General Discussion Triathlon Talk » sore and popping knees and cramping left shin muscle Rss Feed  
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2004-07-12 5:29 PM

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Subject: sore and popping knees and cramping left shin muscle
While running my knees have a tendancy to pop or start out a little sore when I start running. The soreness in my knees goes away after about 5 minutes during my 10 min warm up. The popping is not hurting just annoying. However, after about 10min into my run my left shin muscle cramps up an I have to walk a little. This cramping shin muscle is very discourageing since I been running for about a year now. The only thing I can think of that causes it is muscle fatige. I'm thinking I may not be consistant with my running workouts and may have pushed myself too hard on days that I felt good.

I've backed off from 30 minutes of running with a 10 minute walk/run warm up and cool down to a 20 minute run with 10 minute walk/run warm up and cool down for a total of 40 minutes.

I don't keep track of mileage right now I'm just trying to get to where I can run for 30 minutes comfortably. I do know that when I am running, I run about a 9 to 9:30 minute/mile pace.

Any advice for the muscle cramping or knee popping?

Peatmoss


2004-07-12 6:04 PM
in reply to: #36965

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Subject: RE: sore and popping knees and cramping left shin muscle
Hey there Peatmoss (cool name, by the way),

My first question would be: how old are your running shoes? Make sure you haven't exceeded their lifetime, which is ~500 running miles, less if you walk around in them on a daily basis (which, by the way, you really shouldn't do, just so you all know).

The fact that your knee soreness goes away after a few minutes tells me that it's just an issue of them warming up. Have you ever had any knee injuries in the past?

The shin muscle cramp is a bit of a weird issue. That's why I asked about your shoes. One thing I would try is a "duck walk", which strengthens that muscle. You pull your toes up as far as they can go towards your shin, and walk on your heels. It looks funny (and yes, people will laugh), but it usually helps with that muscle. Good for shin splints, too.

Make sure you're stretching adequately. That ends my realm of "expertise", hopefully someone else can shoot of ideas as well! Good luck!

Jasmine
2004-07-12 6:15 PM
in reply to: #36965

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Subject: RE: sore and popping knees and cramping left shin muscle
Well, let me cover myself as usual with an, "I'm not a DR" but...

It could be that your kneecap is a little off track, or "runner's knee", or chrondomalacia, or something close to that spelling, all the same thing. This can be caused by several things, for me it was an imbalance in the leg muscles mainly, which can be improved by strength training the legs. Also, the usual advice, make sure you have good shoes. Use the %10 rule when adding time or distance. it could be your feet, the surface you run on, or if you're running a lot of hills, and a number of other things I can't think of.

Sometimes my knee is like that also, just a little sore and warms up after a few minutes and then is fine. Over time though if not taken care of it will probably get worse.

A couple other thoughts. I often got a "cramp" in my left calf/shin. I believe this was because I was overcompensating for my weak right knee. This could be your problem, but if you have it in both knees, I have no idea.

Also, when going through physical therapy I talked with them about the popping, because some days it was worse, better, sometimes it hurt, sometimes it didn't. Bottom line is if the popping doesn't hurt, don't worry about it. That's what I was told anyway.

My best advice is to go to runnersworld.com or another runners source and try to figure out what might be causing it.

And get good shoes! Oh, and stretch it out too, daily or more.

Good luck!
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