knee pain from running on treadmill

[MattyG]

I did a search, found nothing on this.

I've started running, as I'm trying to get into the forces and as part of the fitness test you must run 1.5 miles in under 12 mins.

Pretty 'easy' maybe, but where I'm quite competitive I'm trying to do it in my fastest time.

I can do it in 10m15sec now which means running approx 9mph all the way. I did this 5 days ago and the next day, I noticed my inner knee area was painful when I rotate my foot inwards (so that toes face into eachother).

This leads me to believe I have hurt my Medial Cruciate Ligament or maybe the meniscus.

I know this is not a running site, nor is it a site full of doctors, but has anyone else experienced knee problems from running on treadmills?

I'm sure it's pretty common, so share your knowledge.

btw. I warmed up thoroughly before running, by doing 6 mins of walking, 5mins of jogging slowly and then some stretching.

[agony21]

Hey matty -- Seems like you are pretty well researched and well thought out... I was wondering about a few things, and also have some ideas.

-- do you run regularly? or is running something new that you have just started?

-- what surface type are you running on? (track, grass, gravel, etc.) -- Whoops just saw that you run on a treadmill.. Skip this one :-p

-- how is your foot support? are the shoes your wearing actually made for running?

-- are you icing knees and shins post-training?

-- take anything for joint support? (ie. Glucosamine, MSM, Chondroiton, EFA's, etc)

If all that is in check, and not an issue you may want to have your stride analyzed by someone... a friend of mine had his run analyzed by someone who does that **** amazingly enough haha... and he found that he uses the incorrect part of his foot to run... Thus putting extra stress on certain areas... Obviously i have no idea on the specifics... but it may be a decent place to start depending on the priority level for you...

Anyways... good luck to you...

[Tyciol]

It might be something about your running form, if you're going really fast and pushing it you could be ignoring subtle pain signals or something.

For now, crosstrain with the elliptical machine on a high setting since it saves the knees some, yet you can still work on your cardio endurance. There should be some transfer to the treadmill when you get back to it. Maybe do it with a weighted vest for higher intensity and load on the legs which might help stabilize your running.

Then you can do light (perhaps incline, so you can use gravity instead of speed to make it harder) work while focusing on expending as little energy as possible moving the distance (ie, you don't lose it from impacting the ground heavily and going 'SLAM' each time) with a relaxing consistant manner until you speed it again.

[MattyG]

Hey matty -- Seems like you are pretty well researched and well thought out... I was wondering about a few things, and also have some ideas.

-- do you run regularly? or is running something new that you have just started?

-- what surface type are you running on? (track, grass, gravel, etc.) -- Whoops just saw that you run on a treadmill.. Skip this one :-p

-- how is your foot support? are the shoes your wearing actually made for running?

-- are you icing knees and shins post-training?

-- take anything for joint support? (ie. Glucosamine, MSM, Chondroiton, EFA's, etc)

If all that is in check, and not an issue you may want to have your stride analyzed by someone... a friend of mine had his run analyzed by someone who does that **** amazingly enough haha... and he found that he uses the incorrect part of his foot to run... Thus putting extra stress on certain areas... Obviously i have no idea on the specifics... but it may be a decent place to start depending on the priority level for you...

Anyways... good luck to you...

Hey. Thanks.

1. I've been running regularly for the past month and a half to 2 months - so no, not a very long time.

2. I actually do most of my running on a mixture of road, grass and pebbles, but only train on the treadmill for testing out how it will be in the fitness test, as this is what they test you on.

3. I wear a soccer trainer. They have raised heels like running shoes and arch support - so they are pretty much the same thing, just not so wide.
I'll get some proper running shoes now you come to mention it though - duh.

4. No I never ice my knees or shins.

5. I take glucosamine sulphate daily, plus fish oil capsules and multi vitamin.

6. Thanks

I feel kinda stupid now coming to think of the shoe situation, but then I'd bet my soccer shoes are better for running than the combat boots I'm going to be running in frequently in the forces.

[MattyG]

It might be something about your running form, if you're going really fast and pushing it you could be ignoring subtle pain signals or something.

For now, crosstrain with the elliptical machine on a high setting since it saves the knees some, yet you can still work on your cardio endurance. There should be some transfer to the treadmill when you get back to it. Maybe do it with a weighted vest for higher intensity and load on the legs which might help stabilize your running.

Then you can do light (perhaps incline, so you can use gravity instead of speed to make it harder) work while focusing on expending as little energy as possible moving the distance (ie, you don't lose it from impacting the ground heavily and going 'SLAM' each time) with a relaxing consistant manner until you speed it again.

Thanks mate

[Firepower]

I think it's important to have comfortable running shoes when running....my knees used to hurt while running also. But I just bought some better shoes and started taking glucosamine

[MattyG]

I think it's important to have comfortable running shoes when running....my knees used to hurt while running also. But I just bought some better shoes and started taking glucosamine

Yeah, I'm definately going to buy some proper running shoes, event if they look a bit goofy IMO.
A bit like trying to squat in high heels, running in the wrong shoes I guess.

[Firepower]

Every year, there's a fitness convention in my city with a bunch of vendors (such as Nike, Reebok, etc.). Nike always has a stride analysis booth where they analyze the way you run. It's pretty cool. Then upon their analysis, they can recommend certain running shoes.

[MattyG]

Every year, there's a fitness convention in my city with a bunch of vendors (such as Nike, Reebok, etc.). Nike always has a stride analysis booth where they analyze the way you run. It's pretty cool. Then upon their analysis, they can recommend certain running shoes.

That sounds cool - where's that?