In an effort to become a bit less of a fat bastard and stick around to see my grandkids someday, I’ve been working in regular exercise to my routine for a while know. I’ve been mainly walking on a treadmill in my house semi-regularly for a year or two, and recently I’ve decided to try to step it up and include a bit of running. I say “running”, but “slow, pathetic jog” is more accurate.
Anyway, after about a week of run/walking, my knee has started to, well, not hurt, exactly, but feel uncomfortable. It sort of feels like I need to pop it, but it won’t pop. I took three or four days off of exercise, and it improved every day until I barely noticed it at all yesterday. So I tried exercising again, and now it’s feeling worse again.
Knowing my body, this has the potential of becoming a long-term annoyance that prevents me from working out for a long time, and I’d like to prevent that. So what would you do? Stay off it completely until it’s totally better? Could I risk just walking, with no jogging? Just keep going and force my knee to get used to the new routine?
As a side note, anyone who believes in intelligent design is welcome to study my body as irrefutable proof against it.
For what it’s worth, there is no evidence that running hurts knees in the long term, and the opposite actually seems to be the case, with the caveat that you are not obese or have existing knee injuries, in which case you should work on getting weight down, and then start running at which point you won’t have to worry about the effects on your knees.
So, I would say start slow, but don’t give up! If there is pain, don’t ignore it. Work on slowly getting weight down and then the knee effects will be minimized.
Just to chime in, I’m a middle-aged semifit lady with all kinds of malalignment*, and I’ve been running since march with no joint injuries or leg pain since I bought a quality and professionally fitted pair of shoes that I use for running and ONLY running, and followed the Couch-to-5k plan.
*video of my stride shows I wing out AND wing in, in a sort of wild S-curve. I also have fallen arches, weak navicular bone, crazy wedge-shaped feet (wide in the heel, narrow at the ball), and arthritic changes in my right knee. Let me repeat I have had no pain while following c25k in proper running shoes.
Let me third the suggestion of getting professionally fitted shoes and add that if you continue to run regularly you should expect to replace those shoes frequently as they will break down much quicker when used for running. When you get your shoes, ask the vendor for a replacement recommendation, usually given in miles. Even though ths shoes may not look woen to you, it is still best practice to replace them at the recommended usage level.
And by the way, good for you for taking those first steps toward getting in shape.
Mine, too. My lower back was injured when I was 22 (with a BMI of 19), and it’s been screwed up ever since.
Anyway, if things don’t improve with what others have said, do see an ortho doc or your PCP. S/he may order radiology films to make sure things look ok.
BTW, my pals who run have told me that alternating walking and running can help you ease into things.
I was mostly a cyclist until I turned 30 YO. Then I started running and was in the best shape of my life. That is until my knee went out. I was running an easy 3-miler when suddenly it felt like someone put a knife in my left knee. Torn meniscus. Before the surgery, I found that I could ride my bicycle without pain, but even walking hurt. So I’m mostly on the bicycle now.
There are a lot of bike riders out there who use to be runners. Cycling, if done properly, is much kinder on the knees. By properly I mean a properly fitted bike and spinning the pedals at somewhere around 70 to 90 rpms.
Walking is good too. I walk half marathons with my wife. In fact I just signed up last night for the Flying Pig half in Cincinnati.
As others have mentioned, good shoes are important. Also shoes wear out before they look bad. I usually get a new pair about every 400 miles or so.
You mention feeling the need to pop your knee. You might have a slightly torn meniscus. Could be worth seeing a doctor about it.
Definitely! I have been doing two- or three-mile walks, at least three times a week, for the past five years.
But…wow! I’ve never done that! 13 miles and a bit? I’ve done ten miles, but only a couple times. Congratulations on the half maras! Keep up the good work!
Some us codger-types have found recumbent bicycles (or, increasingly, trikes) a preferable way to get in those turns-of-the-crank – much kinder to the wrists, neck and back.
I’ll chime in with saying that while running is good for most people it’s not good for everyone. Post knee injury in my teens my knees have never liked running. They are really good for walking, though, and properly done walking is excellent exercise that can be done well into old age. Cycling is also good. I will also suggest swimming - a friend of mine who really needs knee replacements but isn’t getting them just yet switched to swimming and has lost weight, gained muscle, improved his cardiovascular stats, and it’s even helped his knees a bit.
