Running knee problems HELP

Leebett

I have started a c25k program and I am on Week 4. My right knee is starting to hurt. I noticed it a little over a week ago, but it went away so I figured just muscle growth. Sunday was my last run, Monday was a rest day and today I did 30minutes of Wii Free Step and my knee is definitely bothering me. I probably should mention that I weigh just under 300lbs so I know that is a lot of stress on my joints, but I can't believe how much I enjoy that peaceful time (getting chased by zombies) in the morning.

Should I be icing after runs or wearing a brace. I really don't want to quit as I'm quite proud of my accomplishments and progress thus far. Would love to hear some advice. Thanks

905nik

I recently saw a personal trainer about setting a routine to help me with my running goal without screwing up my knees. He said that at my weight I shouldn't be running as much as I am or I will definitely screw up my knees. He recommended running only once a week or every other week and using an elyptical or stationary bike 2-3 days a week along with muscle workouts to strengthen my muscles for running without the damage-causing impact from my weight.

tunedvwgti

Hi,

first off, Congrats on running.

Now,

As far as the pain goes, it is probably something related to your stride. I would highly recommend seeking out a reputable physical therapist in your area who can teach you how to activate hips and glutes while running.

believe it or not, most running injuries actually stem from stride abnormalities which originate in the hips and glutes. best of luck!

keep it up!

bert16

I'm not a doctor, and only you'll know whether or not you're at the point at which you should consult one. However, the first thing I think of when I hear about a new runner with any particular aches and pains is whether or not you've been been properly fitted for running shoes. One of the most important things you can do is go to a specialty running store (not a huge sporting goods store, but a real, honest to goodness local running store) and have them do a fit and gait analysis for you. Running in the wrong shoes for you, which has nothing to do with which shoes are highly rated in magazines or by other people, but rather what works for your feet, body size, and gait, can make an ENORMOUS difference in terms of your likelihood of injury.

Hope this helps and happy running! :flowerforyou:

knightreader

for the love of crumb cake, do not wear a brace without seeing a doctor. different braces do different things, and some braces do nothing at all. if you wear the wrong type of brace, you can do more damage than good. my advice would be to rest for a few days, then start up with a small fun. if knee pain persists, go to an orthopedic and make sure he prescribes an MRI.

good luck!

fleetzz

I just had the same experience---tried all the running shoes stuff and insoles and finally made my way to the orthopedic dr--I had to stop all running and walking. Why? Well, my muscles had turned to mush. I am physically very weak, and when I started to run my patella wasn't tracking correctly (weak Vastus Medialis or something), and since all my muscles are weak most of the stress of running landed on my ligaments and joints. I started running with a friend and not a trainer and wasn't doing anything but run (well, really a slow jog, but more than I had done for years).

So--could be your shoes, could be your weight, could be your knees, but also could be physical weakness. Make sure that you are doing strength training. Go see someone like an orthopedist and get their opinion. See a podiatrist to determine the best shoes for you (or inserts or whatever else will help make the mechanics of running move along smoothly).

Good luck. Knee problems are a pain!

Leebett

I'm not a doctor, and only you'll know whether or not you're at the point at which you should consult one. However, the first thing I think of when I hear about a new runner with any particular aches and pains is whether or not you've been been properly fitted for running shoes. One of the most important things you can do is go to a specialty running store (not a huge sporting goods store, but a real, honest to goodness local running store) and have them do a fit and gait analysis for you. Running in the wrong shoes for you, which has nothing to do with which shoes are highly rated in magazines or by other people, but rather what works for your feet, body size, and gait, can make an ENORMOUS difference in terms of your likelihood of injury.

Hope this helps and happy running! :flowerforyou:

This has been on my to do list, but I think it just moved up the ladder. I've been doing more research and it looks like footwear is WAY more important than I thought. Thanks for the reminder.

Leebett

for the love of crumb cake, do not wear a brace without seeing a doctor. different braces do different things, and some braces do nothing at all. if you wear the wrong type of brace, you can do more damage than good. my advice would be to rest for a few days, then start up with a small fun. if knee pain persists, go to an orthopedic and make sure he prescribes an MRI.

good luck!

Thanks for the advice. I have a long list of NON-Med School doctors aka friends who are always diagnosing each other. Going to try rest, new shoes and if all else fails go to the dr.

