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Lead Stories: Sunday, July 20, 2008

Kate O’Neill:
Taking the First Steps
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #9)

Posted May 27th, 2008 at 2:30 PM by Kate O'Neill

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field, Elite Athlete Blogs, Kate O'Neill

Hi, this is my blog in TFS’s Elite Athlete Blog Series. Bookmark kateoneill.thefinalsprint.com and check back every other Monday for my latest entry as I strive for the 2008 Summer Olympics!

For the first few weeks after the Olympic Marathon Trials, I was not able to run at all, but I thought about running constantly. Worries about what I had done wrong filled my head and doubts made me question all of my decisions leading up to the race. As my knee improved and I progressed toward running again, those thoughts quickly changed from the past to the future. I kept wondering what those first few steps of running would feel like. The first run loomed over thoughts and I wanted to do everything I could do to make sure that it went well.

I have been running for 13 years. In an ideal world, all those years of experience would make the act of running instinctual. I would not have needed to waste energy with all these thoughts. Instead, I felt sick with worry that my feet would no longer remember how to support me, my arms would start flailing, and my knees would buckle forward into each other.
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How Foam Rollers Can Help to Prevent/Relieve IT Band Pain

Posted January 7th, 2008 at 6:45 AM by Katie Drummond

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

The foam roller move recently discussed by fellow TFS Media Network publication HerActiveLife.com is an excellent form of self massage. It is especially helpful for runners who tend to have tight IT bands and often suffer related injuries.

The IT band is a tough group of fibers that run along the outside of the thigh from your hip to your knee. One way to help alleviate this pain is to use a foam roller to perform myofascial release (aka a form of massage).

For more information on how to perform the foam roller move, please visit or partner site: HerActiveLife.com.

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Healing How-To: Knee Injuries

Posted December 1st, 2007 at 9:13 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

If you have recently suffered an injury to your leg, then knee rehab exercise is going to be extremely important for helping you to heal and enjoy physical activity again.

It’s a good idea to start by talking to your physiotherapist, if you have been seeing one, about any knee rehab exercises that you can do. The experts usually have quite a few recommendations that will be targeted towards your specific needs, and will build the muscles and ligaments around this joint.

One great knee rehab exercise that will strengthen the outer quad muscles . . .

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com

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Strong Legs For Strong Knees

Posted November 27th, 2007 at 8:30 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Doctors have known for many years that having weak quad muscles (in the front of your upper legs) increases risk for damage to the cartilage in your knees. A study from Purdue University shows that strengthening these muscles slows down knee cartilage damage and may even improve knee function (Arthritis & Rheumatism, October 2006).

The researchers placed 221 adults in their sixties and seventies either on a program of strengthening their muscles in their upper legs or just moving their knees in a series of range-of- motion exercises. The subjects exercised three times per week (twice at a fitness facility and once at home) for 12 weeks. This program was followed by a transition to home-based exercise for 12 months. Older people weaken naturally with aging, but the range of motion exercisers lost more strength than those who exercised against progressive resistance. The strength training helped retain joint space, signifying that this group had less loss of cartilage.

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com

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Partial Knee Replacements …
… are they worth it?

Posted September 10th, 2007 at 8:00 PM by Lisa Cieplechowicz

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

As every athlete knows, properly functioning knees are a critical aspect of virtually any form of exercise. Walking, running, lifting, kicking - seems obvious to say, but without your knees your body would be at a severe loss. So what do you do when you sustain an injury to your knee?

Though accidents and injuries are an unavoidable part of the world of sports, certain types are undeniably worse for your body to endure. Take, for instance, damage caused to knee cartilage. Cartilage, once damaged, can never heal. Rather, it continues to break down until it is completely gone, leaving the knee in constant pain and the person unable to participate in many normal activities.

Read the rest of this entry at our partner site: HesFit.com

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Partial Knee Replacement: Less Pain, but Not for Everyone

Posted September 4th, 2007 at 9:35 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

The ends of bones are soft, so they must be covered with a thick white gristle called cartilage. Many people suffer from knee pain because the cartilage is damaged. They may have osteoarthritis in which the cartilage wears away, or they may have damaged cartilage in an accident or by playing sports. Once damaged, cartilage can never heal; the person spends the rest of his life losing cartilage until the cartilage is completely gone and the knee hurts 24 hours a day.

Until recently, the only effective treatment has been to cut out the ends of the bones of the knee and replace the entire knee joint. Now for some people, a simpler procedure may be effective: partial knee replacement, called unicompartmental knee arthroplasty. The surgeon removes just part of the cartilages and bones on the upper and lower legs on one side of the knee.
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Runner’s Knee and the processes of prevention & healing

Posted June 14th, 2007 at 11:00 AM by Courtney Albon

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

The term “runner’s knee” refers to an inflammation of the tendon, the (ITB), that is located on the outside of the thigh. As injury to this tendon often results from overuse of the knees, and runner’s rely on their knees to function within their sport, the title “runner’s knee” is quite appropriate. The name is, however, deceptively exclusive as runner’s knee describes an ailment common among individuals who are active in a spectrum of activities such as biking, walking, or jumping.

As mentioned above, the inflammation of the ITB can be a result of overuse or overstretching of the tendon in any activity that requires repeated knee bending. Misalignment is also a factor in the injury. If a bone is out of it’s correct position, then the excess stress being placed elsewhere can result in the pulling and inflammation of the ITB. The tendon can also undergo stress because of weak thigh muscles or a direct injury to the knee such as a fall or a blow. Runners with flat feet, or fallen arches, often have knee problems as the ITB is forced to stretch in order to compensate for the missing arch.
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Iliotibial Band Syndrome

Posted January 12th, 2007 at 11:11 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

The most important thing about an Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS) injury is to determine and correct what is causing it.

The first step is to give it sufficient time to heal properly. That usually means no running for at least a couple of weeks, and sometimes up to 6 weeks in severe cases. In most cases, trying to “run through the injury” is counterproductive. “Busting your butt” in an attempt to strengthen the ITB to get past this problem just exacerbates the problem.

The next step is to analyze the potential causes of the injury.
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How can I rehabilitate
a knee injury?

Posted January 4th, 2007 at 7:00 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

Many sports injuries cause a progressive permanent osteoarthritis that will prevent a person from exercising to cause the very diseases that a regular exercise program is supposed to prevent. Sports medicine surgeon James Garrick, writing in the medical journal Lancet (Dec 2005), explains why.

You are supposed to exercise. It makes you stronger, faster, healthier and may even prolong your life. However, every time you exercise, you risk injury and many sports injuries last forever.
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Illiotibial band (ITB) stretches to help treat Runner’s Knee

Posted December 16th, 2006 at 11:30 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

Any treatment for Runners Knee, or inflammation of the illiotibial band (pictured to the right), must be done in conjunction with stretching of the ITB and massage.

I use two ITB stretches … one for the knee and one for the hip. They were recommended to me by the Union Memorial Hospital’s Sports Medicine Clinic in Baltimore, MD the two times I went to them with ITB problems.

The ITB stretch for the knee is simply cross-legged toe touches. Stand erect and cross your legs just below the knee with your right leg in front, your right foot on the outside of your left foot and your toes pointed forward. Then, bend from the waist to try to touch your toes.
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