In fact, when I injured my knee my rehab consisted mostly of prescribed walking, cycling, and swimming.
I’m just saying, if running doesn’t work out for you there are alternatives.
If you find things keep getting more painful and stuff doesn’t get better, I will echo others and say go to see a doctor, but with a twist…
If you have good insurance without too many hoops to jump through, go to a proper sports medicine doctor. I messed my knees and legs up when I first started running and spent a month of suffering hoping it would get better, walking around like an old man, and eventually I went to a sports medicine place where they put me right.
The orthopedic specialist took about five minutes to pinpoint my problem (tendonitis) and exactly which tendons were involved, by telling me to stand in various odd positions and tell which ones hurt. As a bonus, they have X-ray equipment on site, so no side trips to imaging centers.
He prescribed the right medication and I felt substantial improvement the next day and all pain was gone two days after that.
Good shoes, any needed corrections for gait or foot problems, sufficient speed to raise your heart rate, sufficient duration, proper attire for weather/time of day if you do it outdoors, and so forth.
Ah! All okay. I push on at a fairly good pace, although sometimes I choose rough, rocky trails, and they force you into a slightly different kind of exercise. I have a nice pair of hiking boots, am well hydrated, and I have a jacket available in case it gets cold.
I do like to maintain my walking regimen even in the hottest part of the summer – but carefully! I walk a bit more slowly then.
(The park where I walk had notices up, this summer, warning pet owners to be extra careful for their dogs. Imagine going for a long walk on a hot summer day – wearing a fur coat!)
I was a tribologist in a former life. Went to many conferences with orthopedic surgeons from around the world. Most common suggestions if you didn’t want to end up with a knee or hip replacement: Don’t run and don’t play football. YMMV.
Runner Pat is obviously more knowledgeable on this than I am, but I have read in some magazine that treadmills aren’t that great for your knees due to the incline and the belt going against your direction.
Anyway, I gave up jogging several years ago (well, ten) due to knees and mainly inertia. I walk whenever I can and it is far gentler.
I think there is a thread by Cecil about the benefit of running against walking.
I’ve been a runner since around 1992. I’m not a doctor, and this is anecdotal, obviously, but I think the emphasis on getting “the proper running shoe” is a bunch of hooey. For 20 years I ran in $10 shoes I purchased at Walmart. No problems. A couple years ago I bought some $100 New Balance shoes, just to see what all the hoopla was about. They work fine, but they’re no better than the $10 ones. Earlier this year I bought the most “minimal” running shoe made (zero support, no padding, etc.). No problems. Next year I’m going to try barefoot running.
And from the other side of the coin, I injured both knees in high school using $3 sneakers from the local supermarket(1976). As long as I had shoes that matched my biomechanics, I was fine. Wrong shoe or shoes that were worn out and my knees would let me know about it.
The fact is, a few people can run minimalist/barefoot while the rest of us need the proper shoes.
Since you’re on a treadmill, it’s not likely an uneven surface is the cause. That leaves… about 23,348 other variables (approximately).
Unless you have an existing injury, it all comes down to your stride and how your foot is landing. Good (expensive, and properly fitted shoes for your running style) can help correct some stride deficiencies, but only marginally.
A slower/jog style stride is actually harder on your joints vs. a full stride. I’m not talking full out, sprinting stride - a comfortable, easy paced, full stride. Rather than that slow jog the whole time, interval train (alternating between walking and full-stride) as your fitness allows, gradually increasing the run times until your level is such that you an maintain a full stride for the duration of the workout.
In addition, your stride is affected by the strength of various muscle groups. One often overlooked is the core (abs). When your core is weak, this affects shoulder/hip/knee alignment. Also quadriceps and hamstring, again affects alignment.
And then there is how your foot is landing. You are probably landing too heavy on the heal (which shoes could help) and are over-pronating (landing on the outside of the heal and rolling to the inside). Look at the heal of your shoe. Is the outside of the tread worn more to the outside? You want to land more mid-foot. Done correctly, this feels almost like you’re landing on the balls of your feet, with weight toward your big toe. If you feel your calves burning after a bit, you’re probably doing it right.
If you want to keep running, first switch to intervals so you’re not doing that slow jog thing at all. And then incorporate some leg lifts (lying on your side or back, no weights (google)) and some moderate core exercises like planking.
