[pct-l] Stupid Knee

[Scott Williams]

Hi Jinx,

I used to have trouble with arthritis and swollen knees years ago whenever
I'd walk any distance at all on hard ground or pavement and at a much
younger age than you.  My knees would blow up like balloons with water on
the knee and they'd painfully pop and scrape internally for days after any
kind of hike.  It was awful.

A doc friend met me in the gym one day and gave me a once over exam right
then and there and pronounced me as having a bit of arthritis and basically
having  "weak knees."  I was shocked because I'd been a backpacker since I
was a kid and couldn't figure out how my knees could be weak.  He informed
me that just hiking doesn't really build up the muscles of the knee, or at
least had not in my case.  He put me to work doing very slow leg lifts on a
leg extension machine 4 or more times per week as well as squats at the
gym.  I've used this as my warm up for anything I do at the gym now for
years.  Slowly over time this built up the muscles just above the knees
which then became more able to take some of the slamming pressure off the
knee joints themselves that hard hiking and walking can create.

At about this time hiking poles were just coming out at REI and being used
for backpacking and at first I thought it was all a ploy to sell useless
gear. But I gave them a try and wow did they lessen the pressure my knees
felt going down hill.  And they increased my speed dramatically on
difficult terrain.  They were not a gimmick.

A third thing is that I have gone to a hiking and running "shuffle" and try
not to walk with a heal strike, which can jam each step hard up the ankle,
knee and hip.  When you strike with the heal, the leg is fully extended and
the force is translated directly up each joint from ankle to knee to hip
with a real jolt.  When I find myself walking with my old customary heal
strike, I can feel the difference almost immediately as the pressure slams
each joint.  Now, using no insole at all, my heal is not cushioned very
much and hiking with a heal strike is actually painful.  This forces me
into a proper shuffle.  I kick up a lot of dust at times, and Dirty Girl
Gaiters are a must to keep it out of my shoe, but I feel no pain.

This is the logic behind many of the minimalist shoes of today and their
zero drop heals.  Having very little heal cushion forces you to walk more
on the balls of your feet and the fat pad on the side of the foot, and not
directly on the heal.  It also puts you into more of the shuffle where your
knees never come completely out of a gentle bend.  Walking this way is very
soft on the joints and I'm sure helps me from ever having pain in my knees
or hips even with a regimen of day after day long miles and tough terrain
for months at a time.  Bigfoot has given a great talk on overuse injuries
at the ADZPCTKO for the past number of years, and this is what he credits
with solving his knee and foot problems on long hikes too.  I first heard
about walking with a new gait from him when we met during the first week of
our PCT hikes in 2010.  He'd fixed some serious problems by changing how he
walked trail.  A very good read which goes into a lot more detail on this
is "Born to Run," a must for every hiker who walks in trail runners and
other lightweight shoes.  It's also just a very good book.

The gist of the story is that these three things, strengthening the knees,
using poles, and learning a new gait to help cushion the shock on my
joints, have given me knees in my 60's that never feel any pain on the long
trails I hike.  I even run down our local 4,000 foot mountain on a regular
basis and feel no pain.  Running with a very fast "shuffle" is painless.
Weird but painless.

There are probably many other things you can do to strengthen you knees,
but this should give you a start.  There should be all kinds of other
suggestions out there.  There's never one way on these kinds of problems,
but these things have worked for me.

Oh, and one last thing, if you're feeling pain in a joint, slow down
immediately and try to focus on walking in such a way that you don't feel
the pain.  Try different things as sometimes you can just hike through pain
by slowing down.  Also, hike fewer miles at first and let your body
strengthen itself into the long days and incredible miles that you'll
eventually be knocking out by Oregon.  I always try to start any long trail
at 10 to 12 miles per day the first week no matter how much more I've been
training prior to setting out because hiking every day is really different
on your body than just several times per week.  The second week I bump up
to 15 to 17 and only break 20 on the 3rd week.  If you're feeling pain
early on and don't take care of it by slowing down, there's a good chance
it'll only get worse.  So take it slow and enjoy the start.  The miles and
strength will come on its own over time.

Good luck and have a wonderful hike!

Shroomer



On Sat, Jan 31, 2015 at 2:17 PM, Kelly <kellyhikes2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm heading out for my virgin PCT thru hike this April and have a little
> issue with my knee. Doc says arthritis which I truly believe, at a certain
> age (54) that just happens if you are a runner, hiker or do such the things
> we do!
>
> So what are some of your tried and trued' methods of knee care on the
> trail?  Mine gets a bit swollen on the right side area near the IT band.
> And any super strengthening exercises that work for you, I'd be on it.
>
> Thanks for any advise or insight.
>
> Kelly Baraga, aka Jinx
>
> We see people as they are. But Jesus sees us for who we are to become!
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