Sore knees

[Knollers]

I've just finished W3R2 and am absolutely loving it. But I have noticed some slight tenderness around my inner knees. Is the 5 minute walking warm up and down enough or do you guys do some stretching before and after running too? I'm not quite sure what stretches would be best for my knees...? I have ordered new trail shoes too because the one I currently have are quite elderly. Any tips for tender knees? Thanks.

[Jase44 Graduate]

You may have the on set of patellar tracking disorder see web address for info emedicinehealth.com/patella... You can get tender knees from building your quad muscle up and then the smaller quad muscles don't get exercised properly causing your knee cap to run out of its groove. I have an inclined board to do squats on to help build this little muscle up which helps stop the tracking disorder. the muscle is just on the inside of your knee cap. The board has to be at an angle of 30deg. When you stand on this and do a squat you can feel this muscle activate. I do 3 sets of 15 reps a day. It burns like hell and u think ur gonna die after the first 15 but after a few days it gets better hence I suffer from no knee pain now. read up about it and be careful if it gets to bad you could end up needing surgery worst case. But at early stage you can prevent it. Hope this helps J

[Jase44 Graduate in reply to Jase44]

Forgot to say too. Shoes are only any good for about 500 miles or 6 to 8 months for running in. J

[Bazza1234 Graduate]

The first thing I would ask you is - "how are you running?"

What part of your foot is first to hit the ground when you run - and where exactly do your feet hit the ground (in relation to where your hips are at the time of impact)??

How much noise do your feet make on the pavement as you run?

Running is a high impact sport - and knees can be problematic if your running form is poor.

[useitorloseit Graduate]

Exercises good - tick. Correct running technique - tick. Stretches - tick. Good shoes - tick. All these are important. But basically your knees, if they haven't been used for a while like this, take a while to get strong enough. If you are getting pain, take extra rest days, and try to run on softer surfaces than tarmac. I had all sorts of problems with my knees to start with and thought I would have to give up running, but after time and with care the muscles which support the knees got stronger and better able to support the bones and my knees are generally fine now. Just be careful with this precious joints and don't run if it really hurts as you will just compound the damage.

[Hidden]

I agree with all the above and would advise having gait analysis so that you get the appropriate shoes. I had the same thing, I took two days rest between running days and by week 6 my knees were fine.