A surge in knee injuries among runners has been linked to the rise of ‘runfluencers’ on social media, physiotherapists have warned. The trend of sharing intense running challenges online is leading many to ignore pain and push through injuries, causing long-term damage.
Uzo Ehiogu, a physiotherapist and founder of Inside Edge in Birmingham, said runner’s knee—a catch-all term for pain at the front of the knee—is often an overload injury that develops slowly. He advises anyone feeling pain to back off for two weeks, then resume at 25-30% lower intensity, increasing by 10% per week.
Tim Jonze, a runner who suffered from runner’s knee for 18 months, described how he ignored pain while trying to run a sub-20-minute 5km. After an MRI revealed shallow grooves in his knee, a specialist told him to consider lower-impact sports. Jonze eventually recovered through physiotherapy, including wall squats and single-leg squats.
Ehiogu emphasised that most runners can avoid serious injury by listening to their bodies and not copying the extreme routines of online influencers. He warned that repeatedly reinjuring the same tissue can lead to persistent knee problems that become ‘recalcitrant’.
