Why Does Running Hurt My Knees?
Categories: Advice, Health, Fitness, Ask a Fitness Expert
PrintWhy Does Running Hurt My Knees?">
Dear Sarah, My knees hurt around my kneecap after running. What could be the reason for this?
Thanks,
Kate
Dear Kate,
The most probable cause of this is a condition called 'Runner's knee', which results from a muscular imbalance of the legs and feet.
When the muscles in your body are balanced, your kneecap moves in an up and down motion with your running stride. If your muscles are unbalanced, then instead of shifting up and down, your kneecap goes off track causing 'pain'.
The muscular imbalances that usually results in Runner's Knee are weak quadriceps and strong hamstrings in the legs and/or imbalance in the feet. It is not related to the structures surrounding the knee cap. The knee caps need to move up and down in a smooth motion to insure a balanced running stride.
Imbalanced muscles in the feet and legs inhibit this smooth motion causing the cartilage to grind away at the knee cap.
Sometimes knee pain can just be irritation caused by running on uneven surfaces, or increasing the length of your run.
The best way to treat your knees is R.I.C.E. Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate. Swelling is a classic sign of an injury and should never be ignored. It is not uncommon for swelling in or around a joint to cause pain and stiffness. If your knee pain is persistent, gets worse or does not respond to R.I.C.E., consult your doctor.
When the pain is reduced, then it is time to strengthen the muscles in your legs. The quadriceps and hamstrings are opposing muscle groups. Typically the quadricepses are the weakest of the pair; ideally you want to be able to press and curl close to equal weight.
There are three machines I would recommend for strengthening your legs: the quadriceps press, the hamstring curl, and the leg press. Begin by alternating three sets of 10 on each machine. Gradually increase your weight and repetitions.
Another great way to improve your strength is 'retro-running' or backward running. This motion increases the stability and strength of all the muscles in the legs including the often forgotten calves. It is important to do this on a flat smooth surface like a treadmill where you can use the handrails for support. Start slowly with a walk; then progress to jogging. This is a wonderful way to strengthen your legs and reduce the impact on your joints.
I recommend custom made orthotics that are built to support your feet which are responsible for upholding your body. If custom made orthotics are not available to you, try a 'sports' orthotic and a good pair of running shoes.
Take your time returning to your regular running routine after you experience knee pain. This will decrease your chances of a re-occurrence and the development of serious knee problems.
Sarah Brown is a very healthy woman. She is not only a fitness instructor at Goodlife where she teaches Body Pump, Body Flow and yoga but she is also a registered holistic nutritionist. If you have a question for Sarah, leave a comment below and she will try and help, but note that not all questions will be answered.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Daniel 6-30-2009 @ 1:57PM
Before I start, let me introduce myself, my name is Daniel Pare, I am a strength and conditioning coach and I personally train people with bad knees from running and/or else. I would like to offer my professional opinion regarding the answer provided by Sarah.
The quadriceps is not the weaker of the 2, it is clearly the hamstrings. It is very easy to see when people walk and/or jog.
About the exercises mentioned to strengthen your running muscles and your knees.
-The quadriceps press or the leg extension: Is simply to emphasize on developing the quadriceps muscles, not strengthening them. You want to improve your quadriceps strength, I strongly recommend to you to squat. The leg extension is widely used with competitive bodybuilders for definition.
-The hamstring curls or the leg curl: Once again widely used by competitive bodybuilders. That one I am kind of OK with it, at least we left the quads alone.
-The leg press: I strongly suggest the squat, your hips down to the floor. Sounds scary! Stop being scared. It is the greatest exercise to strengthen the knee joint and your core musculature (very important for runners and others athletes). Why? It allows your leg muscles to work together (hamstrings and quadriceps primarily). When one squats you can really tell which muscle(s) is/are weak/tight. For example; if your hips are coming up first, your hamstrings are weak.
You should be able to squat your own body weight with your hips to the floor and most can’t. It is a lot harder on the knee joint to do half squats then it is to do full depth squat. Why is that? The half squat adds a lot of unwanted pressure on the knee joint, compared to when you squat all the way down. We are meant to move that way, but we do our very best to make it hard on our joints. Most training programs put way too much emphasis on the quadriceps.
Regarding the 3 sets of 10 reps and gradually increasing your weight and repetitions! In response to this, sets of 10 reps will not strengthen. They will indeed weaken the muscles. I strongly recommend sets of 5 repetitions at best. Why? After 5 reps, assuming that those repetitions are completed with proper form and technique, the muscles lose their ability to remain strong and they cannot do their jobs, which is to keep a joint strong. The higher the repetitions the weaker the muscle(s) become.
In closing; stop avoiding squats, get started and get stronger and you will be on your way to better and stronger knees. The knee pain cased in running is mostly due to the fact that most runners are not strong enough for their own body weight. So, guess what happens when you are pounding and pounding regularly!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You begin to experience pain. Get stronger guys.
Respectfully
Daniel Pare, NCCP, CSO, CSPS, CSTS
Strength and Conditioning Coach
Stsa1258@aol.com
www.stthomasstrengthathletics.com
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George A. 7-10-2009 @ 11:52PM
I do not have any special credentials in physical fitness, but I have done a lot of bodybuilding style workouts. When I was in my early to mid-teens I trained in Tae Kwon Do. However, in my very late teens; and afterwards to a very regular basis I exercised with weights from 29, 30 to the present for over 16 years. From my experiences with weight training, various types of exercise, training with a long, close friend of mine who was a competitive bodybuilder to the Provincial level (Mr. Ontario), and having read almost every article written by Arthur Jones and Mike Mentzer; I would like to add my opinion of skill and experience.
