Knee pain

[Shelley2310]

I’m due to re run W1R3 as struggled on Sunday. I have a pain on the inside of my right knee. It’s a little easier than yesterday, is it a normal place to get pain if it’s just muscles getting used to the new exercise. Or should I wait. Thanks and sorry for all the questions I’m asking so early on my journey. 😊

[jiggles7 Graduate]

Hi Shelly, don’t ever be afraid to ask. 😀There is a wealth of knowledge from supportive people on here. I think the key here is whether it is muscular or joint pain. It’s also the severity of the pain you are feeling. While muscular aches are to be expected if you’re in a lot of pain it’s worth having it checked out. If you need to take another rest day. I suffered a lot in the beginning weeks with knee pain, I thought it was muscular but my physio said I was protonating (you’ll see that word a lot here) where my knees turn in when running and it was my joints that were aching. He suggested orthopaedic inserts or gait analysis measured running shoes. I opted for the latter and almost instantly i was pain free. That was week 2 for me, I’m now on week 7 😀 In the interim I suggest icing your knee straight after a run and again before bed.

[UnfitNoMore Graduate]

It could be normal... it could be an injury... As it appears to be getting easier I’d take another rest day and see how it’s feeling... if it feels ok, test it with a very short run and also up and down a slope (literally 20!yards) and see if it reacts... then start your run really gently, shorten your pace and go slow. Be prepared to stop if you get a striking and/or severe pain... at which point see a doctor or physio.

[Dowen84 Graduate]

My knees also hurt when I first started, as it also felt like it was easing off, I kept going and my knees are less problematic now than they’ve been for the past couple of years. I think it was about week 2-3 that I suddenly noticed they’re not bothering me anymore.

Good luck

[CrimsonMama]

Same here for me Shelley! Week one first run I had usual aches but particularly in one knee (same one as you!). Second run it hurt but I ran through it. Afterwards I couldn't walk on it at all and has taken over two rest days to be normal again. I am hoping it's just new muscles working but I am going to do extra stretches before and after my next run. I found an easy five min one on YouTube I will do at home before the warm up walk.

Let's hope it's only temporary muscle strain for us!

[AngryFlower Graduate in reply to CrimsonMama]

Hi CrimsonMama. I’m afraid that if you couldn’t walk on it afterwards it’s most likely an injury that you need to rest, you defo shouldn’t feel that bad after a run. Mild aches are to be expected but real pain is your body saying that something is wrong. It might be worth getting your gait analysed or seeing a physio if the pain persists beyond a few days.

[CrimsonMama in reply to AngryFlower]

Boohoo I really hope it doesnt set me back permanently. Saturday is when it hurt bad and today, Tuesday, it is much better but aches by the end of my shift at work and stairs are still problematic.

After work today I did some pre-stretches then did the whole thing walking. I really wanted to jog but could tell it was not going to allow that. Walking at a fast pace has set it aching. But still feel good for the exercise. I'm going to walk every two days until I feel I can add jogging back in.

I do have over pronounced feet/foot. I'm not sure which one but I used to wear heels and the heel would wear down on the inside. I don't wear shoes that can do that anymore. I was going through shoes far too quickly! How much is special running shoes usually? I saw over pronounced insoles for about £5 but I don't know if they work?

[AngryFlower Graduate in reply to CrimsonMama]

Hi there, I know how desperately you want to get going but you really need to rest completely until the pain has gone so no extra fast walking until it’s healed. I’ve been there myself and had to take 2 weeks off, icing my foot and using anti inflammatories but believe me it was worth it to ensure the injury didn’t get any worse. If you have to do some exercise how about swimming or a static bike for the time being?

As for shoes, the prices vary immensely and a proper running shop will be looking to sell you the right shoes rather than to a specific budget. Insoles are often a good option to upgrade an existing pair of shoes. Shuropody stores have a range of orthotics but these are around £40 which is kind of expensive. It does sound like you might need some professional advice if you keep having problems to make sure it really is over pronation. I went to my nearest running shop and had my gait analysed which was totally free but they won’t want to do this until your injury has healed (the results may not be correct as you’ll be holding yourself unnaturally). Hope some of this helps, I’m not a running expert (yet) but I do a fair bit of exercise and have certainly had my share of injuries. I hope it starts to feel better soon and in the meantime take it easy don’t put so much pressure on yourself.

[Hazcababz]

Hi Shelley

I also had terrible knee pain (in both knees) which always came on like an intense throb after doing the warm down and stretching after the run. Like others I over pronate and already had some trainers which corrected this problem (a couple of years old but not many miles on them) but still seemed to be in agony almost to the point that it put me off completely even though I was enjoying the exercise itself. I had my gait analysis done on a treadmill which clearly demonstrated the overpronation. You can see what overpronation is here runnersworld.com/gear/a2080...

You can have gait analysis done in a sports shop but you might need to do your research first to see where does it! You will then be able to see for yourself on slo mo footage how you are landing - it could be that you have the opposite problem to me and have supination where you roll out to the outer edge of the foot. runnersworld.com/health-inj...

Either way you can have trainers to help support either problem. I decided to buy another newer pair of trainers for overpronators which basically push my foot arches up and out so that my bones are more in alignment whilst running. I also bought some knee sleeves for extra support. I run with a group once a week and we all started the couch to 5k together doing run 1 of whatever week we are on together. I consulted the advice of the run leader who thought that building up leg muscles (particularly thigh) muscles for newer runners will help take more of the strain and they also suggested to try to make sure that you aren't heel striking ie landing with your heel or over striding (which can lead to heel strike) which is hard on the joints. Apparently if you aim to land in the middle of the foot about level with your hip as you 'grace' the tarmac it's better for your joints. Also warm up exercises (before you start the 5 min warm up walk I found helped me a lot). The NHS have some really good knee exercises for runners nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/k... you could perhaps try doing these on your days off too and there are some really good active muscle prep exercises here before your run runnersworld.com/health-inj...

I am thankfully now pain free and soon to start week 7!

One other thing to add is that I was advised that if you have a few aches that is normal when starting to run as we are all using muscles that probably haven't seen much action in this way to date and a period of adjustment is required but if there is pain, that isn't normal and should be checked out by a specialist - you don't want to be doing more damage than good. I hope this helps but it certainly got a lot easier for me with better trainers, an exercise regime pre run and thinking about my foot placement as I am running. Wishing you well for your running and hope your knees feel better.

[lynsreid in reply to Hazcababz]

What a great post! I’m just starting week 7 and am going to check out the links for knee exercises - I’ve always had clicky/achey knees which put me off ever trying running but so far they haven’t caused too many issues! 😊

[Hazcababz in reply to lynsreid]

Thank you so much! Hope the knees remain trouble free for you 😁