Knee pain while running

Hey guys

I got into running this year, at first everything was going fine and I went from doing 3-4 km runs to 13 kms going up about a km each week.

Now I can't go longer than about 3-5 kms without getting painful knees , or once I get to around the 3 km mark I'll need to stop for about a minute because of the pain and then run again for half a km or so before the comes back.  I get a lot of knee swelling. After the run the pain isn't too bad, it's mainly there while I run. 

The following days there's not much pain but a little bit when I bend them. 

I have also changed shoes, focused more on warming up, taken 2 weeks off.

Any idea what my problem might be?

Comments

  • TTTT ✭✭✭
    Sorry to hear this, knee pain can be many, many things (having had a knee issue last year). My advice would be to find a decent physio who understands you are a runner and understands runners.  
  • chamolkchamolk ✭✭✭
    I second TT's advice about seeing a physio. Swelling in the knee itself would often suggest either blood /haemarthrosis (unlikely in your case if no sudden injury) or inflammation. Inflammation will almost always ease with a rest or break from running, as it's the repetitive nature of running that causes and exacerbates the problem. 

    Physio will help identify any weakness or imbalance that is contributing to it, along with advice how to fix it.

    Core /glute exercises can help too, if you're not already doing any, as can taking a week or two break
  • You need to be careful when it comes to your knees it could be something much worse. I was having knee pain after a few weeks of running and one day I heard a pop, locking my knee in place. It turned out that I had soft tissue damage in my knee
  • Do you know how some ways your knees can hurt? A lot! :)

    So without more description, people could offer you tons of contradictory information - a number of which can actually be detrimental.

    The most common knee pain in runners is usually called “Runner’s knee” (someone was feeling very creative that day). this may desire a burning pain towards the bottom/outer side of the knee - and when really bad, can create sharp pains rising and up and down stairs.

    If this is often the matter, then the answer is comparatively simple (and won’t impact negatively if it’s not the problem):

    - Once or twice each day, lie on your back and do 10–20 single-leg raises (with your leg straight)

    It won’t solve runners' knee directly, but it works fairly quickly.

    If this doesn’t solve your issue - then I might recommend talking to someone in person (either knowledgeable or an experienced runner)
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