Knee strap & "Runners Knee"

[tangentgirl]

Late to the party here, but a knee strap saved me earlier this month. Literally, I was hanging from a bridge, caught only by my knee strap, with stinging crocodiles waiting in the toxic river below.

No, wait, that didn't actually happen. Not even figuratively.

What did happen was that I had been training for this half marathon since January. First one, TNT, BFD for me. Was very very careful, maybe overly careful, with my training, because I have had injuries in the past. Was great. Two weeks before the race, my knee went all to heck.

After a few really bad training runs, I visited Dr. Dan, my favorite sports doc. Everyone should have a Dr. Dan. Dr. Dan is awesome, he's done ironmans, he does 24 hour mtn bike races and ultramarathons. He knows it all and will do what he can to keep you racing. Dr. Dan, he's the Man.

Dr. Dan said, "Tangentgirl, quit running on that! RICE, RICE, baby!" I wasn't sure how to rest with that tune in my head, but I did it anyways. He said to get a knee strap, use it right before and during the race. The one caveat was that the knee strap is like Advil...it will help with the pain, but it won't cure the problem. The rest ice blah blah helped with the long-term problem (patella tendonitis), the knee strap helped with the immediate pain.

So, I wore my knee strap, ran 13.1, didn't die, did finish, had fun, woo to the hoo!

That's my knee strap story. TL;DR: knee strap good for relieving pain while running, won't cure problem. The end.