Knees

[moggiek]

I’m 62, a lifelong avid walker. Physically fit, BMI 21. Just under a fortnight ago I joined my first C25K group. Had great fun, good warm up/down with 10 sec walks, 20 sec runs in between. No issues at all for three days afterwards. THEN my knees began to ache. It’s been a week now since the pain began, and it’s awful. I can only get up (and particularly down) stairs by holding onto the banister and the wall on the other side. Fortunately, I’m still working from home, I don’t think I would have managed being back in the office.

I’ve never been a pill popper, but I’m downing the ibuprofen as though it’s going out of fashion.

Does anyone have any idea what on earth I’ve done? Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

That's weird.
The causes can be quite unique.
I've had distinctively different knee problems from cycling; DH got iliotibial pain from running.

Where does it hurt?

The pain radiates from the inner knee on both legs, inside the green circle on your diagram.

Could be your trainers don't support your feet properly.

My DH is flat footed and has problems with his knees if his shoes aren't supportive.

Yes, could well be. Many thanks for the suggestion.

Yeah that was my first thought: footwear. I bet you’ll have a decent pair of walking boots, you’ll have tried multiple pairs on to find the ones which work best for you? It’s the same with running. If you are planning on starting running regularly - and C25k is the perfect way in... definitely get some shoes fitted. You put a hell of a lot more pressure through your joints running so it’s really important to have something perfect for you. There’s a specialist shop near me - I was there almost 2 hours, but came away with some perfect shoes. I’ve never had any trouble in them. My previous pair would give me knee pain after about 5k.

I’m not sure what surface you ran on? But, if it was tarmac... try to go off road instead as it’ll be a lot softer to run on, so less impact. That said you can get shoes specifically for road running which would help address that.

We were running on hard packed earth around the football pitch. I’ve been completely taken aback at how incredibly painful my knees are, although I think it’s beginning to ease off a little today.

Will certainly take all advice given about getting the proper shoes. Thank you.

I would go see a physio and check your knees are really up to it (also supporting muscles like glutes). Not everyone’s are and you really don’t want knee problems.

I think I will, to be honest. I enjoy my long walks so much, I would hate to jeopardise them.

Op , if you have taken up running for the first time and are already suffering knee pain to the extent you need painkillers, then no matter how fit you are, you should be very careful. As others have suggested , it could be your shoes, could be the surface, any number of things. It's really common to suffer injury and pain when you start, even if you're fit. Running is very different to the endurance walking your body is used to and the repeated high impact, combined with reduced oestrogen , will probably exacerbate any inflammation. When you get back into it, take it slowly. I'm not familiar with c25k, but from what i hear, it works best when adapted to individual circumstances.

I'm 56, I've been running for years and the past year has been really hard . Probably my age has a lot to do with it - my entire focus now is on keeping on with what I enjoy and avoiding injury. It's super annoying. There seems to be very little properly researched information or guidance for women trying to be active during or post menopause, even though there are loads of us!

Thank you EmpressPenguin. I will never, ever take my knees for granted again, and will be VERY mindful of their treatment in future.

Glad you are. Don’t want to be the doom person but a friend who does sports therapy told me not to run (I am overweight) I ignored her, and now have knee trouble, that is costing money and time to fix. Obviously you aren’t overweight but at 61 I think you do need an assessment. There are exercises for strengthening glutes etc that can help your knees - but an expert assessment is key.

Absolutely, much better to be safe than sorry. Walking is an important part of my life, and not being able to do it this past week has really opened my eyes to that.

Agree with advice to be careful, get things checked out and also to consider footwear. I’ve started doing a lot more walking than usual recently and have noticed knee twinges (I’m a bit younger but a lot heavier than you) and know that you can’t really just ignore and hope it goes away. Hope you do find the answer tho.

Personally, I'd just not run. There are many other ways to get exercise that don't stress the knees choose one of those!

2nd the physio recommendation.

When I started running my knee was shot but turned out to be a hip / glute issue so I've done / do a lot of strength training to protect it and now run half marathons! I would
NEVER have figured that out if I hadn't been to the physio

Many thanks to all of you for taking the time to respond. I really think that I will stick to walking, and add in some strength training.