From the August 2004 issue of Runner's World
Wade Smith was no stranger to physical activity when he took up running four years ago. After all, he'd raced motorcycles, ridden mountain bikes, and cycled in road races all his adult life. But eight months into his new sport, he developed a sharp pain on the outside of his right knee. The pain, which kicked in after a mile or two of running, would steadily worsen until he couldn't continue. When he asked his family practitioner for a referral to a sports-medicine specialist, the doctor was less than sympathetic. "He told me that if it hurt to run, then I should stop running," says Smith, 35, a financial reports manager for a Pittsburgh-based chemicals company.
Smith pressed for the referral and eventually got it. "The specialist wanted to know about any training changes I'd made and what surfaces I ran on,"Smith says. "He took X-rays, examined my running shoes, measured my muscles and my leg length, and inspected my posture."
The diagnosis? Illiotibial band syndrome, a common overuse injury involving the ligament that runs down the outside of the thigh. Smith did have to reduce his mileage and cross-train. But after two months of physical therapy, which included active stretching and weight training to strengthen his hip and quad muscles, Smith was pain-free and back to his usual distance and intensity. As Smith discovered, just as it makes sense to buy your running shoes from a salesperson who knows the difference between motion-control and cushioning shoes, it's also smart to seek out a sports-medicine specialist who understands an athlete's body.
