Knee pain during and after running

[Tasha99]

I’m only in week 2! This doesn’t bode well. Any advice? I have also been doing lots of walking between runs but nothing excessive.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Knee pain is often purely from impact, so do all you can to minimise it.

Slow down, make sure your footfall is under your body not out in front and avoid heelstriking.

If you don't have good running shoes fitted after a gait analysis done at a specialist running shop, then your shoes may be contributing.

Have you read the guide to the plan? healthunlocked.com/couchto5... which is full of tips.

[Tbae in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Brillant and so simple.👏👏

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Thanks. A fab post 👍🏽

[Rammy75]

When I had a niggle, found that these exercises helped and still do them now and again!!!

marathontrainingacademy.com...

[mrrun Graduate]

Knee issues should not be ignored. Some symptoms are short term and will improve as your legs and body get used to running.

I ignored my knee pain from week 1 and kept on running. It hurt between the runs too. By week 3 my running was off and it took months before l was fit enough to start again.

My problems were inadequate shoes, hard and fast running, too much and inappropriate exercises in between (badly executed squats being one of them).

If the pain is persistent please ignore the temptation of pain killers, instead you should see a good physio. Your problem might be completely different to mine but whenever l hear of somebody's knee or ankle issue, I never think twice - go and fix it.

All the best!

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to mrrun]

Luckily I work with a sports physio so I’ll ask her advice on Monday. I’ve bought a knee support too. Thank you 🙏🏽

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Read the link which IannodaTruffe has sent you. There is much tried and tested advice.

Try very hard, to land lightly. I call it kissing the ground with your feet..it is not easy but if you begin now it does help. Relax your body.. we tend to thump down a little in these early days...holding our body tensely and concentrating on getting the runs done.

It still happens to many of us after injury too, holding ourselves very tensely, and wondering if everything will still work

Try these too,

nhs.uk/Livewell/c25k/Pages/...

Make sure on rest days you are putting in some non impact exercise too, walking is good and you could try these too..

nhs.uk/Livewell/strength-an...

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to Oldfloss]

That’s great, thank you ☺️

[CatMo13 Graduate in reply to Oldfloss]

Thanks for this Oldfloss I’m going to check out the podcasts.

[IgaT Graduate]

1. Good shoes

2. Try to run on grass

3. Put your feet more midfoot than heel strike

4. Slow doen. Remember: slow and steady

5. You could make 2 rest days and incorporate knee strengthening exercises the day after your run (message me ibyou want some of those, in past I had ICL reconstruction and went through 2 years of rehabilitation).

6. Longer warm up - maybe warm up at home before warm up walk. Doing some active (not static) stretches.

7. Stretching after each run (I tend to have 15-25 min static stretches after each run)

8. Be patient, your legs need to get stronger.

9. Check with your doctor

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to IgaT]

Thank you

[Decker]

To add to the good advice you’ve heard already, a few things I’ve noticed over time: concrete has less give than asphalt, and also think carefully on how your steps are actually landing; sometimes a slight adjustment in angle or a lighter touchdown and roll of the foot makes a big difference across a full run. A decent length warmup walk and cool-down walk are always important too. Not everyone does it, but a little bit of stretching before and after do seem to help me. I also occasionally had painful calves - especially after a harder push- and calf sleeves seem to really help that situation out (along with easing up of course :)). Best of luck!

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to Decker]

Thank you!

[KnockingKnees]

Hi Tasha - me too - although I just bought new shoes from a place than analysed my gait, etc... I may pop back in, having read the advice given to you

[Tasha99 Graduate in reply to KnockingKnees]

I took ibuprofen and ran through it. It went after a week. This was a year ago now 😂