Knee pain & intro

[Bettypcw]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to Cathe forums. I just discovered Cathe through FitTv in Sept 2004. She is awe-inspiring. I've been doing her exercises 3x a week, and just broke down and bought a club step for Christmas. I've been an at-home exerciser since the early 90s (started with Gilad), and have never done step before. In the past few years, having discovered Collage Video, I've done combinations of yoga, Crunch Fitness, Minna Lessig, and Karen Voight, always 3x a week.

I would like to know what other exercisers out there who have knee pain when working out do for the pain. Do you take things like Osteo Biflex (do they work?). Am I worsening my knees by jumping around?

Separately, 3x a week now, I do Cathe's 50 min TV workouts with both cardio and strength training. I would like to whittle my flabby waist, hips, and thighs by 2". However, I find lower body work to be difficult, probably because of my knees. I should mention that I try to be a healthy eater, incorporating whole grains, protein, fruits & vegs. I do have a slight sweet tooth though. Should I exercise more? I would love the cut, toned look of all those on Cathe's workouts! On the plus side, my upper arms are slowly getting more definition since starting Cathe!

Finally, I am amazed at how dedicated many of you are, such avid (& advanced) exercisers! Keep up the great work! I cannot even lift such heavy weights that I see Cathe use on the barbell!

I would love to own some of Cathe's DVDs but they're rather expensive. When do you think the Hardcore series would end up on TV?

Thanks very much and see you out there!

 

[kathryn]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

Without knowing exactly what moves seem to make your knees hurt, it's hard to give advice (I would recommend seeing a Dr. or PT, if you see a PT, you may be able to get a list of exercises that you can do at home, and check in with the PT once in a while, instead of having them set you up with regular sessions doing stuff with them that you could do on your own), but I'll throw out some ideas!:

As for knee pain: if it is during a workout, I would stop whatever activity is causing it. Working through pain will NOT help, and can worsen the condition. If the pain comes a while after exercise, then icing the knees for about 10-15 minutes every 2 hours or so after exercise could help reduce the inflamation that may be causing the pain. This could be due to increasing your exercise intensity too quickly for your body.

I've found that torquey moves (where you change direction quickly) are tougher on my knees than impact itself.

Working out MORE would probably just aggravate the condition. Make sure that you are varying the intensity of your workouts, and find an intensity that works for you.

For step: SOmetimes using a shorter step height or taking out some of the power moves can help. Try the lower step height first.

For weight work: if specific moves are giving you pain, it could be that your form is off.
On squats, do NOT let your knee go to far forward. I like to watch Rhonda's form on squats and plié squats, as her knee position is perfect for me. Cathe and Cedie usually have their knees come out a bit farther, which for ME does not work. I try to keep my shin as close to perpendicular to the ground--vertical--as possible).

For lunges, it's easier to put pressure into the knee joint with forward lunges, so rear lunges, or even static lunges are better substitutes. Or, you could try lunging up onto a 4" platform, which I've found takes some of the stress off the knee.

In general, increase weights gradually. You may have to back down on yours weights a bit for now until you are sure you have perfect form.

The knee is one of the most injured joints in exercise. Take care of yours and it will keep you going for a long time. Abuse it by ignoring pain and "working through it," and you may end up with a chronic injury or something serious that will take a long time to rehab.