Dodgy knees - normal or because I am overweight

[30min-ambition]

Have I knackered my knees or am I worrying unnecessarily? I ask because I am 50 years old, overweight by about 2 stone and prior to C25k had not exercised since lockdown started in 2020.

I am now on week 7 and super proud of myself and enjoying the progress, but am finding my knees after 2 uninterrupted 25 min jobs impacts my knees after. I am in mild pain, which is only obvious when using stairs. I have decided to have 2-3 days break between sessions as I initially thought that would give my body recovery time. But am wondering if I should not be putting this pressure on my knees if I am this much overweight. Thoughts/views?

[John_W Graduate]

Have a read of these and the links included:

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

healthunlocked.com/couchto5......

healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

[Goldilocks82 Graduate]

I'm not convinced the pain is necessarily due to your weight. I'm not overweight but have often experienced knee pain throughout my life. However, since using knee supports and proper running trainers for every run I have no knee pain at all.

[30min-ambition Graduate in reply to Goldilocks82]

I never even thought about knee supports - will explore thank you.

[Judybni Graduate]

Wonder if you're running on a hard surface like roads or pavements and if it would improve if you were on a softer surface like grass? I get the same and am not pushing to do a hard run and drop my pace which helps.

[IannodaTruffe Mentor]

Knee pain is primarily caused by the impact of running........so reduce it.

The guide to the plan healthunlocked.com/couchto5...

includes advice on minimising impact, stretching after every run, hydration and strengthening exercises, all of which will help.

[RiversideVer Graduate]

I’m overweight and I was getting knee pain -like you I put it down to my weight. However I saw a physiotherapist who said my quads were extremely tight and showed me how to stretch properly. Now the pain has almost gone... and I enjoy running a whole lot more!