Knee Pain

B.,
I am a local Massage Therapist and see this often in runners. Sounds like you are experiancing strain to the ligaments and tendons from training for your 5k. Often paying close attention to your stride and the position of you foot as you come down can change how you knee is impacted. Make sure you are stretching both Before and After your run and take time time to walk with good posture as a cool down.

Using ice follow by heat (10 minute each) a few times after the activity may aslo bring down the discomfort. Of course getting massage will help you too.

Email me if you want (____@____.com), I may be able to help you out to keep things lose so you can achieve your 5k goal without worry.

B.,

I've experienced that before and it ended up just being a tight IT Band(outside thigh inbetween the quad and hamstring). I was able to manage it with streching and rubbing a tennis ball along the outside of my leg.

As my doctor told me, at this age you really need to start out slowly and give your muscles and ligaments a chance to get used to the exercise.

I hope you found a partner to run with, I wanted to respond but was afraid to comit to anything additional.

-Jo

Hi B.,
I also had this problem when I started running again after my 2nd child was born. I rested for a good month (hard to do now that you are motivated) and did not run. I think what I did according to the reading I did was overdid it too quickly. Check out some runners websites for common injuries and you'll see what I mean.

I did the Hal Higdon 5K training for novices the last time after my 3rd was born and had no problems. It was hard because I felt like my body could do more, but really needed my muscles and joints to get stronger too. I am pregnant again and plan to do the same thing after the baby is born. It really worked well. My longest race this last fall was a half marathon. Once I had a good base, it was so much easier to push myself and not worry about injuries.

Good luck with your training. I am excited to start again. I am glad to hear that other moms are as excited about this. I love running and miss it terribly. Take care of those knees!

I have had knee pain for years that's a really sharp pain and it's on the outer side of my knee-it comes and goes. I've been to the doctor for it, and they said it was a "floating knee cap" and there was nothing I could do about it. Then I went again to a better doctor and she said I should stop running. I didn't like that answer and have continued to run. I usually only get it a couple of times a season and it lasts for a week or so. My mom has knee pain on the back side of her knee and she went to the doctor recently and was told it was a fluid buildup called "brusitis" ( don't know if that's how you spell it). Supposedly that goes away on it's own and you can still keep running. I just always believed that since I loved running so much I would rather deal with some pain here and there until I can't do it anymore than never do it based on the speculation that it could possibly be damaging but not for sure. Anyway, maybe you can identify with either of these types of knee pain. Good luck.

My husband has a lot of knee pain as well (we are also Canadian so he spent his childhood on the ice playing hockey and it damaged his knees a lot) I notice a total difference in him when he is taking calcium supplements vs when he is not. He hardly ever complains about his knees when he is taking enough calcium. He has also recently started working out and has started taking glucosamine for his joint pain and he says it helps. But I really think it sounds like you need to see a professional, maybe even a physical trainer at your gym might have come suggestions. I shy away from doctors for this kind of stuff sometimes b.c it seems like a lot of doctors just suggest pain med's or surgery. A physical therapist, if you have one available to talk to would have some suggestions as well. But until then calcium supplements won't do you any harm at all.
Good for you for staying active and working on your goals, take care of yourself:)
K. H

you have a few responses already, but I'll still give you my 2 cents. I experienced knee pain, starting about 2 months ago,I went to the doctor, and they gave it some kind of name...basically the muscles around my knee wernt strong enough.(or as strong as I thought, with all the things I was doing..) They perscribed physical therapy, and he gave me 4 diffrent excersizes to do with my knee (I can explain them in detal if you would like...) and 3 weeks later I went back, and I dont need to go anymore. I just strengthened the muscle surrounding my knee, and changed shoes. and its all better! So maybe your knee pain is just a way of your body telling you that it is not yet used to all the stress, and maybe slow down, but don't stop.....?

It could possibly be chondromalchia...which is (in my own laymans terms) when you wear down cartilage in your knee. I had it when I was younger and was a ballet dancer. You can try to cross train a little and lift weights to strengthen the muscles around your knee. Other than that....there isn't much to do except rest.

I apologize for the spelling since it is early and I have a little one on my lap :)

Hope this helps you out a bit