Knee pain and running
October 13, 2018 8:15 AM   Subscribe

Is there any research supporting runners wrapping their knees to prevent pain or injury?

I just started running and hey, I'm middle aged and not skinny so shockingly I already have some knee pain. I've read I should stretch and exercise surrounding muscles to avoid knee injury. I also have been icing and elevating my mildly sore knee between runs.

But if I'm already having some knee pain, is there any value to wrapping it while running? Googling this is hard because there's tons of advice out there, but is any of it based on available evidence? I'm fine with links to original articles if you have them but ideally I'd love to read or understand the summary of what we know about this intervention to prevent injury or reduce pain.

Thanks!
posted by latkes to Health & Fitness (7 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Here's a good article with practical advice from a peer-reviewed source on preventing running injuries. It doesn't mention anything about wrapping your knees, but it does say that "Appropriate training is essential because 60% of all running injuries are the result of doing 'too much, too soon.'... Suitable recovery prevents running injuries, which are the result of overloading a tissue’s capacity to adapt."

Taking glucosamine, reducing my body fat %, strength training, and starting with very small intervals were the only things that helped me be able to run without pain. Wrapping (and then icing) it is just putting a Band-Aid on the situation. There are a number of variables to take into account.

If you keep running despite pain, you're just going to aggravate the injury. There is a difference between fatigue and pain. Don't be afraid to start slow: jog for a few seconds, walk for a minute, repeat. Strength training multiple times a week. Try to address excess weight, which is a huge stressor to your joints. The idea is to gradually build up the ability to run, longer and faster - without any pain.
posted by blazingunicorn at 10:05 AM on October 13, 2018 [3 favorites]


If you have knee pain, you are doing too much too soon (or have really bad form, but doing too much is more likely since you just started).

Do C25K. It is tempting to jump ahead, because who can’t run for more than 2mins? But it goes really really slowly to build up your leg strength, not your cardio (I could already run for 30mins when I did C25K. I just couldn’t walk for a week afterwards. A progressive program let me build up to half marathons with no knee pain).
posted by tinkletown at 10:49 AM on October 13, 2018


Best answer: This is a piece about doing squats with and without knee wrapping. The results of this study indicate that the elastic properties of knee wraps actually increased mechanical output during squats, but it altered the technique in such a fashion that is likely to change the muscles targeted by the exercise and possibly compromise the knee joint.

If one applied those results to running, it seems that maybe wrapping healthy knees may make you a better runner but it does so by possibly compromising the knee joints and muscles. Instead of your knee adapting and become more efficient with time and weight exercises, it's being unnaturally forced and other muscles may begin to overcompensate.

I wouldn't wrap my knees to reduce injury, no.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 11:02 AM on October 13, 2018 [1 favorite]


I am a broken record on metafilter with this, but good shoes are essential to avoiding knee pain, at least for me. When I have bouts of knee pain it almost always seems to be related to the footwear. It might be worth trying out different types of shoes. Wrapping did not help me at all.

Also, I've noticed that oddly enough tight spots in the muscles up around the upper thighs hips and pelvis also seem to exacerbate knee pain. You might look into trigger point therapy. I also do foam rolling and that helps.
posted by whistle pig at 11:38 AM on October 13, 2018


Best answer: I'm a doctor

Virtually all of the clinical research on sleeves, wraps, taping etc focuses on individuals with osteoarthritis (OA), which involves degeneration of bone and cartilage at the joint, rather than Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFP), which encompasses anything that causes knee pain or instability that isn't a specific joint or bone disorder.

So while there's compelling evidence that wraps/bandages/tape/sleeves reduce knee pain and improve static and dynamic postural sway (maintaining center of gravity/balance when moving or standing still) among OA sufferers, you can't assume any of it applies to PFP-suffering weekend warriors such as yourself

You'll just have to try different compression sleeves and assorted bandaging and taping strategies and see what, if anything, works. To that end, try to identify as best you can what's happening physiologically and anatomically with your knee.

For example, do you have any swelling? If not, it seems unlikely that any intervention that increases pressure would do any good. Likewise, anything that increases stability probably won't do much if your knee joint doesn't buckle under your weight (medial collapse), 'catch' during flexion, or sort of slide off to the side (lateral patellar displacement)

Again, be mindful of the limitations of the scientific literature, and prioritize interventions targeted at your specific "flavor" or PFP to maximize the chance that something will work.
Finally, if your knee keeps hurting despite your efforts, STOP RUNNING IMMEDIATELY and don't start again until the pain has gone away. Remember: The leading cause of major injuries is ignoring or training through minor injuries.
posted by BadgerDoctor at 2:31 PM on October 13, 2018 [4 favorites]


Good physical therapy videos:

10 good stretches for knee pain relief

10 best knee strengthening exercises
posted by conrad53 at 5:06 AM on October 15, 2018 [2 favorites]


I've never used them, but Cho Pat straps are the straps that some runners wear around the upper calf just under the knee. There appears to be some evidence that these straps reduce strain on knee tendons. This may or may not relieve tenon related strain that leads to knee pain.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3445162/
posted by OmieWise at 11:47 AM on October 15, 2018


« Older Books in Spanish - Albuquerque or Santa Fe?   |   Can I eat it? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.