MFR 123: Thoughts on Knee Surgery

This episode is about knee surgery for runners, the considerations, topics for thought. It will not tell you when you need surgery. I’m not a doctor. It doesn’t bash knee surgery, not at all, but it is food for thought, things to consider, if knee surgery may be in your future, or if a medical professional is recommending it for you.

First, I need to cover some critical points.

For as long as running has been a popular sport, some people have believed that running is bad for your knees. Let me put that rumor to rest. Running is NOT bad for most people’s knees. Some people believe it will ruin your knees. This has been studied and evaluated and researched and disproven.

Now, some people do have problems with their knees, especially women, because of the way our bodies are made. My point is that a blanket statement that running ruins your knees is entirely wrong.

That said, I’ve worked with many runners with knee problems. As I mention in this episode, the great majority had injured their knees in some way, years ago, usually playing sports in high school or college. In those cases, there’s not much I can do. In most cases, though, I’ve found that when people do two things, the pain is either largely alleviated or goes away, completely. Those two things are:

Strengthening all the other muscles. The muscles around the knee, stabilize it; if they’re weak, then the knee is at risk. Other times, though, strengthening the hips or core muscles is what makes the difference.
Correcting form. Almost always when I get these people to run with smaller steps, making sure their body, their center of gravity is over their foot when it hits the ground, there is no more problem.

Let’s say this didn’t work for you, then you may be one of many runners looking at knee surgery. In this episode, I relate the experiences of some of my friends as well as my own experience and provide some insight that I think will be helpful.