First of all, the frontal thighs, the quadriceps for the most part (since there are other muscles of the thigh most people don't know about or forget, such as the muscles of the inner thigh which are also important), are stronger than the Hamstrings; for most people. However, using moderate weight to work the calves also important; but not to a fanatical point since injury could result. Myself, there is a little pain sometimes in my left achiles tendon; possibly caused by years of doing calves press on a leg press machine. Nowadays, I perform one leg heel raise with a dumbell, one leg at a time balancing on the ball of my foot on a Reebok Step platform thing at my neighbourhood recreation gym.
Although you know more than me in theory as to the number of repetitions, whereby I thank you for the advice on the lower number of repetitions of 5 reps; I don't think that if a couple of more repetitions are performed a trainee would get weaker! Certainly there is the case of Skip La Cour who goes down very low compared to most bodybuilders; 4 to at most 6 reps for his work sets. However, I have not personally become "weaker", nor do I feel weak, going higher to 8 to 10 repetitions of my work set or sets. Furthermore, here I am talking about natural bodybuilding, not the juice bags who are still around pumping iron.
I really don't want to insult your intelligence and your credentials, but read what Arthur Jones wrote on the two main types of muscle fibers, and that there are varying numbers of fibers according to the individual who exercises or pursues a peformance sport such as sprinting, or at the other end of the sporting spectrum of endurance instead of strength; the marathon. Not for me! I would rather train for the mile, at most. In my opinion, and notice I said opinion, I cannot know if it is scientific fact, bodybuilding falls between the two spectrums of strength and endurance; but closer toward strength.
Richard Wang 6-30-2009 @ 5:29PM
Try barefoot running. It forces you adopt a proper running form- midfoot to forefoot. I really am sick and tired of middle aged white women who eat probiotic yogurt and do 'yoga' whining and puling about their 'bad knees' and men in the throes of midlife crisis crying about 'creaky knees'. It's caused by their dinky little heel strike jog- . It's disgusting how these idiots complain afterwards....
Reply
Daniel Pare 7-20-2009 @ 5:18PM
Hi George, i was looking at thatsfit web site and noticed that you had read my comments and that you were referring to my comments, so here is my response.
First of all you are not insulting me, I can appreciate someone who will challenge me about what I say and or write regarding training, this tells me that you want to learn more about training and I will be glad to help.
You said that you are not getting weaker using sets of 10 reps, so I have a few questions for you:
-How many sets of 10 do you do for a particular muscle group?
-Are those repetitions done in a controlled environment?
It is my experience that under a controlled environment, sets of 10 will not work toward strength (strengthening), but clearly definition. Those reps must be all performed in relation to one’s own strength level, and this rarely happens.
Strength does not take place with high repetition sets. Yes, you are going to be stronger than someone who does not train and you know that. I am a former competitive bodybuilder and I can honestly tell you that we do not train for strength. We train for muscular definition. There is absolutely nothing wrong about not training for strength. Doing 10 reps of bench-press does not make your muscles stronger, it will bring a muscular pump and that has nothing to do with getting stronger.
George, I understand that you are a natural bodybuilder, I congratulate you for that and keep going that way.
Sincerely
Daniel
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Paola 2-10-2010 @ 8:05PM
Hi, I was wondering what you could tell me about my problem. I go to the gym 3 to 4 times a week and have been doing so for several months. I always run on the treadmill for about 15 minutes at the end of my other workout routines and I would adjust my treadmill to increase from 5.5 mph to 7mph usually with low inclination. I never had a problem with it until now, I have gained only two pounds and I realize that whenever I run on the treadmill, my knees start to hurt when I merely am running 5.7 mph for only about five minutes. I already use orthotics from my podiatrist. I also do strength training in between my cardio workouts. So I would like to know whether my knees hurt simply because I have gained weight or because of something else I should be more concerned about? Thank you
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Aseem 3-01-2010 @ 7:24PM
I am 34 and have had runners knee for 15 years. I have always been a very slightly over my ideal weight (currently I'm 6ft 1.5inches and weight 86kg). I have slightly flat feet.
I had all the classic signs of runners knee. In particular I used to get a slight pain in my knee, especially when walking downstairs the day after a game of squash, badminton, and football, and after I ran a mile or two on the treadmill. I had been to a doctor, 2 physios, used tens of orhotics including custom made ones, made sure I always used reasonably new shoes, used all sorts of knee supports, ran on extra-cushioned treadmills, and even tried wearing sports socks to help cushion the impact of landing. But I always got the slight knee pain which really put me off sport as I knew I was damaging something.
In the last few months the pain had decreased because I had started doing some knee exercises - basically strengthening the quads. But the pain was still there.
2 weeks or so ago I found out about barefoot running and spend hours researching it on the internet. Since then I have been on 4 runs barefoot and played a game of badminton with water shoes (which is like playing barefoot as the soles are so thin).
All 5 times I have exercised over the last 2 weeks have been the first time in 15 years I've exercised with no knee pain at all afterwards.
Almost miraculous. I have since stopped wearing anything but the most basic shoes, and have started training for a marathon (so long as I don't get any knee pain - if I do I'll stop training immediately).
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