Knee pain and exercise

When i started trying out the incline on the treadmill, my knee rebelled. i was also told not to run on the treadmill, it's too much of a strain on your knees. This came from the personal trainer at the gym. He said jogging outside is better for you. i also started taking glucosamine for healthy joint revival and i have no more pain in the knee.

When I first started running about a year ago, I had quite a few ailments to work through (knee pain being one of them). I started doing the cross training instead of running (same basic motion/effect, MUCH less impact on the joint). In addition, some strength training of your quadriceps muscles will help strengthen your knee, reduce the pain you're feeling now, and make injury less likely when doing more high impact exercises. The leg raise machine at the gym can help with that. I was told (my a PT) to raise the weights up, lower only a little, raise up again.. repeat repeat, rather than lowering it all the way down and back up again.

Hopefully some of this will help! Knee pain is no fun.

For me it is my right knee. I started walking 5 miles a day since the beginning of April and It hurts especially when I go downhill. I use Epsom salt bath to relieve the pain. It usually works.

argh, going thru this myself lately, but in both knees, from running on treadmill. ITs been a week, ouch

Before using a brace, you should seek professional help to determine the cause of the knee pain and to get some exercises that can treat the problem. A brace should either be a "last resort" --i.e. something you turn to when the structural damage is too great and cannot be repaired-- or as a temporary intervention that allows you to continue to exercise while undergoing treatment and rehab. When and how this might be appropriate will be different depending on the problem and its cause.

Indiscriminate use of braces can make the problem worse in the long run or, at the very least, delay achieving a more permanent solution. But there is so much variety, there is no way to give useful advice without a firm diagnosis.

Going through the same thing right now, although my pain isn't slight, it's major! I started C25K two weeks ago and at first it was just soreness. Towards the end of last week it got worse...my knees felt very stiff while running and got worse over the weekend even though I was resting them. Today I pushed myself and did C25K again. My knees didn't hurt so much while running but now I can barely get up and down without being in major pain. Which isn't fun with a 2 year old's diapers to change!
I'm trying to take it easy, use ice and taking advil. They feel like they're throbbing almost, it is no fun.
Definitely take a rest or see a dr before it gets any worse. I'm going to steer clear of high impact workouts this week and hope it clears up on it's own.

I have horrible knees! Arthritis in both for the last 17 years, 3 surgeries on each, no cartilage, tons of "crunching," wating on insurrance to decide to do total knee replacements (they have a minimum age requirement for TKR's)

Although your situation is most likely different from mine, I think the following recomendations from my Drs. can be adapted to fit your situation as you recover.

My Rheumatologist and Orthopedic surgeon both say the same thing when it comes to exercise: 1) on BAD pain days Do non-impact exercises like walking in the pool or swiming, avoid weight training on these days. 2) on Moderate pain days, do non-impact or low- impact, full range of motion exercises the eliptical or recumbant bike are good low impact full range of motion exercises, do weight training on these days but take it easy don't do as many reps or don't use as much weight. 3) on Good or low pain days, do low-impact or medium impact exercises (treadmill at speeds lower than 3 mph is considered a medium impact exercise) do weight training at the weight and reps that you can handle. After exercising be sure to use ice or heat (wichever feels better) and be sure to rest at least 24 hours between each workout to provide maximum healing recovery time. If necessary take an NSAID such as Advil or Aleve, following dosing instructions on bottle..

However the best thing you can do is go to the Dr and find out why you are having knee pain, it could be as simple as a pulled muscle or as bad as a torn miniscus or torn tendon. Each of these situations would have different rehab recomendations,

Tai Chi, if done correctly can help with knees. The hard part is finding a good teacher. If you see them put their knees past their toes when they're doing the form, keep walking. My own Sifu has had knee surgery and years later went on to win second place in a push competition in China. So he really knows his knees.

Tai Chi helps in two ways, by teaching you how to stand and move with correct alignments, and by opening up the body. Flexibility in the hips means that your hips take the turning motions, not your knees. We also work on lengthening the connective tissues, like tendons.

I used to have tendinitis and carpal tunnel before I started Tai Chi. I don't have those any more.

If you can't find a good Tai Chi instructor, maybe a physical therapist would work? But you need someone to stand there and look at what you're doing and help correct your alignments.