Run­ner’s Knee: How to get back to jogging

“Ac­cor­ding to my fa­mily doc­tor, my stab­bing knee pain co­mes from run­ner’s knee. What can help me (36) jog again soon?”

Priv.-Doz. Dr. Kas­pa­rek: Run­ner’s knee can be cau­sed by ove­r­use, im­pro­per loa­ding due to in­cor­rect run­ning style, leg or foot mis­a­lignments, shor­tened thigh mus­cles, as well as in­cor­rect run­ning shoes. A tho­rough ex­ami­na­tion by a spe­cia­list is im­portant to rule out other cau­ses with si­mi­lar sym­ptoms. Bring your run­ning shoes to the ap­point­ment; they can reveal a lot about the cause of your dis­com­fort. In­itial me­a­su­res in­clude lo­cal coo­ling, anti-in­flamm­a­tory oint­ments, and pain-re­li­e­ving me­di­ca­tion. In­iti­ally, rest the af­fec­ted knee joint to pre­vent per­ma­nent da­mage. Avoid run­ning sports du­ring the acute phase! Knee-fri­endly sports such as cy­cling are per­mit­ted. Tar­ge­ted phy­sio­the­rapy is also re­com­men­ded. Pro­per stret­ching, fur­ther run­ning ana­ly­sis, and sui­ta­ble run­ning shoes should pre­vent recurrence.