The 7 Steps Runners Can Take to Reduce Knee Pain NOW

Dr. Alex Earl, DC shares insights and simple strategies to help competitive and everyday runners like you deal with knee pain naturally and without "rest & ice" like most are usually told. 

Let's face it, the last thing we all want to hear is to be told by a medical professional to stop running, ice and rest until the pain goes away. In the short term, that seems like sound advice and, quite frankly, it is the safest form of medical advice that doctors, nurses, physical therapists, athletic trainers, and chiropractors can give to protect themselves. Our approach is proactive, rather than reactive at our Carol Stream clinic, where we help runners of all ages get back to the thing they love - RUNNING. 

But, what about your options moving forward? Should the advice of an avid runner be the same as the individual who has never completed more than a few miles? Certainly not, in our opinion. Both cases require specific and individual strategies to reduce pain, improve endurance, and overall quality of life. After all, these are some of the benefits of running. 

Simple tactics which yield high-paying dividends on your health, wellness and running related knee pains. 

1. Track your runs, miles and intensity. There's a good chance your record keeping can help assess weekly, monthly and yearly trends. Since more running related injuries (RRIs) are non-traumatic, we need to be able to look at training loads and volumes over a given period of time to see if maybe you did too much, too soon after possibly doing too little for too long. 
2. Sleep 1 hour more - Melatonin to stay asleep; chamomile tea to help you fall asleep
3. Create a daily routine for your runs. 
4. Drink tart cherry juice to combat serious muscle soreness. (but not just any tart cherry juice. We recommend this one). Note: We make NO commissions off the sale of this item.
5. Increase step rate by 5-10%. Calculate your step rate per minute and add 5-10% of that number. Simply increasing stride rate slightly wil dramatically help offload any extra stress your muscles and bones might be enduring with longer strides.  
6. Begin & end each run with Fitness Walking for 5-10 minutes. This is a game-changer. 
7. BE PROACTIVE and enroll in our Running Restoration Online Program to enhance your running pain free goal with dozens of running related drills specifically for you. This 6 module online program comes with a Return to Running Protocol specifically designed for runners with knee pain to complete and progress at their own pace to safely return to running.

In the event one of these simple strategies do not help your current running related knee pain, please call our office to schedule a time for us to connect with you about what is frustrating you in order to help you get back to running.  

You can call our office at (630) 480-0113 or email us at info@myactiverestoration.com and let us know how we can help you recover from knee pain in order to restore your running lifestyle. 

If you, or someone you know is currently suffering with knee pain who loves to run, then please share this blog entry with them so they can enroll in the Running Restoration Online Program today to start their recovery journey without the frustration of being told over and over again to simply rest until the pain goes away. 

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