impossible, but TJ was fairly confident there’s no meniscus tear or cartilage injury.
The treatment?
- Regular ice compression for 10 minutes at a time, followed by a short period of warming with the aim of decreased swelling around the knee joint.
- Light, repetitive hamstring curls with a theraband to (a) improve range of motion and (b) strengthen the knee joint.
- Return to running once range of motion improves.
So, just taking things one day at a time for now, and will resume walking once the pain is down to a level where I’m not hobbling around like an old man. Once I can walk with zero pain, I’ll try a short jog and go from there. With just under 6 weeks to go to the Rocky Raccoon 100, I can’t see myself being able to take place on the start line aiming for a 5th RR100 finish, but stranger things have happened and I’m not ready to throw in the towel quite yet. We’ll see…. should be an interesting 4 to 6 weeks.
Update: since the initial consult with TJ I’ve found a more effective way to tape the knee. It’s a bit fiddly to cut and apply the tape, but the results are well worth it. See below for full details: