3 Lessons I’ve Learnt Early in Rehab From My Knee Injury

It’s now been 6.5 weeks since I stopped running after my knee injury, and the early part of rehab has already taught me a lot.

Not just about knees.

But about load, patience, identity, and how easy it is to accidentally keep poking the bear.

As a clinician, I spend a lot of time helping injured runners navigate this exact process. I talk about load management, respecting symptoms, not chasing fitness too early, and making decisions based on what the injury needs rather than what the athlete wants.

And then, when it was my own knee, I still made some of the same mistakes.

That’s probably been one of the more useful parts of this injury. Not enjoyable, obviously, but useful. It’s reminded me how easy it is to lose perspective when you are the one injured.

A quick timeline

I completed the Ballarat Marathon, and afterwards the knee was sore and swollen.

Initially, I rested completely, as I usually do after a marathon, and the knee settled. After that, I resumed some easy training and things were actually going pretty well for about a week.

Then it flared worse than before.

From there, I had a short period where I tried to keep training hard through cross-training and gym work. The knee was settling, but slowly. Because it wasn’t particularly painful during the sessions, I convinced myself I was doing the right thing.

Then I had the MRI.

Once I knew what I was actually dealing with, I backed right off.

And unsurprisingly, the knee settled much faster.

Lesson 1: It’s easy to overdo cross-training

This is probably the most obvious lesson, but also the one I think a lot of runners get wrong.

When you stop running, it’s very tempting to replace running with everything else.

More bike.

More gym.

More “safe” load.

More of anything that feels like you are still training.

And to be honest, that’s exactly what I did.

Before the scan, I was pushing too hard on the bike and in the gym. It didn’t really hurt, and the swelling was gradually settling, so I convinced myself it was fine.

But the knee was still irritated.

It was still swollen.

And it was still being asked to tolerate more than it probably wanted at that stage.

This is something I see all the time with injured runners. They stop running, but then try to maintain the same training mindset with cross-training. And while cross-training can be a really useful tool, it still counts as load.

Just because it isn’t running, doesn’t mean it isn’t stress.

That was the reminder for me.

Once I reduced the intensity and stopped trying to “hold onto everything”, the knee improved much faster. The goal shifted from maintaining fitness to calming the knee down and creating a better environment for it to recover.

Sometimes that is the hardest part early in rehab.

You don’t need to prove how fit you are.

You need to give the injury a reason to settle.

Lesson 2: The scan changed my behaviour

The MRI didn’t magically fix anything.

But it gave me clarity.

And that clarity changed my behaviour.

Before the scan, I was trying to manage things based on symptoms, assumptions, and probably a bit of wishful thinking. The knee was swollen, but it wasn’t particularly painful with everything I was doing, so I kept finding ways to justify the training.

Once I had the MRI result, it changed the question I was asking.

Instead of:

“How much fitness can I hang onto?”

It became:

“What does this knee actually need right now?”

That was a much better question.

Early rehab isn’t about proving fitness. It’s about creating the conditions for the injury to calm down, adapt, and then gradually build back up.

Now, I don’t think everyone needs a scan to achieve this.

A good health professional can often provide that same clarity. They can help you zoom out, make sense of the bigger picture, and separate what you want to do from what the injury probably needs.

But for me, trying to self-manage this, I had lost perspective.

The scan gave me the reset I needed.

It reminded me that being a clinician doesn’t make you immune to making emotional decisions about your own injury. In fact, sometimes it probably makes it easier to rationalise things because you know enough to convince yourself that what you are doing is reasonable.

This was a good reminder that sometimes you need someone, or something, to help you step back.

Lesson 3: There’s more to life than running

I obviously want to get back to running. Running is a big part of my life. It’s part of my work, my social life, my health, my goals, and probably part of how I see myself.

But right now, I’m not desperately missing it.

And that has been interesting to sit with.

Taking a leaf from my podcast conversation with psychotherapist Freya Bronwin, this injury has given me a chance to reflect a bit more on identity and running.

I have family.

I have friends.

I have work that I enjoy.

And while running is important to me, it isn’t everything.

I think finishing Ballarat helped with that. It gave me a sense of closure. I completed the race, and although the aftermath clearly wasn’t ideal, I don’t feel like something was left unfinished.

That has probably made this period easier mentally.

For a lot of runners, injury can feel like a loss of identity. And I completely understand why. When running is part of your routine, your friendships, your goals, and your sense of progress, it’s hard when that suddenly gets taken away.

But it can also be a useful time to take stock.

Not in a forced “everything happens for a reason” way.

More just a reminder that running can matter deeply without needing to be the only thing that matters.

Where I’m at now

At the moment, the focus is pretty simple.

• Settle the knee.

• Restore range.

• Rebuild strength.

• Gradually earn the right to run again.

That doesn’t mean doing nothing. But it does mean being more disciplined with what I choose to do and, just as importantly, what I choose not to do.

No rush.

No panic.

No pretending cross-training is “free”.

Just the boring basics, done well.

That’s not always exciting.

But early rehab rarely is.

And if this injury has reminded me of anything so far, it’s that sometimes the best rehab decision is not the most impressive one. It’s the one that gives the body the best chance to settle, adapt, and build again.