Running on stairs provides a great aerobic workout and strengthens your leg and core body muscles. However, the activity places an enormous amount of pressure on your knees. If you already have some arthritis of the knee, the exercise can be especially painful. If you've developed new knee pain from your workout, it's likely due to one of two conditions.
Patellofemoral Pain
Patellofemoral pain is the most common knee condition among runners and stair climbers. It's the result of overuse of the knee, repeated flexing of the joint that causes a tracking issue between the patella, or kneecap, which no longer tracks properly on the groove in the femur, the bone above the kneecap in the thigh. The result is irritation beneath the kneecap. Symptoms include pain and swelling around and under the kneecap. The pain intensifies going up and down stairs and hills.
Patellofemoral Treatment
To treat patellofemoral pain, you must stop flexing your knee joint. Your doctor will tell you to rest, ice the knee for 20 minutes at a time and possibly take anti-inflammatory drugs. Once the pain becomes less intense, you'll have to work with a physical therapist to strengthen the quadriceps, the muscles in your thigh that stabilize movement of the knee cap. Physical therapy is usually all it takes to fix this problem. However, some people may require surgery to smooth the underside of the patella.
Iliotibial Band Syndrome
Iliotibial band syndrome also presents as a result of over flexing of the knee joint when going up and down stairs and running. This condition develops when the iliotibial band, thick fibrous tissue that starts at your hip and runs across your knee, becomes irritated from too much friction at the knee cap. The lateral pain you feel starts out slowly but soon becomes so intense you'll have to stop running altogether. It's especially painful when going up and down stairs.
Iliotibial Band Treatment
Treating iliotibial band syndrome is challenging. Your doctor will order you to stop all flexing of your knee, and tell you to ice it for 20 minutes at a time and possibly take anti-inflammatories. If that's not effective at reducing the pain you may need a cortisone shot. Once you can move the knee without intense pain, you'll work with a physical therapist to stretch the iliotibial band and strengthen the gluteus medius muscle. It takes at least 3-6 weeks of physical therapy and is not always a cure to the problem. This condition can result in surgery to release the iliotibial band where it crosses the knee.
