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Bad Knees?

Perspective

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I've recently started to exercise a lot more (thank da heavens above). I run on the treadmill, do squats and lunges, and use a variety of the machines. By the time I get home, my knees are incredibly sore. It starts out as a very dull pain, but as the night progresses, they hurt more and more. My left knee hurts more than my right knee. Sometimes my right knee feels perfectly fine. I'm guessing I might have an alignment issue but I'm not sure. My goal is to be able to squat 150 by the end of the year, but based on the condition of my knees right now, I'm not sure it'll be possible. How can I overcome this? Has anyone dealt with it?
 

cascadeco

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It's really hard to know via reading what type of pain it is and what you are experiencing.

The only type I have experienced has been when it becomes very painful to go from, say, a bent position to a standing one - ie squatting down to the floor and then trying to stand up again.

When I was in high school during my brief one season venture into cross country running, I went into it too fast without enough buildup training, and my knees became totally inflamed and I had to go on anti inflammatory meds for the season. When I went to a physical therapist at the time, I learned one exercise I needed to do to help with the bending issue was to stretch the backs of my legs out in a major way - flexing foot and basically raising leg up, to counteract the muscle buildup in the muscles in the front of my legs. It helped a lot and I still do that stretching to this day, daily.

But you really need to see a therapist and discuss to figure out specifically what you are dealing with.
[MENTION=9486]gromit[/MENTION]
 

Yuurei

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As someone with confirmed bad knees,who has spoken to many other bad knees - and mind you this is my experience, I can't speak for everyone- if you can still do squat you probably have not done any serious damage. I mean nothing requiring any sort of surgery. Could be strains, which can last for months. Especially I you don't rest.

Other then that it really depends on where exactly it hurts.
 

ceecee

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Yeah it's really hard to know exactly what the issue is by reading. I had a lot of patellofemoral pain and it was alignment.

Two things they suggested I do that worked - get better footwear (I have some over-pronation so I wear Orthoheel walkers only when I use the treadmill) and taping. They showed me how to tape over the patella to get it where it was suppose to be. The other thing I did is leg lifts (resistance, no weight). I'm betting this helped most.

Here and there I get some burning pain in one or both knees and I get on the treadmill as soon as I can. For whatever reason, it almost always makes the pain stop.
 

Yuurei

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Yeah it's really hard to know exactly what the issue is by reading. I had a lot of patellofemoral pain and it was alignment.

Two things they suggested I do that worked - get better footwear (I have some over-pronation so I wear Orthoheel walkers only when I use the treadmill) and taping. They showed me how to tape over the patella to get it where it was suppose to be. The other thing I did is leg lifts (resistance, no weight). I'm betting this helped most.

Here and there I get some burning pain in one or both knees and I get on the treadmill as soon as I can. For whatever reason, it almost always makes the pain stop.

Wait? ..That's a thing?

My kneecap grew in way to the side. I had two surgeries two physically move it.
It's mostly fixed but it still pops out of place every once in a while. ( like that time I was swimming across a glacial river. Not cool bro.) Every Dr and physical therapist I've seen just says " I'unno." and now you say I can just tape it? -_-;
I'm honestly a little mad at myself for not figuring this out. I think I'll try that, thank you.
 

ceecee

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Wait? ..That's a thing?

My kneecap grew in way to the side. It was a serious enough issue that I had two surgeries two physically move it to where it was supposed to be.
It's mostly fixed but it still pops out of place every once in a while. ( like that time I was swimming across a glacial river. Not cool bro.) Every Dr and physical therapist I've seen just says " I'unno." and now you say I can just tape it? -_-;
I'm honestly a little mad at myself for not figuring this out. I think I'll try that, thank you.

You're welcome. The kinesiology tape works best in my experience.
 

Perspective

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Yeah it's really hard to know exactly what the issue is by reading. I had a lot of patellofemoral pain and it was alignment.

Two things they suggested I do that worked - get better footwear (I have some over-pronation so I wear Orthoheel walkers only when I use the treadmill) and taping. They showed me how to tape over the patella to get it where it was suppose to be. The other thing I did is leg lifts (resistance, no weight). I'm betting this helped most.

Here and there I get some burning pain in one or both knees and I get on the treadmill as soon as I can. For whatever reason, it almost always makes the pain stop.

I'm betting that that is my issue as well. I'll try this out, thank you.
 
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If the pain continues, maybe look into swimming? Terrestrial activities place inordinate levels of stress on specific parts of the body regardless of the exercise or shoes worn.
 

