Stick Needles in My Knees

Many moons ago, I was running the 3/4 mile from my apartment to the gym in a 30 degree night, when I felt a sharp pain in my left knee. Rather than walking, I kept pushing through it because that’s just how tough I am.

Well, for months after, I could only run less than half a mile and in order to walk up/down stairs, I had to keep the leg straight and kind of limp along. Thankfully, I could still squat and deadlift normally.

Eventually, the only issue was when running. The pain would shift from one knee to another, and different parts of the knees. I managed it by stopping when it started hurting, and slowly building up from half a mile to six miles. If I didn’t run for a while, I had to start all over again.

Since I don’t usually run distances longer than three miles, this wasn’t a big issue. But for some reason in 2023, I decided to do Ricochet’s Riot, a 16-mile trail run.

So I told my friend Dr. Lily at Ninja Physio, “Alright, time to stick needles in my knees.”

I wasn’t looking forward to the needles, but that was preferable to painfully limping along miles of rough terrain.

Thankfully, rather than just sticking needles in, she did her strength and movement tests and found that the issue was most likely with my hips. I was skeptical because of the old knee injury and my hips didn’t hurt at all, but if I knew what I was doing, I’d have figured it out already, right?

She did her thing, and in training, I ran up to six miles without issues (yeah, I trained six miles for a 16 mile run ). Six miles is great, but would it hold for 16? Throughout the run I was just waiting for one of my knees to start hurting, but it never happened. It felt like a miracle.

I also realized toward the end that it was the longest distance I had ever ran. Not too shabby.

Had I gone to a doctor, what would they have done? Likely taken X-rays, MRIs, found wear and tear in my knees, and say I should get injections or surgery. And, of course, to not run so much or at all.

I’m not saying not to go to the doctor, but definitely consult with someone who actually knows about exercise, movement, and solving issues naturally. And remember, anyone can put “sports” in their business name or description.

For years, I had thought of doing a Spartan Ultra but thought I wouldn’t be able to because of the recurring knee issue. But now, instead of “if” it’s a matter of “when” (let’s go 2027!).