W2 running - then knee catastrophe! 😆

[Creaky_newbie]

I was loving running, even though I'd only just begun. Then I hurt my knee, no idea how, and had to stop the program.

Saw a physio yesterday who diagnosed a problem with the meniscus cartlidge, probably caused by how much my knees move inwards when I run (a lot).

I've been given exercises to strengthen the muscles that turn the leg outwards (?) and retrain how I stand.

He's hopeful that with time I'll be able to begin running again, but I was curious how other people had coped with similar injuries? I'm planning to get a hula hoop, it should help my aerobic fitness a bit and give me a core of steel 😂. I'm just wondering if I'd be better looking into different forms of exercise for the future, my knees have carried me around for over 50 years, maybe I should be a little kinder to them.

[steviej99 Graduate]

Hi Creaky welcome and well done for starting c25k. I think it is normal for these issues to surface when people start - its a lot for our old joints to cope with. I started on my 62nd birthday last September and before I started i used to get sore knees and lower back pain. These have all disappeared since I started running regularly. I think my knee and back problems were related to my desk bound job and running is the perfect antidote. You did the right thing seeing a physio so with the right management and advice I hope you will be able to resume running and see long term health and fitness benefits! Good luck. ps Make sure that you have good trainers and ask your physio if it might help to do the first few weeks on a treadmill which can lessen the impact

[Creaky_newbie in reply to steviej99]

Many thanks steviej99, I wondered if a treadmill would be easier to begin with. I had gait analysis done before I bought my new shoes, they feel great and I think they will help. Probably a good thing to find this problem now rather than later, too, I'm already missing running 😁 Thanks for the encouragement 👍🏻

[Dawn74g]

Hello Creaky

I’m knew to this running/jogging malarkey too....so my opinion is quite possibly nonsense, (take heed). I’m 45 soon and have just attempted jogging for the first time in the past few weeks. I’d say my base fitness was good, but I’m suffering from pain in my right knee also. I believe this is all pretty run of the mill normal in our case. I exercise one day and my knee suffers that evening and the following day. So I’m opting to jog 1, rest 2 for now and see how that goes. I’m doing yoga and swimming in between, I feel this is really helping me.

I won’t attempt to work on progress while in pain...but I think we’ll jog through it eventually as we grow stronger so long as we persist? I hope! I wish you every success and hope you stay with it, (and if you’re exercising in order to improve that knee, you’re still focussing on the end goal as I see it).

[Creaky_newbie in reply to Dawn74g]

Thanks Dawn, keep going and take good care of those knees 😄 can't swim very well but yoga might be an idea, thanks for the tip.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

I haven't run for nearly two months because of knee issues, but cycling is excellent for keeping the joint mobile and building up the muscles without weight bearing stresses. Do check out with your physio that it is appropriate for specific condition.

[Creaky_newbie in reply to IannodaTruffe]

Many thanks, I'm not a very happy cyclist but I am thinking of dusting the bike off and giving it another try. I'll keep telling myself 'cross training' 😄