Reduce Your Knee Pain (Don’t Run So Much)

Let’s face it. You’re getting older, your life’s passing you by, you’re sitting on the couch, and watching TV.

All of the sudden, that Everest College Commercial comes on and reminds you that you need to get an education. So you get up, go to pick up the phone and…it hurts to walk over to the phone because of your knee pain.

Then you remember your knees also hurt when you run. Bummer.

All jokes aside, there’s a small chance that you’re interested in Everest College. Yet, there’s a greater chance that you’re frustrated with your knee pain.

So What Causes Knee Pain?

It could be a lot of different things, and this has a high potential for getting very scientific; so I’ll explain it in the simplest way possible.  

Improper patella (knee cap) tracking, is one of the fairly common reasons that your knees are sore. What do I mean by tracking?

Think of it this way, your patella is held in position by various amounts of fascia (which is attached to muscles) pulling it in multiple directions.  With improper tracking, your patella is not centred, and is in a position that could possibly rub against the bone, cartilage, etc, thus causing inflammation and knee pain.

Your physiotherapist will often call this “patellofemoral pain syndrome” or “PFPS”. There could be numerous reasons why your knee is tracking improperly, but judging by what I’ve seen in the trenches, the most uncommon reason is that your muscles on the outside of your leg are too strong, and pull your knee cap sideways.

 That is so 1980’s.  The most common causes of this tracking problem (that I’ve seen) is bad Q-angle, poor hip and ankle mobility, and weak glutes (your butt muscles).

Combine this with all the long distance running that people do, and you have a recipe for disaster that not even the Demon of Knee Pain could dream of creating.

Q-angle?  This is the angle between the hip and knee.  Check out the figure below: 

Generally, you don’t want your knees caving in.  

Most women have a tremendous problem with this because they tend to have wider hips (for childbirth).  This is the reason why I barely ever allow any of my female clients to do long distance running.

Look at most female marathon runners.  Natural selection has weeded out ones with wider hips, leaving the women with small Q-angles to win the races (pain-free).

Hip and ankle mobility?

This is basically the range of motion that your hips and knees have (often confused with flexibility).  

As you get older, the years of sitting at a desk add up, and you end up getting tight (pretty much everywhere), and start losing your mobility.

This is why most children can put their feet over their heads, and the reason why your grandparents have trouble bending down to tie their shoes.

Let’s Get Rid of This Pain

 First of all, I’m not a Physiotherapist, so use the methods below at your own discretion.

Further, if you’re unsure about anything (your pain, why you hurt, exercises, etc. etc. etc.), then PLEASE go see a physiotherapist!

 With that being said, even if you don’t have knee pain, a lot of people could benefit from taking the advice I’m about to give.

First of all:  if it hurts, stop doing it.  Duh! A lot of people play Russian roulette with logic and end up losing.  

Does your knee really hurt after running that 5K? Then stop running until you’re better.

Once you’re better, improve your running mechanics. This means getting a professional to teach you how to run properly, or at least doing a little bit of research.

Start foam rolling:

Invest only 10 minutes of foam rolling per day, and you will thank me and your foam roller.

Activate your glutes with the following exercise.