I'm feeling some bad things in my knees, I can't exactly call it "pain" yet but it's a discomfort that's getting stronger. It comes up after I run and I feel it right around the knee cap, mostly above it. It goes away in a few hours, can't feel anything by the next day and it's never bothered me while running.
Graduated C25K before Christmas, reached 10K at the end of March. I think this started after I passed the 10K mark, and I've cut down the milage (nothing above 5-6K) and frequency (not more than twice a week) considerably since then, and tried to minimise roads/pavements and stay on soil as much as I can. I got some shoes with extra cushioning as well, but my previous ones had plenty of cushioning anyway, so didn't feel a big difference there.
I tried stopping completely for ~3 weeks in May, didn't make a difference, I felt the same when I started running again.
Any ideas? I think it's getting slightly worse as times goes by, can't see any signs of improvement. Might it be because I'm training less frequently and less intensely?
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marvinaki
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Thank you, I'll give the exercises a try, won't hurt I guess! My guess is it's not IT band related as I feel it firmly around the kneecap, not on the outside of the knee. Maybe I need some strengthening exercises in general? I used to run a lot in the past but I stopped for ~5 years or so, that's why I started from scratch with C25K again. Never had knee issues but have been mostly unfit the past few years...
Unfortunately there's not much downhill or uphill around here (England lol!). Come to think of it now, the only time I've felt something while running was when running uphill. I see what you mean about the cushioning... I think I'm not landing on my heel, not 100% sure but checked the wear on my shoes and it's mostly in the forefoot area, bang in the middle, and there's some slight wear in the outside of the heel as well.
Something related might be that I was mostly trying to limit my speed in the past few months to keep all my training in HR zone 3 to build endurance. While that worked, when I'm going slower than I feel I want to go, I do get the feeling that I'm landing more on my heels than I should.
It sounds like this has been going on for way too long to be still looking for self diagnosing- find a good sports physio, tell them your story including the type of terrain and gradient you run on. There are so many thinks it might be or might be causing it. You don’t want to risk making the problem worse. Good luck 🤗
If you do generalised knee strengthening exercises nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/k... you may well find the issue is overcome. If they don't work and it persists, then a consultation with a physio would be advisable.
To further reduce heel-striking? TBH I've never tried low drop shoes, in the past 10+ years I've been running (albeit with big breaks in between) in cushioned shoes, almost all with 10mm drop with no issues. My most recent shoes (bought after the knee issues appeared) are 8mm but with more cushioning (I didn't notice any difference when running).
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