by .Larry Page
I’ve developed a nice little injury called Runner’s Knee, even though i was not running. It cam from sitting too much!
I like the name patellofemoral syndrome. It is essentially a muscle strain. I’ve had problems with weak quadriceps over the years, more specifically, an underdevelopment of the vastus medialis part compared with the quadriceps. In fact, even when i was in shape, I’d wear a simple knee wrap with a knee cap cutout.
Well, it turns out that sitting for very long periods of time can overload this muscle. It is put under a lot of stress, even though it is not being used. It’s stabilizing effect on the knee cap is overwhelmed by the other parts of the quadriceps. The knee cap can then get moved out of position and result in some nice damage to the whole area. Even when nothing really traumatic happens.
When you have pain on the front or sides of the kneecap, this is the likely culprit.
The way I know this is that yesterday, for no apparent reason, the front of my knee hurt like hell. Some of the worst pain I have ever felt and I figured I had just wrenched it somehow. But during the day the muscle in my thigh really started hurting. A quick perusal of Wikipedia determined that the pain was following right up the vastus.
A search by Google for ‘vastus medialis pain’ revealed that I had Runner’s knee. Now I just have to rest it but it is a bummer to be in so much pain when all I did was sit.
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