The knee is the most easily injured joint in the body. It is used for many different body movements, including sitting, standing, walking, running, hopping and jumping. The knee bears significant body weight as it bends, rotates and twists. Injuries and painful conditions can occur, especially during exercise. The ligaments, tendons, cartilage and muscles that support the knee must be able to work together and any damage can impact your ability to walk, run, move and exercise.
Starting too quickly
One of the leading cause of knee pain during exercise is starting too quickly and not doing enough stretching before the start of a workout. For example, when lifting weights in the gym, you are putting a lot of pressure on your knees. If your are lifting weights from the floor to over your head, it is not just your arms and chest that are doing the work. Your knees are lifting the weight as well. Prepare your knees for the work that will be done by performing quad stretches, hamstring stretches and calf stretches.
Overuse
Once you start exercising, you may make a commitment to get in good shape as fast as you can. You may decide that you will run two miles every day instead of one mile ever other day. You may do 30 leg presses at 280 pounds instead of 20 at 220 pounds. This can lead to overall pain in your knee. That pain is there for a reason--to send your brain a message that you are overusing the joint. Stop what you are doing, ice the injury and then rest for 24 hours. If the knee is still causing pain at that point, see your doctor.
Interior knee pain
If you feel sharp pain while running or exercising along the inside of your knee--by the knee cap--you may have damaged your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). This is the most vital ligament in your knee when it comes to athletic activity because it controls all side-to-side movements. You may be able to go straight ahead with a damaged ACL, but you can't go left, right or change directions quickly. If you feel any pain in this area and face those limitations, you must get to an orthopedist as quickly as possible.
