Popliteus Tendonitis

Tom Nor

Barefooters
Jul 4, 2018
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This is a new one for me and I don't find many references to it so I thought I would share my experience.

I started barefoot last year and did quite a bit of barefoot running last year from c. April - November 2018. No injuries, no problems (edit: just a small calf strain at the very start of barefoot running - I know this is quite common for people transitioning - it went away very quickly). Did a half marathon (with shoes) in September no problems. Then, over the winter, mostly running in shoes. In March, an annoying pain in the outside of the knee, not when running, but obviously I am not stupid, I run a lot and its bound to be something to do with running so off to the physio.......he diagnoses (with some confidence) the above, so I am on rest for a few weeks. It's an overuse injury, and runners get it, although it is not as common as some other problems.

Does anyone think this might be related to running with shoes on for a few months after several months of a lot of barefoot running? The articles I can find on this, suggest something to do with the alignment of the knee, so it seems plausible.

Anyway, first day of back to running, and its spring so I am happy to be barefoot again. No problems, so far......

Any similar experiences ?
 
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When you started back barefoot running in March, did the pain come on instantly or over a few runs?
 
I have not been clear, this is the timeline:

April 2018 - November 2018 = mostly barefoot. No pain no problems

December 2018 - March 2019 = all with shoes. No pain when running, but this small niggle at odd times although really only since February 2019 - which the physio said is this thing, popliteus tendinitis.

late March to early April 2019 = no running to rest and get better.

Now (late April) = start running again, mostly barefoot. So far, so good.

So, my suspicion is, that I had good form and no problems while running barefoot, then when the shoes were back on over winter, it caused problems.

But it could be other things too - I went for a week of skiing in February. That is definitely a sort of knee strain potential thing.

What is odd about this thing, is that it is actually not sore at all when running, it is one of those next day things. The physio said this can be because running gets the blood going in the muscles, and alleviates the inflammation, its the next morning it tightens up.

TBH this is not a bad injury in any way, but I just thought it was interesting and a niche that hadn't had a mention in these forums before. Like all injuries, I suspect if it was ignored and not rested, it could get worse.
 
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It's possible that your shoes could have been throwing off your form and causing this pain. Your're right though, I don't recall anyone talking about popliteus tendinitis on here before. Easy healing.
 
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