General Joint Pains

Hey,

I am 22 years old and have always enjoyed running and have done it regularly on + off for years. I have also always had joint pains during and after running (hips, knees, ankles, feet). I have always assumed that everyone gets this after a long or particularly hard run.. but I have started training with a friend and she has no pain at all.

I have flat feet, which I have suffered a lot less from since getting a decent pair of shoes. But I still feel the bones of my arches hurting me during/after running. Similarly, during and after running I get anterior knee pain which I would describe as 'joint pain', in addition sometimes my knees feel 'loose' in extension.

The weird thing about this is the pain varies from run to run, sometimes it will be my limiting factor and I end up hobbling home. Other times I feel nothing.

When I purchased my new shoes they analysed my gait and told me my technique of runing was good. So I can't of anything causing the joint pains. The only thought I have had is that I started contact sports when I was very young and have had loads of injuries over my time... not sure.

Anyway, does anyone else suffer from this and what are some good ways to treat or reduce the problems. At the moment I can deal with the pain, but nervous that I am causing long term damage.

I think from what you are saying, is it right to summarise that you have flat feet that are corrected by a stabilitly shoe?
You are getting arch pain ... poss PF (plantar fasciatis) and you are getting some knee pain
Its is likely that the two are connected and should not be taken lightly

What you dont say is, how long you have been running, how you have built up both time and distance, what pace you are running at and if you are still playing contact sports

What may help in the interim is a sports massage, back off the pace/distance, apply RICE (and a sprinkling of common sense) and then reassess 

If it is pain rather than discomfort then in my opinion you should stop and get it sorted.

Anterior knee pain is very common in those taking up running, and is rarely sinister. It is a bit odd, though if you haven't increased the amount you run recently . it might just need some knee strenghtening work- best see a sports physio (your GP is likely not to have the detailed training in sports injuries that a physio would, and may just tell you to stop running).

Hi,

M Eldy- I have had flat feet since childhood and had insoles when I was younger, which just made things worse. I used to have terrible pains in my feet before going to get my shoes fitted and since have had little of the 'old pains'.

Running wise - I average about 25-35km a week. Again I have always run at the gym or outside since childood. But over the last year-ish I have been more regular. I am training for the half marathon at the moment (in a months time) so distance has been increasing slowly.Pace wise is about 6:10min/km. I'm 5 foot 4 and 55kg. The contact sport I used to do was taekwondo (lots of feet injuries and high impact) but haven't done that for a good 2 years now.

My feet are 100% better with my new shoes and I would say I am pretty used to the pain they give me and have given me all my life. My knees will hurt during the run and after .. probably until the next morning if I go for a run in the arvo. But the pain is gone the next day. If I had to put a finger on the pain it would be where the patellar tendon runs over my kneecap. 

I ran 16km yesterday and had to stop because of the knee pain, had a hot bath afterwards which seemed to help. 

I also wonder if it could be related to my hips.. I sometimes get very tight and sore hip flexors when running. Again I asked the gait analysis person about this and he said that from what he could see my technique was fine and that he couldn't see any indication as to why my hipe would hurt from my running style.

typo.. average about 35-40km a week I would say