Thread: Knee Pain

Hi troops, Now approaching the big 50 and having amassed a 'few' extra pounds I've got back into regular training after a few years off.

Cardio-vascularly I'm finding no problems but an old knee(s) injury has come back to the fore.

I can pass a BFT (the old style) and I'm not out to break any records, not even in the wrinkly, coffin-dodging division, but a few days of 3 - 4 milers leaves me with creasing knee pain.

I'm doing cycling, rowing, swimming and weight training as supplemental exercise but as the whole point is a 10 km Fun Run in a couple of months time, I obviously need to do a certain amount of road running.

Any recommendations? (Apart from binning the idea, watching the run on the pub TV and going old gracefully)

There have been a few threads about knee pains if you search you will find some good answers as this comes up every few months.

I'm past 50 and find that unless I do stretching, or in my case yoga, then I can't run.
You need to include flexibility in yoiur programme, more so with age.
PM me if you want to know more.

Omega 3 oil, Ibuprofen and Tylex, kills the pain for most of the run, works for me

I have knee pain, and the best thing I have donr to eleviate this was to buy some othopedic insoles for my boots, it has stopped my kneee pain for the grand sum of 24 quid. Give them a try it might help for you.

Stilts

Cheers guys,

I'll give these a try, see how I get on.

ST

It's actually not your knee's fault at all. Blame your feet and thighs; for one reason or another they aren't doing their jobs properly. Your knee moves up and down in a narrow little groove in your thigh bone. It's a nifty design: when your legs and feet are working efficiently, your knee moves smoothly and comfortably with every step. But trouble appears when your kneecap moves out of its track, or rubs up against its sides. That trouble becomes pain when you factor in nearly 1000 steps per cartilage-grinding mile. Over time the cushioning cartilage around the knee becomes worn. That smarts. And that's runner's knee.

How did your knee get off track? Probably because of relatively weak thigh muscles and a lack of foot support. It's your thigh muscles that hold your kneecap in place, preventing it from trying to jump its track. Running tends to develop the back thigh muscles (hamstrings) more than those in the front (the quadriceps), and the imbalance is sometimes enough to allow the kneecap to pull and twist to the side.

Your foot, meanwhile, may not be giving you the stability you need. It's likely that your feet are making a wrong movement every time they hit the ground, and you're feeling the constant pounding and repetition of this mistake in your knee. Maybe you're overpronating (rolling your foot in) or supinating (turning it out too much) when you run.

Runner's knee is further aggravated by simple overuse. If you have steeply increased your mileage recently, you might consider holding back a bit. Likewise, back off on new hill work or speed work. Runner's knee can also be brought on by running on banked surfaces or a curved track. Running on a road that is banked at the sides, for example, effectively gives you one short leg, causing it to pronate and put pressure on the knee. Try as much as possible to run on a level surface, or at the very least give each leg equal time as "the short leg."

I developed a bit of knee pain in the last few months, strangely it didnt hurt when running, it was when sitting down for a prolonged period, this was worse at work or driving a long distance.

I went to the physio who said it was probably being caused by weak hip abductors (which made sense as sometimes the pain, well more of a dull ache) spread to my hip as well, he has given me a few additional stretches to do.

On top of this I have started concentrating a bit more on squats in my weights programme and also icing the knee and hip after any workout, it still hasnt got rid of the pain but it feels a lot better, here a couple of stretches here to try:
http://www.brooksrunning.co.uk/extra...ners-knee.html

Keep in mind if it is hurting, its your body telling you something isnt right, go a see a medical professional rather than asking us keyboard doctors!