Knee pain / downhill technique

General discussions on hiking in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest
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roadtripmom
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by roadtripmom » August 5th, 2011, 9:21 am

"Instead of directly facing down to the hill, turning slightly sideways may help to balance but the stress on your knees is still there because of your body weight and your backpack weight that you carry. And yes, trekking poles are super helpful for decreasing that stress and protect your knees. Highly recommend that you start using poles from your next trip because we want to make our hiking life last longer."

I agree,I have had bad knees since I was a teen and the side step and long trekking poles makes a big difference. I also take "summit ibuprofen", 600 mg before I head down.
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TJ_T
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by TJ_T » January 19th, 2012, 1:50 pm

So I've been experiencing knee pain the past couple of years. I've always been hard on my legs (skateboarding, snowboarding, martial arts, line cooking, etc... just being active) and usually had a 'discomfort' and weakness in the knee but since I've been doing a lot of hiking in the gorge (descending) the pain has gotten worse.. only while descending.

I have a lot of stamina and want to do longer hikes but I fear my knee. I've employed some of the ideas in this thread (stepping with the bum knee first, landing on my toe instead of heel, using trekking poles) but I'm still feeling it.. just not as bad. Even coming down Angels Rest I have to do it conciously and still end up feeling it.. though not as bad as when I had to stop and rest 100 yards from the Dog Mountain TH because it hurt so badly.

Has anyone experienced an amazing difference after getting a new pair of boots or shoes?
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Dustin DuBois
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by Dustin DuBois » January 19th, 2012, 3:49 pm

Well, so far my trekking poles have made a huge difference for me, as well as working on making my gear lighter and lighter, but I haven't been out into the gorge on any steep switchbacks or anything for a while either - just hiking in town.

I also picked up a knee strap that's supposed to help support the knee and prevent "jumper's knee", which is what I think a lot of us deal with. Work out your knees more outside of hiking - squats, weight-lifting, walking/stairs, etc - and maybe try a knee brace and then ween yourself off of it and see if the pain goes away. I'm still waiting to really test my knees out again as I have been steadily strengthening my legs and learning new techniques. I just gotta get more waterproof from foot-to-knee so I can get out on some Real trails to test it out.

I bet a pharmacist or a physical therapist would have some good answers. Doctors like to tell you to just stop doing the activity that hurts =P. That might be sort of the right answer but I think it's more a case of needing to support and strengthen the knee more before stressing it a lot. So, maybe not stop the activity, just adjust it and tone it back a bit while you try some things to help in the long-run.
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by TJ_T » January 19th, 2012, 4:13 pm

HeadIdiot wrote:I also picked up a knee strap that's supposed to help support the knee and prevent "jumper's knee", which is what I think a lot of us deal with. Work out your knees more outside of hiking - squats, weight-lifting, walking/stairs, etc - and maybe try a knee brace and then ween yourself off of it and see if the pain goes away.
I suppose I could do some weight lifting. But the walking and stairs are no problem! In my job I'm up and down a set of stairs several dozen times a day!
HeadIdiot wrote:I bet a pharmacist or a physical therapist would have some good answers. Doctors like to tell you to just stop doing the activity that hurts =P. That might be sort of the right answer but I think it's more a case of needing to support and strengthen the knee more before stressing it a lot. So, maybe not stop the activity, just adjust it and tone it back a bit while you try some things to help in the long-run.
Patient: Doc.. it hurts when I do this. (patient hits his head)
Doc: Well then don't do that.

That's the thing.. even when I tone it back or adjust it I still get the pain. I should just suck it up and go see a doc.. but I'm so fed up with the medical industry as a whole.
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by Dustin DuBois » January 19th, 2012, 5:50 pm

I would look more into someone who specializes in sports-related injuries or physical therapy. They're less likely to try to shove you out the door with an ace-bandage and an order to stay off of it. I've supported mine better and increased my activity more gradually and it seems to hurt less each time. But if I go without my poles, the pain comes back. As I said though, I still need to really test it out =D. When I was going out with trekking poles and my knee wrapped in an ace bandage, I had virtually zero issues but the ace bandage was uncomfortable. So I'm trying a more targeted support-strap approach, one that just goes around the base of the knee-cap. Supposed to help the whole situation but it remains to be seen =D.
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by mayhem » January 19th, 2012, 6:38 pm

HeadIdiot wrote:I would look more into someone who specializes in sports-related injuries or physical therapy. They're less likely to try to shove you out the door with an ace-bandage and an order to stay off of it. I've supported mine better and increased my activity more gradually and it seems to hurt less each time. But if I go without my poles, the pain comes back. As


Ditto!
Find out what it is, & a specalist can usually help isolate it, Bones, cartilage, Muscles, Tendons or Nerves? Then you can take other actions to help correct it :)
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roadtripmom
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by roadtripmom » January 19th, 2012, 8:10 pm

My knees are really bad and have been messed up since I was a kid. It takes me a week sometimes depending on the hike just to get the swelling down. I am very careful going down steep stuff. I generally take ibuprofen at the summit and sidestep the steeper areas. I have become pretty adept at the sidestep and can still keep up with my hiking partners. Also, I notice that the weight of my pack is a factor. I hike on a weekly basis and some days are just harder on my knees than others. Hope your knee gets better!
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by Dustin DuBois » January 19th, 2012, 8:22 pm

Yeah I've had to get into the sidestepping thing but it bugs me =D. Makes me go too slow.

I picked up one of these Mueller "jumper's knee" support straps (way cheaper at amazon that it was at Walgreen's lol).

That one is only a single strap but I'm gonna try it out and if it doesn't do help enough I'll try the top-and-bottom strap.
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by pyles_94 » January 19th, 2012, 8:31 pm

I gallop downhill sometimes :)
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Re: Knee pain / downhill technique

Post by Dustin DuBois » January 19th, 2012, 8:46 pm

pyles_94 wrote:I gallop downhill sometimes :)
With two empty halves of coconut, bangin 'em together?
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