Knee pain and swimming

[FindingMyInnerFish]

Hello fellow swimmers,
I'd been letting the swimming slide in favor of running of late--but then came a knee that rebelled, and rather suddenly. Had a perfectly fine run one day followed by mild knee pain, but I blew it off. At 62, if you don't have twinges, you're probably not alive. And I figured, as with other twinges, it would calm down with a little ice. Two days later, I ran but hurt going downhill, so eased off the pace, but otherwise did okay. Then that same day, the knee was throbbing and I was limping.

Had some x-rays, went to an orthopedic doctor, who shot some cortisone into the knee. Didn't help. Next step is MRI. But meanwhile, the doctor advised against even swimming b/c of the kicking. So I swam with a pull buoy--but to be honest it's not as good a workout to stick with that. I suppose half a loaf is better than no loaf, but I wonder if I'd really have that much of a problem with kicking.

If you've had prior knee problems what was your experience with this?

The massage guy I went to said the IT band seemed to be the problem but also very tight quads and hip flexors.

One thing I seem to be able to do w/out pain (or a lot less) is walk uphill, so a running coach advised using a treadmill and setting it on an incline--seemed reasonable... eliminate one of the causes of irritation. So today I walked a half hour on the 'mill with the speed going from 3.5 to 4 mph and the incline at 4. That was actually pretty satisfying. I had to back off for a couple minutes in the middle of this b/c the knee began to tighten, but then I was able to resume.

This I took to be a good sign, although it's definitely not in running shape yet. Figured I should be getting back to more swimming and doing some open water events--they motivate me to keep up the swimming fitness. But if I build up yards, I want to be able to swim enough of them without a pull buoy to make it count.

Thanks for any thoughts on this.

[Allen Stark]

If you can run uphill I suspect you can swim OK,but watch out for the turns.How hard the pull buoy workout is depends on how hard you swim.Maybe try some intervals going a little faster than you are used to.
Good Luck!

[FindingMyInnerFish]

Thanks for the response, Allen. I think I'll try some swimming w/out the pull buoy and/or intervals with it. Once I see how that all goes, I want to get back to a masters' group for practice. Was just walking on the treadmill but at 4 mph, it was fast walking. Fastest I've walked is around 12:something/mile, but that was in a mile racewalk (just to see how fast I could walk a mile). Haven't actually tried running on the 'mill, but depending on how the next few walks go, I might give running a try.

[Allen Stark]

Since running is what started the pain I'd say wait until you are pain free before starting back with running,even on the treadmill.

[FindingMyInnerFish]

Good point! In any case, I want to see about the MRI result. Today, the traffic in the pool was IMPOSSIBLE--even circle swimming looked hazardous, so I did some water running in the noodlers' lane until the real lap lanes became passable. Once that happened, I started with the pull buoy and then went without it for a bit--knee began to feel irritated at that point, but that proved to be good feedback for remembering to kick from the hips, not the knees, which a swim coach had in the past reminded me to do. Still, it was a lot more comfortable to swim w/ the pull buoy than without.

One other note: when I wore the aqua vest, I could "run" in water reasonably okay (a little tightness) but when I took it off (which I do sometimes b/c it's too easy with it on--not enough of a workout), the knee started to rebel. Can't imagine why since I don't think my body was doing anything different. Note to self: NEVER do the Sunday noon lap swim again--EVER... although I suppose it is good sighting practice not to mention those heavy-traffic open water starts. Still...