I banged my left knee really hard working in the yard last weekend. I felt it going up and down stairs that night.
I run 7 days a week and the next day I did 12 miles. I wanted to see how my knee felt but it only hurt for the first 1-2 miles (inside/lower knee). After that the pain was gone and I felt really good, so I did the full 12 miles I planned.
I've continued to run each morning of this week, but doing super short 3 mile runs at a slightly slow/easy pace. Each day the knee hurts when I come down on it, but only for 1-2 miles. Literally near the same point each day the pain stops and I feel good landing and pushing off (even going downhill). When I finish my run, my knee continues to feel good.
I have no pain when I wake up in the morning or later in the day. I continue to notice a slight pain going up/down stairs. I see no swelling. I can push and squeeze my knee and I feel nothing (feels good). Each day it seems to feel better on the stairs.
So my question is should I continue running on it since it only hurts in the beginning of my run? I figure if it feels so good at the end of the run, I can't be doing further damage to it. But obviously I want it to heal and go away. It does seem to be getting better, but very slowly and it's been a week (6 runs).
I've never had any knee injuries/pain, so this is new territory for me. I know I didn't injury my knee running, but I keep questioning if I should be running on it.
Thanks!