Of Knee Pains and Minor Heartbreak

My left knee started twinging a couple of weeks after the Energizer Night Run. At first, I put it down to the hard workout of the Run and *nyeah*ed it aside. It wasn't a persistent twinge after all, just a sometime occurrence. 

A few weeks after it started, the twinge would consistently appear at the mid-point of a standard run. I'd hit the 5km marker, and there it would be, that niggling little pinch that went *tuit*tuit*tuit* in my left knee. It wasn't any real pain though, just an annoyance. A mention of it to the gym trainers begot me the advice of making sure I warmed up and stretched sufficiently pre-run. Check. 

A couple of weeks after that, no change, despite the more careful warm ups. It still didn't really hurt, but it was sure getting somewhat uncomfortable. I had begun to wonder if there was reasonable cause for me to see a sports therapist or physician or summink, but thought it a little too paranoid at this stage. Then three days ago, after some 4 too-busy-to-run-days, at approximately 3kms my right knee started twinging. Alamak! Concerned, I slowed down and jogged through it. And at the 5km mark, it happened: a sharp, shooting pain through my left knee. 

After hearing first-hand of too many people who were forced to forsake running forever after as a result of a bad knee, I was horrified. And paranoid or no, I made an appointment to see the orthopedics specialist at Columbia Asia the next day.

Long story short, the diagnosis was early osteoarthritis. Because my bones/kneecaps/joints are "imperfectly aligned", which resulted in wonky wear on the cartilage, which was causing the pain along my joint line. Incurable, due to it being a structural issue. Inevitable. Hereditary (which would really explain all my aunts & uncles on Mum's side who all have problems with their knees). Recommendation: give up running and take up swimming instead (low-impact sport, mah).

The personable ortho was right; I really didn't want to hear what he had to say. But the good news is that the paranoia paid off: The osteoarthritis is in the veeeeery early stages yet, which means that mitigation is still possible. So he's prescribed a course of daily glucosamine supplements and a firm recommendation to half my running and allow swimming to make up for non-weight-bearing cardio work instead.

Highly sensible; I think I'll take his advice.

Unfortunately, this may mean a much slower progression of my running "career". It also throws huge question as to whether or not I'll be able to finish the half at the Standard Charted KL Marathon, which is little more than a month from now. Even without this injury I was already worried about finishing it. Now with this knee... *sigh*

I've been told to rest the joints for a week or two. Swimming, boleh, so I'll do that to keep ye old cardio at optimum levels. And I think I'm going to give the half a go anyway. Even if I don't finish, at least I can say I tried.