Knee Pain After Running

Walking, running are central movements to human evolution.
Some historians even claim that the fact we can run is a reason humans exist today.

Over the last two hundred years however, the kind of surfaces we run on have changed, the kind of environment we live in have changed, and even the footwear we wear to do our daily tasks have changed.

All of this combined has led to the rise of podiatry and physiotherapy as an industry. As more and more people get injured every year trying to stay fit, it becomes super important to understand why these injuries take place in the first place and how we can mitigate them

For the sake of this blog, we discuss an increasingly common problem - patellofemoral joint stress injury.
This is pain right behind your patella, or the knee cap.

A 2014 study of 22 athletes to understand if shoes have a role to play in this stress sustained by the joint.

Here is what came to light -
When the athletes ran without shoes, the amount of joint reaction forces calculated were 12% lower than when the athletes ran in shoes.

Multiple other studies also show that cushioned floors and shoes increase the amount of reaction forces travelling up from the foot to the body, creating higher chances of injury.

So if you are someone who has knee pain while running, increasing cushioning in your shoes may seem like the obvious choice, but the data suggests otherwise.

Minimalist shoes actually end up helping with reducing knee pain during running as you train your body to run with optimal form and adjust to real time data from the ground more efficiently.