Running again after a knee injury
How to tell when your knee is ready, and a simple way to build back without setting yourself back.
Most runners come back from a knee injury too fast, feel fine for a week, and are back where they started by the third. The knee is ready later than it feels ready.
Signs you can start
You can walk briskly for 30 minutes with no pain during or after.
You can go down stairs normally.
You can do ten single-leg squats to a chair on the injured side without pain.
There is no swelling the morning after activity.
Building back
Start with intervals: run one minute, walk two, for twenty minutes, on a flat soft surface. Do that three times in the first week with a rest day between each. If the knee is quiet the next morning, lengthen the running part by a minute the following week.
Add distance before speed, and no more than a tenth more each week. Soreness that fades within a day is normal. Pain that sharpens as you run, or swelling afterward, means step back a week.
When to come in
See us if the knee gives way, locks, or is still swelling after two weeks of careful return.
This article is general information, not advice about your own health. If something worries you, see your doctor.