Physical Therapy for Runner’s Knee
Today is about Taking Care of Yourself
I have started physical therapy for my runner’s knee and was told that it will take me about four weeks to build enough strength and flexibility to get back out and running.
Although there was a recent article in the NYTimes which reported studies that found stretching does not reduce your risk of injuries, most of what they have me doing right now focuses on stretching with a little bit of strength.
I am listing the procedures that are part of my physical therapy, and will report back whether they help or not. So far, my pain is diminished and I can now go down the stairs without pain.
- Apply warm pack to knee for 10 minutes
- Massage the patellar tendon and the iliotibial band.
- Stretch your quadriceps muscles, that is the thigh muscles in front of your legs.
- Hamstring stretch, the muscles in back of your thighs.
- Stretch the iliotibial band.
- Piriformis stretch.
- Using a soccer ball held between your knees, go up into the bridge pose and hold for 30 seconds, Repeat three times.
- Do leg lifts. Lay on your back with one leg bent with your foot on the floor. Straighten the other leg along the floor. Now lift your straightened leg being careful not to lift it higher than your other bent knee. Do three sets of ten on both sides.
- Side leg lifts. Do three sets of ten.
- Balance on each foot for thirty seconds. Repeat three times
- Using a leg press, press away from you with both feet. Then return to your starting position using one leg, the one with the affected knee.
- Ice your knee for 10 minutes.
So this is my routine, and time will tell if it helps my runner’s knee.
Anne
Parent Jazz 
Thank you so much for posting and sharing this. Did he specify exactly how you should apply the massage? It is just generally rubbing your knee?
lil 1/2 pint
November 16, 2008
[…] For now, I’m going to do as much stretching and strength training as possible. I found a set of rehabiliation exercises and I ran across this blog describing some physical therapy procedures for runner’s knee. […]
The Green Girl Has Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (Runner’s Knee) « The Journey of a Running Green Girl…
November 17, 2008
Re. runners knee and stretching– Importantly, that NY Times article referred to only indicated that STATIC stretching BEFORE adn athletic event or workout did not prevent injuries. To those of us in related fields, this is old news. Dynamic stretching before, static stretching after. But this has little to do with rehab and physical therapy. When muscle imbalances cause uneven biomechanics, pain and inflammation, whatever is relatively tight needs to be lengthened, and stretching is one way to do that.
scott aronin
October 7, 2010