Leebett

Hi,

first off, Congrats on running.

Now,

As far as the pain goes, it is probably something related to your stride. I would highly recommend seeking out a reputable physical therapist in your area who can teach you how to activate hips and glutes while running.

believe it or not, most running injuries actually stem from stride abnormalities which originate in the hips and glutes. best of luck!

keep it up!

Thanks for the positive words. I'm really proud of this accomplishment.

ATT949

I have started a c25k program and I am on Week 4. My right knee is starting to hurt. I noticed it a little over a week ago, but it went away so I figured just muscle growth. Sunday was my last run, Monday was a rest day and today I did 30minutes of Wii Free Step and my knee is definitely bothering me. I probably should mention that I weigh just under 300lbs so I know that is a lot of stress on my joints, but I can't believe how much I enjoy that peaceful time (getting chased by zombies) in the morning.

Should I be icing after runs or wearing a brace. I really don't want to quit as I'm quite proud of my accomplishments and progress thus far. Would love to hear some advice. Thanks

I was 295 +/- when I started losing weight and I did not try running. Instead, I used the ellip for 6 months, got down to 200 pounds, started running, and ran a half marathon 10 weeks later.

The reason I could run the half was not because of the 10 weeks of running - that gave me the "speed" (2:21 is not fast, though). What allowed me to run 13.1 miles was that I had trained on the elliptical for half a year.

Wanna know a secret? When runners get injured, the two favorite exercises to maintain cardio fitness are bike riding and using the elliptical. So you're not "putting off running" when you're on the ellip - you're training to run!

The reason I chose not to run was that I was an athlete through high school, college, and in the US Army (82nd Airborne - hooah!) and I know that running can take a toll on your knees. Having had knee problems in college, I knew that I didn't want to put my body through that kind of pounding.

One of the differences between running and walking is that, when running, both feet leave the ground. And that means that you're jumping from one foot to the other. When we run, we load our knees with between 3 and 4 times our body weight. I know that my body would not have been happy by subjecting it to half a ton force every time I took at step.

One thing that I learned, the hard way, was the difference between muscular strength, which allows you to run, and skeletal strength, which allows you to run day after day after day. You're caught up in the feeling of increased muscular strength but your skeletal strength is low and, like happened to me, has probably been compromised.

The pain that your feeling? I'd bet that's part of your skeleton letting you know, in a gentle way, that you're doing a little too much, a little too soon. Many folks disregard those gentle warning signs and press on because it's hard to "see" what's happening to the soft tissue inside the body. As they keep running, the damage continues, hidden, until it's not painless. At that point, someone who really wanted to get into running now wonder why people run because it causes so many injuries!

Please check in with an ortho specialist (a "sports doc") or even your GP if they have experience with runners. Use their advice as a guide and, always, err on the side of caution.

bubblygoldfish

Depending on how often you run, this could be "runners knee", which is caused by poor hamstring flexibility, limited quadricep strength, placing increased pressure on the ligaments/tendons around your knee. I agree with new running shoes. I developed this when I started running more, and I used a "free run" type shoe. Voila- pain. I stretched my hamstrings more, iced my knee, got more supportive shoes, and reduced my frequency of runs until the pain went away. Problem solved.

I am not a doctor, i just have studied kinesiology and phsical therapy at the bachelors level. If the pain is sharp, intense, or persistent, you should make an appointment with your doctor immediatley.

Good luck, and I am proud of your desire to get fit!

clepant

I was 220 when I started my weight loss. I always walked. Easy on the joints. I could not run because of the pain it caused to my weight bearing knees. If you have pain, you should not run....rest. Look at Jeff Galloway's book Run Walk Run. He has people starting out at 30 sec of run and 30 seconds to 2 minutes of walk. Baby steps. He says that the runners he trains do not suffer injuries because when they feel pain, he tells them to stop. We like to be martyrs and work through pain. But pain is our bodies way of telling us to stop. As others said, it could be your weight, it could be your physical condition and it could be to big of a stride...but do not continue to work through the pain.

I did not take up running till this past April when I knew that my weight was not going to be an issue and I had improved the strength of my legs. I did elliptical work all last winter to help with my conditioning and I power walked an hour every single day. . It did not stress my joints.