Keep your knees healthy for 10-K training, half-marathon training, or marathon training

Is your 10-K training, half-marathon training, or marathon training being hampered by knee pain that resides directly below the kneecap? If so, you may be battling the most common running injury: patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). Also known as runner’s knee, PFPS accounts for roughly 20 percent of all running injuries. The main symptom of PFPS is pain below the kneecap that is generally mild at first and felt only during running. But if training continues and PFPS progresses, the pain becomes more intense during running and is also increasingly felt at rest.

PFPS is a mysterious injury in that it is not associated with any major structural damage in the knee. Experts now believe that the essence of the injury is chronic excitation of pain nerves in the knee caused by inflammation and general tissue degradation. Because it does not involve significant structural damage, PFPS usually responds well to modest reductions in training that give the tissues a chance to repair themselves and break free of the cycle of inflammation, and allow for the general muscle recovery necessary to any training program.

Studies have shown that PFPS sufferers commonly have weak hip stabilizers. The hip stabilizers are the muscles on the outside of the knee that must keep the hip and knee in alignment when the body is supported by one foot during running. If they are too weak to do their job properly, the knee’s movement is inhibited and tissue damage results. Doing exercises to strengthen the hip stabilizers—such as side lying leg lifts—is an effective way to prevent and overcome PFPS.