Check it yourself
Where does it hurt?
Ten places, and one thing you can test at home for each of them. None of this names your injury. It tells you what to look at next, and it is the same first question we would ask you.
Low back
Notice when it is at its worst, and whether anything travels below the knee.
- Worse after sitting still and easier once you move is the common pattern, and running is usually not what caused it.
- Pain that travels below the knee, or numbness or weakness in the leg, is a different conversation and worth having early.
Outside of the hip
Stand on the sore leg for 30 seconds, then press the bony point on the side of the hip.
- Pain within those 30 seconds makes gluteal tendinopathy very likely. In the study that tested it against MRI, it moved the odds from 50% to 98%.
- If the bony point is not tender to press, it is probably something else.
Knee
Put one finger on the sore spot and see whether you can cover it.
- Five places on the knee behave differently enough that the same advice cannot cover them, and where you can point is what separates them.
- Vague and hard to point to is a different answer from one small point on bone.
- 1Around or behind the kneecap
- 2Outside of the knee, just above the joint line
- 3Just below the kneecap, on the tendon
- 4On the joint line, inside or outside
- 5One small tender spot on the bone
Shin
Press along the inside edge of the shin bone, from below the knee down to above the ankle.
- Soreness spread over 5 cm or more of the bone edge fits shin splints.
- One patch you can cover with a fingertip is treated as a bone stress injury until proven otherwise.
Spread out
Sore along 5 cm or more of the bone edge
One spot
Sore in a patch you can cover with a fingertip
Ankle
Find the bony bump on each side of the ankle. Press behind it, then in front of it.
- Inside, running down into the arch, is the tibialis posterior tendon. A single-leg heel raise usually confirms it.
- Outside, behind the bump, is the peroneal tendons. In front of and below the bump is where a sprain hurts.
A sprain
Sore in front of and below the ankle bone
The tendons
Sore behind the ankle bone and forward from it
Foot
Point to it with one finger, then notice what your first thirty seconds out of bed feel like.
- Worst in the first few steps and easing within minutes points at a tendon or the plantar fascia.
- Worse the longer you are on your feet points at bone, and that is handled differently.
- 1Under the heel, at the front edge of the heel bone
- 2The back of the heel, where the tendon attaches
- 3Behind the inside ankle bone, running down into the arch
- 4One small tender point on top of the midfoot
- 5Under the ball of the foot, or between the toes
Back of the thigh
Think about how it started, and about sitting down.
- A sudden catch at speed that stopped you running is a hamstring strain.
- A deep ache under the sit bone that built over weeks and is worse on a long drive is the tendon. They are opposites to treat.
Standing
Barely any
Sitting upright
Some
Low seat or car
More
Hamstring stretch
Most
Calf
Do a slow heel raise standing with the knee straight, then sitting with the knee bent.
- The gastrocnemius crosses the knee, so bending it takes that muscle out of the job.
- If the bent-knee version is the one that hurts, you are dealing with the soleus, which is most calf injuries.
Knee straight
The gastrocnemius is doing the work
Knee bent
It hands over to the soleus
Back of the heel
Pinch the tendon between finger and thumb and work down towards the heel bone.
- Sore in the middle of the tendon is mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy.
- Sore right where it meets the bone is insertional, and it is loaded differently from the start.
Under the heel
Sit for a while, stand up, and count how many steps it takes to ease off.
- Worst in the first few steps and gone within a minute or two is plantar heel pain, and first-step pain is what the trials measure.
- Building through the day instead is worth having looked at.
These narrow things down. They do not name an injury, and none of them replaces being examined. If something hurts at rest or at night, swells, or sits on one small point of bone, treat that as a reason to ask rather than to keep testing.
Still not sure
Tell us what's going on
Four questions, two minutes. We read every one personally, and you'll hear from us the same day. If online rehab isn't right for your injury, we'll tell you and point you somewhere better.
Who you'll work with
Teis S. K., Bachelor in Physiotherapy, MSc in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy
Physiotherapist and researcher in musculoskeletal health. You work with the same person from the first message to the last follow-up.
Prefer email? tsk@pacerrehab.com
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