Knee Pain! Help!

I'm 25, have 3 kids I stay at home with, and I used to run Cross Country in HS (2-8miles per day). I have never had any problems with my body. I haven't really worked out much since HS though, and started doing JM 30 Day Shred several weeks ago. I'm on day 28 and my knees are killing me. It didn't really start until day 20. Now, I can't squat, lunge or do jumping jacks because the inside of my knees are hurting too bad. My form is good (knees never going over toes) and my shoes are relatively new. My question is, do I get braces and push through to strengthen my leg muscles, or do I chill out and make a doctor's appointment?

Replies

  • I'd take it easy for a bit, go for some light walks or swimming and do lots of stretching for a few days then if your still in pain see a doctor.
  • ohenry78
    ohenry78 Posts: 228
    As others have said, give it a rest for a bit and see what happens to the pain.

    Something that's happened to me plenty of times before is that the part of your quads closest to the knee gets sore from overuse, and it feels like a sore knee but it's really just your quad and a few days rest will take care of it. If it doesn't feel like that, or if it feels a bit more...internal, in your knee, then see a doctor.
  • TrishLG
    TrishLG Posts: 173 Member
    Give it a rest. Perhaps the inflamation will settle down. If you need to take something, try just aspirin.
    It is good for the heart. Aleve and Celebrex can raise blood pressure and it may not come down when you stop.
    Some other meds damage the liver.
  • CoachDreesTraining
    CoachDreesTraining Posts: 223 Member
    Rest

    Ice

    Throw out Jillian Michaels DVD
  • goldthistime
    goldthistime Posts: 3,213 Member
    I have knee problems from overuse right now too. Pain is on the inside of one knee especially. I am mostly resting it, meaning no running, less walking, and for me, no tennis or badminton right now :(. So that's the R in RICE, I'm guessing you know the rest. A good friend said he successfully beat his knee problem by resting for 10 days then hitting the gym to strengthen his quads. I just saw a chiropractor who also said rest and strengthen quads but also strengthen hips and stretch calves and hamstrings.
  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
    This is why plyo isnt for people who arent athletic... I did p90X while in pretty good shape and the plyo messed up my ankle... Sure, some people will be fine, but, plenty wont.

    Dont work through the pain and don't tell yourself you've failed.. Take a few days to recover (or more) and continue when you're ready... consider cutting all the jumping out of the workouts for a bit so you dont develop a chronic injury.... My ankle is screwed for life because I has too hardheaded and determined... Don't get me wrong, I still can do a ton, but, I get flare ups and have to address them.

    Theres no reason to stop training things that dont involve your knees.
  • Hericksen
    Hericksen Posts: 43 Member
    I don't like high impact exercises, they hurt my knees when I do them.
    I'm 29 with 3 kids and only about 30-40 lbs overweight now (I've lost a little over 60).
    I do lots of Leslie Sansone walking dvd's but I need something with higher intensity quite often now (intensity, not impact!).
    I really love Cathe Friedrich as a workout instructor, she's awesome and fun to work out with and she's really professional and just great. She has several videos in her low impact series and I've just started some of them (still waiting to try a few others).

    The ones I really love right now are her X-train all out low impact hiit dvd and her low impact series cardio supersets.
    They give me a great workout out and really challenge me and they stay intense but they stay low impact so they don't hurt my knees either. Now that I know it's possible to get a great intense workout without doing high impact stuff, I won't touch another high impact dvd. I'm working my way through trying the rest of Cathe Friedrich's low impact series, there are a lot. I am eventually going to buy the ones that are my favorite. Right now I am renting them through www.kineticflix.com it's a lot like Netflix, they come in the mail. They have a huge catalog of dvd's to pick from. I'm also going to be trying Turbo Fire, I have heard that it's a low impact version of Turbo Jam.
  • Hericksen
    Hericksen Posts: 43 Member
    Me again. I would really recommend the x-train all out low impact hiit video for sure. It really is so so awesome and it's fun to do too, it has great music in it. Incase you haven't heard what hiit is, is high intensity interval training. It really is a challenging killer workout (but fun!) that is friendly to joints. I can't say enough good things about it!
  • AmandaW01
    AmandaW01 Posts: 138
    I've never made it past Day 20 on JM 30DS as its screwed my knees (I've tried twice thinking it was just a one off...) I'm very wary of it, I love JM, think she's great, but I know more people who've had problems than have managed to get through! I would definitely stop - I pushed through thinking I was a woss and ended up unable to run or even walk much for 3 months and regaining all the weight I'd lost. I still have the DVD and will sometimes do a workout from it, but NEVER try to do the 30DS and NEVER do it on consecutive days and substitute the jumps for low impact moves - the sideways shear on the knee from some of those movements is extreme!
  • umer76
    umer76 Posts: 1,272 Member
    Rest

    Ice

    Throw out Jillian Michaels DVD

    ^^This.... 30 DS is not good for the beginners. The jumping jacks are killers for the knees of somebody who is obese. It is a good work out but very bad for the knees.
  • toomuchbootyindapants
    toomuchbootyindapants Posts: 811 Member
    I've heard this from a LOT of JM DVD users....maybe find another program to help strengthen your knees. Nothing wrong with squats and lunges - those really do help. In fact when people complain of knee pain it's usually because they AREN'T squatting and thus their knees aren't used to it and they think they shouldn't do it. I don't know that I'd scrap the JM workouts entirely...but maybe slow them down and hold some of those positions (static holds) a little longer to get a nice stretch. Before squatting I like to do some lightweight (or bodyweight) squats and just kinda "bounce" or hover in that squat. Be sure you are pushing your knees out when you squat too, don't let them bow in. Oh, and it's not that big of a deal if your knees cover over your toes a bit - just not a whole foot over. The lower you go, the more likely you are to see your knees travel over your feet more. Going low is GOOD, actually protects your knees more.