Beginner runner - knee pain!!

[daisychain124]

I started the Runna ‘new to running’ 5k plan a couple of months ago - got as far as week 9. I have always hated exercise and struggled to find anything I could get on with. I have lost 40lbs over the past couple of years through mostly diet only and long dog walks, but wanted to find something extra to do to build my fitness up more. It’s been important for me to find an activity which isn’t going to cost me £££ to start and something where I can fit it in my hour lunch break.

Surprisingly I have got on extremely well with running and I am very pleased. I don’t ‘love’ it but I definitely feel better for it and it’s been fairly enjoyable. I run down the canal path so not solid tarmac and it’s very flat.

I started with a bit of knee pain when I first started but it subsided after a few weeks so I assumed it was just my body getting used to it. A couple of weeks ago I ran a different route in the local park which had some very small hills and had to stop towards the end of my run as my right knee was killing. I have put 2 and 2 together and think it’s possibly the non-flat route which has aggravated it? I do a good warm up before running and always stretch afterwards.

I have done some research and found that I need to do some exercises to build up the muscles to support my knee joint. I rested for a few days and then did some exercises and it made my knee feel 10x worse and now I’ve been in pain for about a week. It tends to feel worse when I am sitting for long periods of time. It felt better last Wednesday so I tried to do another run but had to stop after about half a km.

I’m really not sure what to do. My knee does feel a bit better again at the moment but still not ‘right’ so I’m reluctant to try the exercises again and risk what happened last time. Can anyone advise what would be the best thing to do? I am gutted as I should be 2 weeks off my final 5km run now so I feel really behind and don’t want to lose my progress.

Just to add - I am absolutely skint so no funds for a physio or to spend on fancy new trainers. I do have a decent pair of trainers but haven’t done gait analysis. I did read it wasn’t completely necessary unless you’re running longer distances than my very short beginner runs so I’m hoping I can get away with not having to fork out for new trainers for a while yet…

Has anyone dealt with this before and got any advice?

Ok I am officially going for gait analysis on Saturday morning so will report back afterwards!!

File this advice with "weights make you bulky", "don't eat more than two eggs per week" "bread crusts will make your hair go curly" and "women over 40 shouldn't have long hair"

Being new to running or significant changes in running habit (terrain, distance, speed) can throw up underlying weaknesses and imbalances, but with careful training, recovery, strength work and good shoes these are normally managed relatively easily and long term you end up stronger. The impact is good for bone density (along with weights) and also the action of decompression along with the compression is good for softer tissues such as cartilage. The higher blood flow is also good for tissue such as ligaments that have a poorer blood flow such as muscles.

Long term people with knee issues are over represented by non-runners than runners. While excessive training at a professional level can be a long term issue, that's a tiny minority of runners.

DM loves to announce that runners have bad knees... as a dedicated non-runner, her knees have been screwed for decades since her mid-60s anyway. My knees are a hell of a lot happier since I took up running in my 30s than they were when I was a teen/ 20s. I might have lousy arthritis prone genes too... but at least I've done my best to optimise my bone density and delay the declines.

Walking is a great activity (I do a lot of that too), but it's much harder to maintain long term progression and has different benefits, especially once you're fit, especially if you don't have a lot of time or steep hills at your disposal.

You won’t regret it!

So I’ve been to the running shop and it turns out I do need a neutral shoe as they said I am pretty balanced. But I have ended up with half a size bigger. They said my old shoes were a bit too small and maybe that could have been causing me an issue - but obviously can’t say for sure. I’ve ended up with a pair of Hoka Arahi after trying a few different brands/styles on. They are a bit wider than my old pair too so I feel like my toes have more space.

I’ll see how I get on! I am not convinced it will solve my issue but we will see…

I’m not sure this will solve your issue either, it will resolve in time.

ok so when I started running it was my ankles. I broke one years ago and after a few runs even waking was painful, I had a couple of days break, did something else, ie rowing, then moved to walking fast on a steep incline ( treadmill) as my ankles didn’t hurt doing this . The ankles strengthened. I prob didn’t run for a week or two. I then bought ankle straps, to hold my ankles in place as I ran, and the issue never came back, I don’t run without them now .

i also started got pain on my inner legs, by the knees, and at the same time as my ankles hurt, this wasn’t as bad, and was clearly muscular. I bought knee brace things, you know those leg sleeves things you wear, but found I didn’t really need them, my legs strengthened on their own and the pain stopped.

now I run pain free, but always always wear the ankle straps to do so.

so I’d focus on strengthening the muscles in your legs, get knee braces for running, thay hold the knee cap in place, and ensure you warm up, run only on flat surfaces, and don’t over do it, give yourself recovery time

i recall a thread on here several weeks ago, and someone wrote running is fun when it stops hurting, and that’s very true.

it maybe the pain stops and it co incides with your new shoes, but it is really more likely your muscles were not strong enough to do whay you were trying.

Thank you for this - I am convinced it’s because I need to strengthen my muscles too. I have nothing to base this on apart from what I’ve read online but it makes sense.

I have been looking at knee braces but the ones I’ve seen so far have very mixed reviews. I’m not sure if there’s a ‘go-to’ brand which people tend to recommend? My DH has an old one but I can’t even get it over my knee even though I’m a size 8!!

I’ve not run for 2.5 weeks now and my knees still feel slightly weird but not painful any more. So I don’t know if I should have a go today with the new trainers or wait a bit longer. I am worried about aggravating anything by doing strengthening exercises as this is what happened a couple of weeks ago - I felt better then make things 10x worse as in hindsight I should have rested longer.

I’d do it but a slow jog, and not far. Just build up. I’d also order a knee support. Something like this,

www.amazon.co.uk/PowerLix-Compression-Knee-Sleeve-Basketball/dp/B07B3RXKGB/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=FD490OZVAOFQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.2LvFnocNGwMT6KyLX0kL1d3pWOlnHvR1IqFUxfIoubUJNANLY1QWp7KbsEYzfKZ7eWaUUAYcuGZ7zmIULVIL5EI2utBlWJKTK2uvjLCCxmilt6yN75giYLKvfqGLAlLLIue-pLY3eZ651lh01w8riFRkNRUcRw1fy-zvvbC_XajY7tXYTVgVYqhaT3RViWqh8COMKu_49_9j_3bsPrWV1sIgD0E6LOz1YxyWlmbD49tRgHcFP7Z3-lqFPo-b2uKC9gEmx7vs_GFUGNvZHB-Rtj8QrGmJxPAwShfkgMrWNTM.1jd9wTCQxC9CcFdqSx1ETzP-A4R81k2qc3xQe3wuVQQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=knew%2Bsupport%2Bfor%2Bwomen&qid=1778328719&sprefix=Knew%2B%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-2-spons&aref=cCHJJB36KS&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1&psc=1

@Safarisagoody I’ve ordered one to come tomorrow so will give it a go! 🤞

Sorry I feel like this is the most boring thread ever but I have no one else to talk to about this!

My knee support thing arrived but I prob should have sized down as it is just ‘there’ and doesn’t particularly feel like it’s doing anything. So I left it off and went for my run. I repeated a previous run on my plan and did 1.3km, then 60 second walk, 0.3km, 30 second walk then another 1.3km. My knee felt a bit niggly but not enough for me to feel like I should stop. Annoyingly I started with a pain in my left glute (opposite side to bad knee) at the start of the run so don’t know if I’ve been doing anything weird to compensate for my knee. I have dug out my massage gun so will start using that and see how it goes.

So not pain free but definitely way better! I did stop during the final 1.3km and had a good stretch which seemed to help too.