Three ways you can address running-related inner knee pain

The soft ruffling of your hair as the wind blows through it. The satisfaction that wells up as you hit your mileage goal. The pain you feel in your inner, or medial, knee? The first two feelings are ones many runners want to experience, but the third is something most try desperately to avoid.

Unfortunately, medial knee pain may not be as easy to avoid as you’d like. Knee injuries are common in runners, and one study reports that 50% of all running injuries occur in the knees. This category of injuries includes ones like pes anserine bursitis and MCL sprains. There are many ways that you can address and avoid such running-related injuries that cause inner knee pain. 

These are three options that can help you with running-related inner knee pain

1. Not skipping your warmup — Many people are impatient to get to their run, and they neglect to warm up. However, going straight into running can increase your risk of a medial knee injury. That’s why you should develop and stick to a running warmup plan. Such a plan can include exercises such as: 

• Body weight squats
• Side lunges
• Walking lunges

2. Stretching during your cool-down — It’s important to take some time to cool down after a run. Stretching your legs, hips and lower back should be a key part of your cool-down program. Stretching these areas can help reduce stiffness and soreness after your run. Doing so can also help improve your flexibility and decrease the risk of future running injuries. 

3. Going to physical therapy — There are many ways that physical therapy can benefit runners. For one thing, physical therapists can help educate runners on effective warmup and cool-down strategies. These specialists can also help you find ways to address injuries that are causing you medial knee pain and avoid such injuries in the future. 

How can physical therapists help address inner knee pain from running?

There are a variety of techniques that physical therapists can use to help runners treat and avoid medial knee pain. Some of these techniques include: 

• Therapeutic exercises that focus on stretching and strengthening the inner thigh muscles. 

• Manual therapy designed to reduce tension in muscles that support your knee. 

• Sport-specific therapy intended to help address running gait issues that can lead to medial knee pain. 

Find help for your inner knee pain from running at Peak Performance

Are you keen to address your inner knee pain from running? At Peak Performance, our physical therapists are ready and willing to help you find effective ways to do just that. We can start by doing a free screening on you to pinpoint the source(s) of your medical knee pain. Additionally, our specialists can create a customized physical therapy plan for you that’s designed to: 

• Reduce knee pain.
• Improve leg and knee flexibility. 
• Decrease your risk of future knee injuries. 

Contact us today for more information about how we can address your knee pain or to schedule an initial appointment.