What is the presenting case?
Chris presented to the clinic with Right knee pain that occurred at the start of his running sessions, he didn’t have any awareness once he had warmed up and was few km’s into the run.
The next day his knee would feel stiff and painful.
Chris was training for an Ultra Marathon in Margaret River to raise awareness for Outside the Locker Room.
He was completing around 60km running per week when he first came in to see us. His sessions were between 6-26km.
He had just increased he weekly total from 45-60km
Clinical findings
- Painful single leg squat and lunge; caused by altered biomechanics due to muscle tightness and weakness
- Tight Right Obers; due to tightness in the TFL, ITB and glut
- Painful patella compression test and tenderness to palpate around the knee cap
- Knee valgus with single leg squat due to weak glut muscles
Clinical Diagnosis
- Patella Femoral joint Pain
What was the end Goal? Margaret River Ultra Marathon (80km)
Intervention
Comprehensive intervention entailing the following
- Soft tissue therapy including; massage acupuncture, stretching. Focusing on the following muscle groups ITB, TFL, Glut and quadriceps
- Home: foam rolling and stretching through: quadriceps, ITB, TFL and glut
- Gym: targeted exercise to improve the strength of the identified weak muscles
- Running: specific tailored running program, monitoring after each session assessing his symptoms and recovery
Outcome
- Chris was able to complete the Margaret River Ultra Marathon in 10hrs 13min
