Jo, 45, is teacher who runs 3 x 10km runs per week. She came to see me after experiencing significant knee pain which seemed to have come on from nowhere and was unable to walk due to the pain. After a conversation about the history of the pain and a physical assessment of the knee. I concluded that Jo was suffering from pre patellar bursitis - an inflammation of the bursae (a small jelly-like tissue) on the front of the kneecap, usually caused by repeated friction or a direct blow to the knee.
I then gave Jo several exercises to help both relieve pain and increase strength of the surrounding muscles this included active range of movement work to maintain the knee range of movement and help reduce swelling. Banded exercises to help strengthen supporting muscles such as the quadriceps and hamstring muscles. I told Jo to perform these exercises twice daily for 2 weeks. Within 2 weeks Jo had gone from not being able to walk to running her usual distances without any issues whatsoever.
Jo is still seeing me on a regular basis for Sports Massage as part of her training for the London Marathon.
