[jhinako]

So I managed to injure my knee about 9 days ago while on vacation. I believe it is the MCL--medial collateral ligament that I have injured on the left leg, not a tear--maybe a sprain. I feel really silly because I was honestly just messing around. I was talking to my bf about doing jumping jacks as an exercise and I literally did like 4 of them(but it was barefoot and on stone tile), but I felt a sudden sharp pain on the inside of my knee that persisted the rest of that night.

The next few days it didn't really bother me that much so I didn't think of it and we did lots of biking and did a C25k session(I was in week 2 at the time). After that, I started feeling pain in the leg again that seems to come and go(or it may just be Advil taking the pain away at times). I rested a few days, but then we went to themeparks and I did a lot of walking on it.

Any way, so felt like it was getting better so I did my week 3, day 1 C25k yesterday morning and it was fine. The knee felt a little off, but nothing too bad. Then the rest of the day, it was ok. I iced it a few times. That evening it started bothering me again, but I took Advil and the pain went away. This morning, however, it was in pretty bad shape. Very painful, sort of wobbly, sharp pain when going down stairs--in fact, my other knee was having some pain also and that one isn't hurt! I think it may have been the aggrivated knee and muscle pain from the run combined, but I was hobbling like an 80 year old until the Advil kicked it--and at the moment it feels fine. It's really amazing the difference--it's like I have a hard time walking, to feeling perfectly ok.

I am concerned though because this morning was the worst pain I've felt so far, and it was kind of scary so I'm going to take some time off the C25k--which I am really disappointed about because I was really excited and into it. I know it's not much, but I was really proud of myself for doing the 3 min jogging sessions now, when just 3 weeks ago I was huffing and puffing at 1 minute. I'm concerned that my progress may backpeddle some...I don't know how long exactly I should take to rest...opinions?

[MariaMaria]

Rest until it stops hurting entirely.

C25K progresses really, really quickly and it's a good way to get injured even if you're not already nursing something that's not quite healed.

[Jojo381972]

I agree with Maria. Rest until you can walk /run again without pain.

Give yourself a week and then see how it feels. Don't worry too much about losing what you've gained on the C25K, because you will advance again in no time.

[jenangeles]

don't mess with your knees!

the instability you mentioned would worry me if I were you. if your knee isn't stable, you might do more damage to the other bits of the knee by keeping up with your normal level of activity. running is especially difficult on the joints so maybe switch to some other low impact activity until your healed up. I would get it checked out by someone with experience in ligament damage just to be safe as its easy for GPs to misdiagnose torn ligaments or meniscus damage.

[jayohwhy]

i have something similar to what you have, also from running. i consulted my friend who is a doctor and she felt my knees and told me that it was tendonitis. i took a week off of running-- while doing other low impact exercise. then i took kids advil to ward off inflamation and got an elastic brace to run with. she says its okay to run with as long as i have some support from the brace.

i googled it as well and found that its really important to do strength training on non-run days to make sure that your body can take it. i started doing some light lunges and squats-- at the beginning i didnt lunge on the injured knee but after a few days i could again.

now i'm back to running.

[Precious Little]

My advice would be to go see a physical therapist without delay. If it's bothering you, you should get it checked out. Sooner rather than later, as these things can drag on and take AGES to heal.

I learned the hard way by continuing to run on a 'dodgy' runner's knee before going to have it looked at, and a couple months later I am still in recovery mode. I am only able to do short distances of running and certainly no kicking or twisting, and have to be careful what shoes I wear (no heels for me until I'm pain-free )

If there's one thing I took away from the experience it's this, you can only take your body for granted for so long and push so hard, then you pay the price. Don't risk it!

[finn]

Please go and get it seen to by a professional. Not to scare you, but....I took a knock during a team game in April 2010, It was sore but I ignored it and after a few weeks it eventually it got somewhat better. Strange thing was that it was always unstable after that, every few months it would give way and I would fall. But after a few weeks it would get better so I continued to ignore it. I even did 6 weeks of C25k...

Then in April 2011 it gave way again so I got it seen to. It turns out that I had been walking around with a torn cruciate, medial and lateral ligament and badly damaged cartilage for the previous year! The consultant blamed my stubbornness and high pain threshold...it was so bad I had to have surgery within 6 weeks.

Long story short....Please get it seen to. I wish I had!