Less pain

I saw the doctor on Monday and she wasn't sure what was going on with the knee. She referred me to a physical therapist. I was able to get the authorization from insurance immediately and then set the appointment for Wednesday. I was thrilled that the process was so quick.

I went for a run on Tuesday and to my great surprise, my knee did not bother me as much nor until close to the end. The Garmin batteries were dead so I used a combination of my watch and my iPhone. I took the dogs on the first lap and then went solo on the second lap. Each lap was around 1.33 miles. I think my time was around 25:30, so that gives me a 2.66 mile run in 25:30 at an average pace of 9:35, which is pretty quick.

I was surprised that my knee didn't hurt on the second lap. I fully expected to have to stop early and walk the rest of the way. It did twinge some, but nothing like it had been. I was really happy with that.

So I went to the physical therapist yesterday. He seemed very nice and knowledgeable. He asked me to walk and said that I have an interesting walk. My knees bend either in or out (I forget which) and so my legs do not form a straight line. He doesn't think that is the problem, but it was just something he noticed.

He took a look at my knees (which I am always cautious about) and said that he doesn't think the problem is in the knee itself. The location of pain is off to the outside of the knee, and he thinks it is either a strain of the peroneus muscle or a tendinitis of some sort. He is surprised that it doesn't hurt at any other time except when running. So he worked the muscle (painfully, I might add) for ten or fifteen minutes and then iced it.

My job is to run on it and see if the pain is still there sometime between then and Friday afternoon, when I have my next appointment. If the pain goes away or lessens, he is going to think that was the problem. He'll look at my running gait to see if that created the problem and show me how to fix it if it should recur. If it still hurts, then he'll explore other options. I hope it is as easy a fix as he seems to think!