If any of you have spoken to me in the last six months, you will have heard me bitch about the pain I have been experiencing in my knee. What started as a small niggling pain has evolved over time into full on chronic pain, most likely tendonitis or some variant thereof. It sucks, hardcore. However, over the past few months I have been offered a wide variety of advice, tips, and treatments for knee pain from all manner of knowledgeable sources.

All of which I have promptly ignored, because I am a dumb ass.

Here is the list of things I wish I had done sooner. If you are experiencing knee pain, PLEASE pay some attention to the following and do not let the problem fester. I am currently out of action for a number of months to finally deal with my issue; don’t become like me.

Don’t be a dumb ass about knee pain.

1) Acknowledge the problem and decide to take action early

For a long time, I didn’t even think of my knee pain as an issue to be dealt with. I’d experienced shoulder pain from training early in my parkour career and it had just kind of gone away on it’s own after a while. I assumed aches and pains were just part of training, and that my knee pain would sort itself out in due time.

Of course, what I now realise is that my volume of training is much higher now than it used to be, and that the knee experiences a lot more use than the shoulder in parkour. It’s quite easy to rest a shoulder and still run and jump; much harder to move at all with a dodgy knee. The problem never went away, and I never dealt with it until forced to.

2) Rest the joint – properly!

Even once I realised that this was something I would have to tackle, I didn’t want to take time out from training. I knew I would have to rest; but I assumed a week or two would be all I needed. Or that I could drop my training down to once a week, and it would be fine. Or I could just not do anything too big or heavy on my knee, and it would be fine.

Nuh-uh! I’m appreciating now that rest means rest. It cannot heal if you are constantly giving it small knocks and jarring the tendon, no matter how small the jump. Swallow the bitter pill, buy some DVD boxsets, and put your feet up, and you’re looking at doing so for at least a month or more my friend.

Or…

3) Distract yourself from it

If you have knee pain, it’s probably because you’re an active person. So how do you cope with not being able to train for months at a time?

Well, you’ve still got arms, haven’t you?

I bought myself a set of gymnastic rings and some parallette bars. They’re a real challenge, I assure you. I’m quite content to focus on conquering those for the next few months before returning to training.

We’re addicts, in a way, and if you can’t get your fix you will be tempted to go out and do something stupid. Find a challenge, find something new to learn or achieve, and work on that instead. It’ll help.

4) Do your research and get a knee care routine

There are certain things you can do to aid the recovery of your knee, and there is lots of information out there telling you what they are. I’d recommend seeing a physiotherapist or your doctor to determine exactly what your issue is, but generally the application of ice and heat, along with anti-inflammatory meds, can help with immediate pain, while fish oil supplements and the like will help with long term joint health. Google the crap out of it, and absorb everything you can.

You should also stretch thoroughly, and particularly the stretches described by the Traceur’s New Best Friend, Awsa Bergstrom, previously posted on this very blog are very useful for loosening up the muscles around the joint to ease tension on the knee.

However, none of these things are useful if you’re not doing them. So get a routine going! Look at your week, see where you’re going to be at certain times and plan to take care of your knee whenever you can. Allocate icing time. Have an alarm go off to remind you to take your ibuprofen, or vitamins, or to stretch. Make it a habit and make it non-negotiable. Icing your knee twice a week when you remember to do it will not help; icing twice a day every day will.

And yes, this is something I was not doing for a long time. Remember, earlier, when we discussed what a dumb ass I am?

5) Strengthen the knee before returning, and take it slow

This is my pre-eminent act of dumbassness, and the biggest mistake I made. I actually managed to rest fairly well over holiday season, with at least three weeks of not beating the crap out of my knee under my belt. I felt okay, and decided to try some training again.

Immediately, I tried a big running jump and borked my knee worse than ever.

You have to realise, which I did not, that resting your legs will mean a bit of deterioration in strength levels. If you don’t even do a bodyweight squat for a month, you might not have the power in your jump or solidity of your landings anymore when you come back. It might not be a huge loss, it might be a lot, but you need to ease back in to training to find out.

Look in to stability building exercises for the knee, such as balancing, and work on some leg conditioning for a while to ensure you’re up to scratch again before diving back in to big, explosive movements. You’ve let the joint heal; now you need to make it stronger, so it won’t get hurt again.

And finally,

6) Don’t let it get to you

It’s a fact; if you have knee pain, you need to change what you’re doing to make it go away. It can mean a loss of training, of routine, of just going and hanging out with the people you’ve spent every evening with for the past two years in place of sitting on your ass in front of the telly with your leg up.

But we’re talking your long term joint health here. If it’s not dealt with, you could have lasting trouble with your knee well in to old age. It’s worth taking care of now, with some short term sacrifices.

Don’t make the same dumb ass mistakes I have. I’ve made them already, on your behalf.

You’re welcome.