Tips For Knee Pain

Benjblt

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So I just purchased a Stone Glacier pack and Xcurve frame. This post isn't about that but more about the knee pain after training on it with 35 lbs on a treadmill. I only did about 30 minutes with 80 percent on the level. My knees were sore for 4 days and in a bad way. It's mostly centered on my knee cap and behind and around it.

I was just wondering if anyone else out there has had issues with their knees in the past and if they have been able to find a remedy. I realize there are many reasons for knee pain and I'm not expecting anyone to solve my problem. I'm only 35 and I've started to experience pain in my knees in the last few years off and on.

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Benjblt

Benjblt

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Just to clarify, I'm very happy with the Stone Glacier. It's an awesome pack!

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GKPrice

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DON'T know how old you are or what your history is but running or briskly walking with weight is risky business if you aren't used to it maybe worse downhill, easy to do way more damage than good ..... I know, after many years of running .... then walking stairs (even descending gently) and my knees are both worn out, I'll have both replaced within the next 18 months (should of already but my back is worse, trying to fix that first)
 

Dameon

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Do you exercise on a regular basis? If not, your knees may not be up to the task quite yet. If you are like me and sit behind a desk all day, then your knees probably aren't use to carrying a load. Try starting off with lower body exercises like leg extensions with low weight or squat thrusts and lunges if you don't have access to a gym. Do it for about a week to just give the muscles and ligaments in your knee a chance to adjust themselves to bearing a load. Then increase the weight or intensity so that you have a good base to work with. Then try training with a weighted pack again.

I have to do the same thing every year. I am 34 years old, but I get knee pains whenever I try to get back into training or anything moderately strenuous after spending all winter on my butt in the house. Just starting off really light for a week or two and easing my way back into things really helps. After a few weeks, I'm lifting decent weight again and am able to do stair climbs with or without a pack without issue.
 

kodiakfly

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I was gonna say what Dameon said, so I agree with that thought.

My second thought is treadmills suck. I can't run comfortably on one and even walking, my stride is all jacked up and stuff hurts. I never use one because of that. I'd rather walk on a sidewalk in a snow storm than go walk on a tread mill.
 

Brendan

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Could be a lot of things - make sure you're used to it as mentioned above.

Also - Crazy as it sounds, In the past I've had issues with my hip flexors, groin, and tightness in my upper leg causing sharp knee pain that I would've sworn was structural damage to the knee. You could have some jacked up muscles, tendons, fascia that are translating to joint pain and soreness. Get a foam roller, use it religiously, and add in daily stretching to see if that helps - works great for me.
 
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stratofisher

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Could be a lot of things - make sure you're used to it as mentioned above.

Also - Crazy as it sounds, I've had issues with my hip flexors, groin, and tightness in my upper leg causing sharp knee pain that I would've sworn was structural damage to the knee. You could have some jacked up muscles, tendons, fascia that are translating to joint pain and soreness. Get a foam roller, use it religiously, and add in daily stretching to see if that helps.

My dr prescribed yoga to stretch out and alleviate the knee and back pain. It works if you do the stretching
 

Kilboars

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I suffered with bad knee pains for a few years and I was sure I needed surgery.
I saw the best orthopedic doctor in town and he said it's small bone spurs into my knee cap and I wouldn't need surgery.
He recommended 20min a day on a stationary Bicycle at 90+ rpm to heat up and smooth out the spurs. Worked great.

Good luck.


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Ross

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Many variables can cause knee issues. If a reoccurring theme would have an ortho check things out or a phy therapist. As noted you may find it is a tightness issue of one or more muscles. Stretching consistently along with foam roller can go along way as we age. Good luck
 

Speeddmn

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Im 36 and had the same issue. Just went thru double knee surgery for blown out/torn meniscus. I had one done in Dec, the other in Feb. Currently in physical therapy 2x a week and home stretching. I know the pain you describe and if I could do this over again not know what I know about my meniscus I would have gotten to the gym more and did more leg work. Especially the calves and quads. Lots more stretching along with the work out. If I were in your shoes I would not worry about working with the pack right now, get a 2x a week leg day at the gym. When it comes time to work out with the pack, lower the weight some say 25lbs and use either the stair stepper machine at the gym, or find a tall office building and climb the stairs 20-30 mins.

** I am in no way a medical professional or even an armature, Only suggesting what I was told for the same symptoms.**
 

Mossy

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Is the pain there when stationary or only during movement? I had an issue for 2 years when I started back country, steep hunting. 3 days in and I thought I'd have to get carried off the mountain. My knees weren't used to all the side-hilling along with navigating through all the dead falls. Could barely lift my legs to get over them due to the pain.

Last 4 years have been pain free....getting in better shape with a treadmill seemed to do the trick for me. Incline and decline programs really got my knees where they need to be
 
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Could be a lot of things - make sure you're used to it as mentioned above.

Also - Crazy as it sounds, In the past I've had issues with my hip flexors, groin, and tightness in my upper leg causing sharp knee pain that I would've sworn was structural damage to the knee. You could have some jacked up muscles, tendons, fascia that are translating to joint pain and soreness. Get a foam roller, use it religiously, and add in daily stretching to see if that helps - works great for me.

Exactly!