Showbread

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Running on a treadmill may be part of the problem. I had a PT expressly tell me never to do because it would wreck my knees. I have some serious alignment issues, and I think treadmills are harder on the body in general.
 

entropie

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Or get a cyborg knee like I have :)

11200774_784261905027126_7979237341553613133_n.jpg
 
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Stop using the treadmill, use the row machine or bike instead. Second of all, I squat heavy and my knees hurt when I squat just the bar, I'm not entirely sure it's something that can be avoided, I have someone check my form on squats and deadlift twice a week and its not bad form on my part, but what I really recommend is that you get knee sleeves. I have the Iron Rebel ones, they're pretty good, SBD are also really good but a little more expensive I think. They keep your joints warm so that helps. You want the tightest size you can squeeze your legs into, for me that was a small. So yeah, what I would recommend is stop using the treadmill, have someone check your form, and get knee sleeves. If you don't have someone to look at your form, film yourself squatting, I can look at it and show it to my coach.

How much weight are you doing now, and what is your routine (sets x reps).

If your knees are going in while squatting that could be part of the problem, what I would recommend in that case is getting a hip circle or small elastic band (not one of the huge ones for assisted pullups) doing warmup sets with that on just below your knees, this will force you to push out against the band and keep your knees from going in. Another thing to think about if your knees are going in is to think about screwing your heels into the ground, but that takes a little explaining...it took me a while to get it.

My goal is 275 by the end of the year btw, but I seem to have hit a plateau because all my muscle is posterior. I wish there were a thread for fitness goals here (that I wouldn't need to necro).
 

Perspective

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If the pain continues, maybe look into swimming?
I love swimming! That's a wonderful idea.

Running on a treadmill may be part of the problem. I had a PT expressly tell me never to do because it would wreck my knees. I have some serious alignment issues, and I think treadmills are harder on the body in general.
Oh wow. It never hurts when I walk on incline but when I'm jogging I can feel some pain coursing through my legs but I don't think much of it, figuring it's just because I'm out of shape. That's good to know though, because that could be the problem.

Or get a cyborg knee like I have :)

View attachment 17086
Oh man I hope it doesn't come to that. Hopefully you're free of pain now, though.
 

cascadeco

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I love swimming! That's a wonderful idea.


Oh wow. It never hurts when I walk on incline but when I'm jogging I can feel some pain coursing through my legs but I don't think much of it, figuring it's just because I'm out of shape. That's good to know though, because that could be the problem.


Oh man I hope it doesn't come to that. Hopefully you're free of pain now, though.

Yeah I would be cautious if you have 'pain coursing through your legs'. If you're out of shape, extreme weakness, maybe some discomfort, and mostly feeling your legs don't have the strength to do it / your lungs can't keep up will be more of an issue (it's much more of an 'I don't wanna / I can't do anymore / this is hard and my body is about to collapse' feeling, when you're out of shape, vs pain - at least while exercising (though super sore muscles can be common/expected 24 hrs later)). To me, those are expected and normal signs of being out of shape. But what you describe doesn't sound like being out of shape, it's something else.
 
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Yeah I would be cautious if you have 'pain coursing through your legs'. If you're out of shape, extreme weakness, maybe some discomfort, and mostly feeling your legs don't have the strength to do it / your lungs can't keep up will be more of an issue (it's much more of an 'I don't wanna / I can't do anymore / this is hard and my body is about to collapse' feeling, when you're out of shape, vs pain - at least while exercising (though super sore muscles can be common/expected 24 hrs later)). To me, those are expected and normal signs of being out of shape. But what you describe doesn't sound like being out of shape, it's something else.

Its probably because her knees are unaccustomed to the impact that her foot landing on the treadmill has, which is why its not a great thing to use. (You don't want to get used to that either because it is not good for your joints, but that's another topic). It reminds me a little (although its actually completely different) of when I started curling and how after I put the bar down I would get a sharp pain in my arm for a second, because I wasn't used to the muscle pulling on the bone like that.
 

Dr Mobius

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I love swimming! That's a wonderful idea.

Oh wow. It never hurts when I walk on incline but when I'm jogging I can feel some pain coursing through my legs but I don't think much of it, figuring it's just because I'm out of shape. That's good to know though, because that could be the problem.


I echo [MENTION=1206]cascadeco[/MENTION]'s recommendation for professional help.

On a speculative note; exactly how much have you stepped up your exercise? You would hardly be the first person to go from zero to a hundred and pay the price. There is a reason cross fitters spent most of their time in PT. For example going from running 1-3 times a week followed by weight lifting. Then going to 5-6 days a week increasing the distance or time, on top of pushing for heavier weights would probably be too fast.
 

Mal12345

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I have knee pain when I walk, especially up stairs. The pain continues on for a while afterward and then goes away. A doctor said it isn't arthritis.
 
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