One of the most common complaints among people who struggle to lose weight is that their knees hurt when they run or do any kind of exercise. Knee pain is very common for people who run frequently, but it is most common for people who don’t train properly. Everyone is prone to have knee problems, but the difference between people who have it and who don’t are the ones who know how to exercise properly.
Sometimes it could just be a difference of how you take your strides or what type of shoes you are wearing. Either way, most knee pains are preventable if you just take a few steps to protect them.
Why Do You Experience Knee Pain?
It is possible that you may have some physical problems that will cause you to have knee pain no matter what you do. Even some of those issues are correctable to the point that they could lessen the amount of pain that you have when you run.
Some of those issues include having flat feet and weak muscles throughout your legs. If it’s determined that you have problems like that, then you may have to do some extra weight training to strengthen the weaker areas of your legs so that you have the muscle capacity to be able to run without pain.
Most people with knee pain when exercising fall into the category of simply not training properly. A lot of people who want to lose weight will just get up and start running without understanding the basics of how the body is supposed to move.
Doing proper stretches before running is critical, especially if you don’t exercise that often. It’s also important to change up your running so that you use different muscles.
Run on inclines sometimes and then flat surfaces other times. Jog a long distance one day and do short sprint intervals the next day. Not doing these things could cause you to have knee pain, which makes you feel like you can’t exercise anymore because you are scared that you will damage something permanently!
How to Prevent Knee Pain When Running
Taking your exercising slowly is the main thing you can do to prevent knee pain when running, especially if you’re just starting a workout plan.
Do stretches before and after your running session, whether you think you need to or not. You may not feel like it’s necessary since your muscles are stretched out already, but it’s very beneficial for the long-term health of your muscles.
Making sure you have a good support on your feet is another great way to prevent knee pain when running. If you change out your shoes every 500 miles or so, then you will always have the proper support, assuming the shoes were good to start out with. Running in the same shoes for more than 500 miles will cause more harm than good to your body, so make it a habit to replace them frequently.
Gradually increase your workout intensity instead of going all out right away. If you don’t exercise regularly, then your muscles will have to adjust to being worked out so much. If you don’t give them time to recover, then you will experience some pain occasionally. The general rule is to increase the intensity by 10% every week, whether it’s by distance or time. This way you can keep track of how intense your workouts are any given week.
What to Do If You Experience Knee Pain When Running
If you’ve tried everything and you are still feeling a little knee pain when running, then you could consider wearing a knee brace. It will be a little uncomfortable and you might feel like your movement is restricted, but it will help you prevent further damage on your knees.
No one knows your body better than you do, so you have to listen to it when it tells you that something isn’t right. Knee pain is common for people that run, but it isn’t normal. You shouldn’t have to deal with knee pain every time you go out for a jog.
Try different running styles, footwear and stretches to find out what could be causing the problems. There’s a good chance that it is something simple that can easily be adjusted to make the pain go away.
Once you’ve exhausted all of your options, it may be time to seek medical advice for your knee pain. Doctors may be able to give you some tips and tricks on how to run to put less strain on your knees. If your body doesn’t align properly, then you could just be stepping incorrectly.
The worst thing you can do for your body is giving up completely, though. Just understand that you aren’t the only one that deals with knee pain, but you can get through it by taking some simple steps to help you overcome it.
Nancy Lang
