So, I read the book, Brain Training for Runners by Matt Fitzgerald. What I learned... it is exactly the information I have been seeking. Get this. The author, Matt Fitzgerald, had a very similar experience to me with his overuse injury. It was also patellofemoral pain syndrome. Matt was training for the Boston Marathon in late 2002 when it developed in his right knee. After two series of resting then running again, the same pain returned. Matt then decided to see an orthopedist (as I did) and tried taping, anti-inflammatory medication, and physical therapy. "None of these measures helped, so he scheduled me for arthroscopic surgery." His doctor found some fissured cartilage - Chondromalacia (same as me) - so he filed it down to make it smooth. The one difference in our surgeries is that his doctor did not see a problem with his fat pad. Unfortunately, when Matt recovered from his surgery and started running again, his knee degenerated yet again. I can't say the same thing has happened with my knee since I haven't run in over 6 months, but my knee hasn't felt a whole lot better since 3-4 months after the surgery. That is why I haven't tried running yet.
The thing that gave me so much hope in reading Matt's book, is that he pieced together his own "cure puzzle." He found individual measures that helped a little and and accumulated them until he made a complete recovery! It was a long process and from the beginning of his knee pain to the time he was able to complete an entire marathon was 40 months. 3.3 years. Hey, I'm almost 2 years in myself, so if I can find my own "cure puzzle" and recover within a year or so, I will be happy. : ) What is really exciting is that I now have guidance from Matt's book. My Mom asked me several months ago, "Don't you know someone that has gone though the same injury you have?" Up until now, my answer has been no. All of my running friends have experienced injuries, but none have sidelined them for years, the way mine has for me. Now I know of someone with a very similar experience, and what is even better than that? He recovered, and he wrote a book about it!
I won't get into the details in this posting as it would take way too long to write, but here are the basics. Matt's injury prevention findings were a combination of strength exercises, a few small gait modifications, and switching to a pair of minimalist running shoes. He also makes mention of how sitting lends to muscle imbalances and he offers corrective stretches to help alleviate these imbalances. Outside of that, his book goes into great detail on target pace training, cross-training, stress and recovery, nutrition, and more.
Another thing I like about Matt's book is that he includes detailed training plans. I've seen many training plans before, but he even spells out the specific strength exercises and gait cues to do every day and week. Many training plans spell out mileage to run and mention to throw in some strength training, but they rarely state how much and how often. Once I get back to running, I look forward to following one of Matt's plans. Until then, I'll start with the strength exercises, stretches, and shoes. Yes, I bought another pair of shoes. ; ) More details to come!
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