All my life my left knee has felt like it was very slightly off, but never really causing me any pain. I’ve been exclusively weight lifting for about three years (squat / bench / dl, all the main lifts - I do low reps, low volume, but high intensity [3-5 reps per set]) since I really find it the most efficient use of my exercise time with a very hectic work schedule. Aside from lifting, I’m pretty sedentary and just sit in an office chair all day working. Then I get in my car and drive home. Then I sit around on my couch with my wife. However, when I do lift, I go heavy.
Earlier this year, I read somewhere that going on long runs can be beneficial for depression, so I decided to go on a long run. After jogging for about 20 minutes, the outer left side of my left knee began killing me. It just randomly felt like there was a knife in there. The pain took about 3-4 days to subside completely, but I took an extra week off before squatting or deadlifting. Those lifts were fine.
A month or so later, I tried to go running again. Again, everything was fine, but about 20 minutes into it, the outer left part of my kneecap started hurting like hell again. Again the pain went away after 3-4 days.
Then, I was moving apartments, and had to do a bunch of walking up and down stairs, and again, the knee pain came back, and it was excruciating, but again, went away after 3-4 days.
I’ve been googling around, and read that it may be caused by a tight “ITB” band, and that certain stretches and foam rolling can help alleviate that pain – however, then I read a bunch of articles that say you can’t actually stretch the IT band, and its all BS (https://themovementfix.com/rolling-band/).
I really don’t want to spend time going to a PT, but I would really like to get back into running.
Has anyone had knee issues? How did you fix them? If I keep running every once in a while, perhaps the imbalance will go away on its own? Suggestions?
Earlier this year, I read somewhere that going on long runs can be beneficial for depression, so I decided to go on a long run. After jogging for about 20 minutes, the outer left side of my left knee began killing me. It just randomly felt like there was a knife in there. The pain took about 3-4 days to subside completely, but I took an extra week off before squatting or deadlifting. Those lifts were fine.
A month or so later, I tried to go running again. Again, everything was fine, but about 20 minutes into it, the outer left part of my kneecap started hurting like hell again. Again the pain went away after 3-4 days.
Then, I was moving apartments, and had to do a bunch of walking up and down stairs, and again, the knee pain came back, and it was excruciating, but again, went away after 3-4 days.
I’ve been googling around, and read that it may be caused by a tight “ITB” band, and that certain stretches and foam rolling can help alleviate that pain – however, then I read a bunch of articles that say you can’t actually stretch the IT band, and its all BS (https://themovementfix.com/rolling-band/).
I really don’t want to spend time going to a PT, but I would really like to get back into running.
Has anyone had knee issues? How did you fix them? If I keep running every once in a while, perhaps the imbalance will go away on its own? Suggestions?