I struggled with knee and back pain for years and have finally found a massage therapist and chiropractor who understand how knees, hips, and back are all related. I'm feeling like I turned a corner recently on getting my tight hip flexors taken care of and moving again, some probably haven't moved correctly in 15 years. For me, it has been a slow painful process. I hate gym work (even stretching) and forget to do it half the time. Results are positive reinforcement though.
When I first started going to the massage therapist I see now, I would tell her I had back pain and she'd work on my hamstrings in addition to my back. For my knee pain, she'd work on my hips.
I highly recommend a good massage therapist. You want deep tissue massage. No scented candles and hot rocks. The pain of deep tissue massage can be excruciating when those muscles that have taken a set over the past 5 years are broken up, but stick with it. It's worth it. Eventually you'll go less and less as you get your flexibility back. I go about 6 times per year but would go more if I could afford it. My foam roller is important to maintenance, too.
My dad just had knee replacement surgery. Like me, he never saw a gym or dumbell he liked. I'll bet if he'd been proactive about it and made sure everything in his hips and legs was moving correctly and he had even strength in all of his muscle groups, through massage, stretching and exercise that knee replacement could have been avoided.
 
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Benjblt

Benjblt

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Do you exercise on a regular basis? If not, your knees may not be up to the task quite yet. If you are like me and sit behind a desk all day, then your knees probably aren't use to carrying a load. Try starting off with lower body exercises like leg extensions with low weight or squat thrusts and lunges if you don't have access to a gym. Do it for about a week to just give the muscles and ligaments in your knee a chance to adjust themselves to bearing a load. Then increase the weight or intensity so that you have a good base to work with. Then try training with a weighted pack again.

I have to do the same thing every year. I am 34 years old, but I get knee pains whenever I try to get back into training or anything moderately strenuous after spending all winter on my butt in the house. Just starting off really light for a week or two and easing my way back into things really helps. After a few weeks, I'm lifting decent weight again and am able to do stair climbs with or without a pack without issue.

Thanks for the thoughts. I asked the question with some of these ideas in mind but wanted to hear what people had to say. I do exercise on a regular basis and used to do weighted squats. They didn't particularly hurt each time but they would get a little sore. I too sit at a desk now days (I went to a standing desk but still sit some). I guess I'm not used to working my way up and when I try with what I would consider fairly moderate weight, albeit at the upper end of moderate, its pretty discouraging when you bend your knees to pick something up two days layer and they feel like they are going to snap. I see all these guys well into their 40's that will pack around 40, 50, and sometimes well over 100 lbs during season and with my knees like this I can't imagine doing that. Pretty discouraging when I just dumped $800 plus into a pack system almost solely for that purpose of hauling loads over 50 lbs. If I can't do that I might as well go with a 3 or 400 dollar cheaper pack.

I had been doing non weighted exercise consistently but maybe that wasn't enough. I guess I will just have to get progressively heavier. Thanks for the advise.
 
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Benjblt

Benjblt

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Could be a lot of things - make sure you're used to it as mentioned above.

Also - Crazy as it sounds, In the past I've had issues with my hip flexors, groin, and tightness in my upper leg causing sharp knee pain that I would've sworn was structural damage to the knee. You could have some jacked up muscles, tendons, fascia that are translating to joint pain and soreness. Get a foam roller, use it religiously, and add in daily stretching to see if that helps - works great for me.

I've heard this as well form many people. I think my hips and hammies might be the problem. I use a roller and a ball but it hasn't solved the problem yet. I talked to a guy who owns a bow/outdoor shop in Southern Oregon that thought he was going to need knee surgery but found this gal that showed him how to massage his legs with this "special" ball and he totally recovered within a month and felt great. I guess I need to be more "religious" about it as well as spend more time. Hunting all I love to do and I can't imagine losing my knees this soon.
 
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Benjblt

Benjblt

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Is the pain there when stationary or only during movement? I had an issue for 2 years when I started back country, steep hunting. 3 days in and I thought I'd have to get carried off the mountain. My knees weren't used to all the side-hilling along with navigating through all the dead falls. Could barely lift my legs to get over them due to the pain.

Last 4 years have been pain free....getting in better shape with a treadmill seemed to do the trick for me. Incline and decline programs really got my knees where they need to be

It's more of a dull pain when stationary but sometimes more than a dull pain. It's more pronounced when I bend them close to 90 degrees and they also snap and pop.
 
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About a month ago I went to the sports medicine doc to look at my knees. I left with two good knees and degenerative hip disease. Obviously I suck at self diagnosis.

So I stopped the evening walks with a 50# pack now spend about an hour in the pool 5 days a week which has really helped with the pain.
 

GKPrice

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I suffered with bad knee pains for a few years and I was sure I needed surgery.
I saw the best orthopedic doctor in town and he said it's small bone spurs into my knee cap and I wouldn't need surgery.
He recommended 20min a day on a stationary Bicycle at 90+ rpm to heat up and smooth out the spurs. Worked great.

Good luck.


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Bicycling is like candy for the knees, I can only do recumbent due to the lumber back pain but it still feels good on my knees that don't have any more cartiliage - there are also other factors that affect some, Osteoarthritis (which I and many many others suffer from - NOT the same as Rhumatoid Arthritis) is what winds up getting the knees, it's a process of chronic inflammation destroying the articulating cartilage (meniscus material) and then when ur "bone on bone" it's just pain and inflammation to deal with, that is why there are so many knee replacements being done, those and hips make orthopedic surgeons rich these nowadays - if you're bull legged like me its the "medial" (inside) surface that goes first - Tumeric greatly helps "ME" with the inflammation, COSTCO sell capsules that work great, AND everyone has "inflammation cycles" where some days are worse than others - I've also found that wearing "knee sleeves" helps when I'm hunting or hiking (warmth, I'm convinced) -
 
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The simple answer is you are 35 and no longer 19 :cool: Need to work up to it. At least you are doing it now and not at 45 or 55. Only gets harder with age..... Give yourself a few days to recover and start out with some simple walks without a pack to make sure you no longer have any pain. Slowly add weight and incline as your muscles "wake up". Lunges and unweighted squats will help a lot as well.
 
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