I’ve got the shoes, I’ve got a treadmill, I’ve got the desire, and I’ve got extreme soreness in my knees!
I have a history of running. Up until a rather severe injury (achilles rupture) I was running about 25 miles a week. That was about 7 years ago. I’ve gained about 20 pounds in the interim and have been sitting behind a desk for all that time as well.
I’m over the hump on the muscle soreness and I can 2-3 miles without getting my heartrate/breathing too high. But the knees are a problem. Each time I’ve tried to start running again (three times in the last four years) they have stopped me. But not this time.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get past this point? Excercises? Stretches? Scotch?
First, talk to your doctor. Competent medical advice is best, there could be a number of causes of the pain.
Now for some WAG. I had the same general problem. Some recommendations from my doctor:
-Listen to your body, if something hurts, stop. Don’t pound your joints into agony.
-Mix up the exercising. Maybe add walking and swimming and biking to the mix, works the muscles differently I guess.
-I had water on the knee at one point, needed to lay off the running and take a lot of ibuprofen for a bit.
-Doc recommended some specific weightlifting exercises (including leg extensions) to strengthen the muscles around the knee joint to help prevent injuries.
-Good shoes. Running shoes have a limited lifespan before the cushioning starts to wear out. They may look good but have no padding left. Check something like “Runner’s World” magazine, I’m sure they’ve got numbers but IIRC it’s around 400-500 miles for a good pair of shoes. If you do 3 miles 3 times a week a pair of shoes would last about a year, for example.
-Run on a forgiving surface. A good treadmill or maybe a dirt/grass course hurts less then concrete.
Funny you should say that. My wife is a doctor. Since she’s an internist, she doesn’t have specialized knowledge of the knees of a runner, but I do get the ibuprofen angle a lot.
So how long did it take you to get past the injuries/problems?
I’ve got ITB syndrome and I have to make real sure I keep up with my stretching. I also can’t up my mileage too quickly without problems. If none of the stretches help, I’d suggest going to see a sports medicine guy.
I can’t comment on strecthes but if your treadmill has an incline adjustment dial it to the steepest angle. You may be able to get the same workout without running as fast which is jolting your knees into pain.
Well not completely past it yet - I run on pavement but I’m careful about it and stop if anything hurts. I took a few months off from running when I had water on the knee and followed his recommendations for ibuprofen and some weight training (I used to do pretty heavy leg workouts anyhow), that has really helped. Also taking glucosamine-chondritin, per my doctor the jury’s still out on whether it really helps but he says it doesn’t do any harm (the worst I’ll be is out the money for the pills).
So basically all I’m doing is following my doctor’s advice and resting when anything hurts.
My last commander switched our unit over from “PT on your own” to “two mandatory five-mile runs each week and a day at the gym on your own,” and my knees were unhappy about his decision, but what could I do? Since we had to do runs on Monday and Friday mornings, and our gym day was mandated to be Wednesday, I made sure to pick a good “recovery” workout for Wednesdays. So I immediately went to the rowing machines. I’ve got knees that hate me when I run, but I found that if I did extensive quadriceps and hamstring stretches before a twenty-minute session on the rowing machine, it kept me in excellent cardio shape, worked the muscles in my legs, and flexed my knees without shock-loading them.
It’s not a solution for everyone, but if you have access to a gym, and the gym has a rowing machine, give it a try. Make sure someone instructs you on the proper form (as with all exercise machines), and start out going slowly. I found that within a month, I was a little bit ahead of my peers on cardio fitness, and was no longer experiencing pain in my knees.