What a boring 4 weeks it has been! Finally I conceded that so many of you were right and should see a doctor. Unfortunately I discovered that there is typically a 6-8 week wait to be seen as a new patient. An appointment at the end of March was not going to help me get to a marathon on April 16.
Long story short, I was VERY fortunate to get in with a great sports orthopedic doctor at Beth Israel yesterday:
1. He finished up by saying, "Yes, you will do the marathon." (Leaving this for last made it hard to concentrate!)
2. He said it's runner's knee aka patellofemoral syndrome, and not IT band. Regardless, caused by imbalanced muscles that aren't used in running = leg isn't stable = knee went off track. The only place I had pain in his poking & prodding was when he pushed in a fat pad under my knee. (Did you know we had those?? I didn't.) So my patella being off track is biting my fat pads, essentially. (This makes me giggle a little bit.) I think that's probably what happened when I "felt something go" in my knee. Stupid fat pads! Who needs em!
3. He and the PA who saw me asked if I had stability shoes, which I realized I do not. People at the running stores have told me I need neutral shoes, while stability shoes correct mild overpronation. Overpronating would also push my knee out of the way. It's hard to say without comparing to an unused pair of sneakers, but it does appear that I have some uneven wear in my previous pair of sneaks.
4. Treatment = strenghtening exercises (he gave me a pamphlet of pictures), PT to get my knee back on track, advil, and alternative cardio while I am getting back to normal (elliptical, bike, I am looking into aqua jogging!...). Hopefully PT won't cost too much and they can just give me some exercises to do at home. Hopefully our insurance even covers it. We shall see.
:-D It feels good to have answers. I am actually seeing another doc at BI again today who specializes in women's running. The more eyes, the better...
Happy strengthening!
