is it normal for your knees to hurt during/after exercise?

benni11

I've been doing cardio for months now but I recently started jogging every day and doing insanity. I noticed towards the end of my work out my left knee starts hurting. It's sharp pain if I'm jogging and jumping and dull or sore like feeling at rest. Is it just because I haven't been this active in a while or something is really wrong? I don't have insurance so I'd hope I could figure out a way to prevent and relive the pain instead of paying so much to see my physician. Hoping is nothing major, easy fix maybe my knees need to get used to jogging and intense cardio??

MisterDerpington

It's why I dislike Insanity. It frankly doesn't show good form in a lot of exercises. All the "squats" he shows have you doing 1/4 a regular range of motion and that can put a lot of pressure on your knees.

kckBxer396

As far as I know, it's pretty normal. I weigh a pretty good amount (about 185-190),so I'm sure that's what causes my knee pain. Do you have good running shoes? You're not wearing ankle weights while doing all of this, are you? As I dropped weight, worked on strength training,and warming up with at least 5 mins of walking before jogging, my knees have felt better. This may not be your case though. Best of luck finding your answers!

benni11

Actually while doing insanity my wrist hurt at times too. So I'm just working my joints too much? I go to a local YMCA and they just started with insanity classes, we have a actual instructor not the videos. So I haven't seen the videos of it and the instructor is always clear on how to do certain things and how not too. And yes I wear running shoes, no ankle weights. I do strength training but not the same day.

HK2PT

I'd say the answer is no - there is a difference between muscle soreness and pain during/after exercise - you don't want pain. Since you are running daily AND doing insanity, I would say your muscles may be getting fatigued/tired and you're probably losing your form. I would suggest a couple of things:

1) make sure when you are doing squats etc in insanity that you are doing them with proper form - making sure you stick your butt out so your knees don't go past your toes, and also making sure your knees don't flop in, especially when coming out of a squat. One downside with insanity is they often want you to do things super quick, but sometimes you lose form when doing this. If the pain is on the outside of your knees you could have a tight IT band, which is connective tissue/fascia that runs between your hip and knees on the outside of your leg. Ensuring you have proper form and googling IT band stretches/massages could help with this.

2) Make sure you give yourself adequate recovery time. When you exercise your muscles actually break down under the stress. This is when you feel the burn during and soreness after working out. When you gain muscle/strength/speed it's actually because your muscles are adapting to the injury of exercise, so your muscles get bigger so they can do the work without breaking down next time (which is why after a while you have to up the anti to get any further results). However if you don't give your muscles time to recover, they will not rebuild optimally and you will fatigue more quickly leading to the improper form I mentioned earlier which can lead to your pain. What I would suggest is if you do a leg work out, maybe the next day don't job, just focus on arms/abs to give your legs time to recover. I don't do a workout again until I am recovered from the previous one for that body segment. The last thing you want to do is push too hard, have weak muscles then blow your knee just because you didn't let your body heal/get stronger.

If these don't help then it could be a more deeply routed mechanical problem (the way your skeleton and muscles produce movement) in which case I would go see a physiotherapist opposed to a doctor. They can help you with movement related pain and in the unlikely case that it is something more serious (probs not due to your young age = healthy joints) then they can tell you then to see a doctor, but I'd just skip that step and save your money in the mean time, as a doctor would probably just give you a referal to see a physio anyways (and maybe some pain meds if it's bad enough).

Anyways, hope this helps!

Brunette122

I never had an issue with working out, however, at 28 I started the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and developed a knee injury. it sucked. I went to a PT and he watched me walk, etc and noticed that my knees point outward instead of forward. at the appointments he would stretch me and give me stretches to work on at home. it has def helped but I also got supportive running shoes and I stopped doing 30 day shred everyday. make sure to ice your knees really good after your workout! I use an elliptical now to get my cardio.

meshashesha2012

no it's not normal . pain is your body's way of telling you something is abnormal.

you probably need to check your form . i noticed with workouts like insanity where speed is important it's really easy to develop bad form

Trechechus

Despite what people are saying, I'm going to have to say, no, it is not normal.

I have screwed up my left knee because I did not heed the warnings that my body was sending me when I was running and overworking it. It now acts up often and I need a knee support and lots of ice after races or hikes.

Make sure your form is good, that your shoes fit really well, and that you have adequate padding wherever you strike your foot (especially if you are a heel striker, like me.)

lisabinco

no it's not normal . pain is your body's way of telling you something is abnormal.

No, it's not normal. My knees hurt during/after exercise because they are bum knees (with scars to prove it). It could be your form, your shoes, muscle tears, cartilage damage... you should get it checked before it becomes serious.

cafeaulait7

Actually while doing insanity my wrist hurt at times too. So I'm just working my joints too much? I go to a local YMCA and they just started with insanity classes, we have a actual instructor not the videos. So I haven't seen the videos of it and the instructor is always clear on how to do certain things and how not too. And yes I wear running shoes, no ankle weights. I do strength training but not the same day.

If a lot of your joints seem sensitive, you might want to check and see if you are hypermobile. You would usually have noticed it before, but as you get older it becomes more obvious, too, if you have it.

I'm hypermobile and strengthening the muscles around my joints is something I'm working on. Mine has gotten to the point where I can't do certain moves repetitively, so I have to limit the time on those. My kneecaps are so wiggly that they've worn down to be quite painful because they don't track right. My form was always good! It's my actual tendons that cause things to pull strangely during moves that are completely safe for others.

Rest periods are really important, too, if that is what you have (it's a spectrum, btw). You have to give your tendons an actual rest day as if they were muscles in strength training.

My knees always used to hurt some after doing things, like forever (but then all my joints are wonky). I didn't ever get them diagnosed until they got so bad that stairs were horrible and walking was bothersome. I had to cut out certain weightlifting moves completely, and that helped a lot.

benni11

Thanks everyone. I usually do one day cardio the next strength training then a rest day because of soreness but I had a trainer tell me when im sore and still want to be active to do cardio so I usually get on elliptical or jogg a bit. But im going to cut out jogging on my "rest" days. Also its right by my knee cap that hurts. I'll definitely try icing after workouts when it hurts but it usually goes away the next day like nothing. Will definitely make sure I have good form when doing insanity.

Mokey41

It's not normal to have any kind of sharp pain while exercising. It's also not a good idea to run every day. Give your body and joints a rest. If you absolutely feel the need to exercise every day then do some brisk walking or some light weights on your "rest" day. Working out hard every day doesn't make you more fit or cause more weight loss, it just leads to injury and failure.