Saxon Clinic specialist Orthopaedic Consultant, Mr Ahsan Sheeraz, shares his advice and insight on knee pain in relation to running.

  1. I get swelling or pain in the joint after sport. What could this mean, should I stop activity and if so for how long?

Swelling and pain in a joint after sport is nature’s way of telling us to “seek help, there is something wrong with your joint”, it’s always better to stop the exercise and running and rest it for a bit if it settles in 1-2 weeks it’s unlikely to be anything serious but anything beyond that should raise concerns and would be advisable to see a Trauma and Orthopaedic surgeon. The orthopaedic surgeon will then take a detailed history, perform an examination, and if necessary perform an MRI scan to look for cartilage defects, meniscal tears etc, and to reach the diagnosis.

2.            How can I prevent an overuse injury?

This depends on the exact type of overuse injury, say for example tennis elbow is happening due to a player playing racket sports and not holding his racket properly, then good physio, stretching exercises and advice about better, grip, posture, racket or strings tension can all help. Treatment advice is specific to the particular overuse injury.

3.            What would you advise for keeping healthy hips and knees, both in sport and in our everyday activities?

Eat healthily, stay fit and active – exercise at least three times a week, don’t gain too much weight, and ensure you get adequate rest and sleep. I would also highly recommend making sure you have appropriate footwear and always do warm-up and stretching exercises before any sporting activity to prepare your body. Swimming, cycling, and cross trainer are all low-impact exercises that are good for protecting knees and hip joints.