It Is Normal For Feet and Knees to Become Sore

[davebugg]

For those just starting out with long distance walking activities or training to get ready for a Camino, this is a post I wrote a while ago that may be of help.

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The purpose of this post is not to act as a guideline to diagnose injuries or abnormalities. It is to help those who are new to long distance walking, to appreciate the fact that feet and knees, like any other part of the body, can have normal responses of discomfort when suddenly being tasked to work at higher than normal levels of exertion.

Remember how sore you became during times that when you first started a new physical adventure? Whether starting a fitness program, physical labor in the yard, or starting a new recreational hobby like bicycle riding, chances are that by the next morning, your muscles felt sore and tender and it was a bit difficult to get moving.

The same holds true with feet and knees. When one first starts to do extended walking, hiking, fitness training, etc., feet can become tender and knees feel sore. If there is uphill and downhill walking, the effects can be even more pronounced.

This can sometimes cause alarm; and when it does occur, can make it difficult to gauge whether the discomfort one feels is within normal limits, or is the beginning of an injury.

Feet and knees are complicated structures and full of reasons why increases in activity takes some getting used to.

Each of your feet and ankles contain:

• 26 bones (about 1/4 of all the bones in the body)
• 33 joints
• Over 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
  • The tendons are a fibrous tissues that connect muscles to bones; the ligaments are fibrous tissues that connect bones to other bones.

Each knee has:

• 2 main joints
• 4 bones around the knee
• 6 ligaments
• tendons from 4 major muscles
• A variety of cartilage, bursae, meniscus, and other goodies

Most of the time, it is the level of severity of symptoms which is used to differentiate normal from abnormal. For instance, the pain grows more severe or starts out as intense and sharp; or a small amount of swelling continues to rapidly increase; or there is discoloration at the site of the discomfort. But to add to the concern and confusion, it can also be normal for those brand new aches in the feet and knees to require a bit of rest for a day or so in order to help relieve the discomfort.
This is something I wrote a while back that may be of help to those just starting out with long distance walking or who

When I first start getting back into shape for backpacking after taking a break during late winter, I do daily hikes into steep and high foothills to the Cascade Mountains. Trails and paths may be anywhere from 8 percent to over 30 percent, and elevation gain and loss can be as high as 3300 feet/1006 meters within a 2.5 to 5 hour period.

And I always seem to forget when I first start, that it takes time for my feet and knees to adjust. And they DO adjust. It just takes a bit of time.

The day after that first day hike, my knees let me know that they are sore from the sudden activity, and that they do not like what I am doing. So, after the hikes I will Ice and Rest the knees for a period of time while reading or doing stuff like this post, or even working at my consulting job. Sometimes I find it beneficial to take the recommended dosage of ibuprofen to help with tissue swelling rather than any discomfort, but the main post-exercise therapy is Ice and Rest.

For the first 7 to 10 days on my training hikes, I tend to go slower, adjust my pace and stride to minimize how hard my foot impacts the ground on downhills, and if my knees start to bark too much, I will simply stop for a little bit and give them a rest.

This also helps with the period of adjustment as my feet structures strengthen from the increased activity.

Anyway, I just wanted to provide some encouragement to those who are doing Camino for the first time that, yes, knees and feet can and do adapt, as long as everything else is equal; like good footwear and commonsense

Also if you do have any suspicion or concern that there might be an injury, get it checked out by a medical professional. Do not be embarrassed that your symptoms might end up NOT being an injury. . . that's why the medics get paid to do what they do, to figure that stuff out.

 

[amancio]

My theory is, your boday rebels after walking X km. X can be 15 for some people, 25 for other; but it is also true that the longer distances you walk, the more you discover some of those limits are like "paper walls", they look intimidating, but once you break through them, you discover you can go further, and further, and further.

Of course, the key for that is to master potential points of discomfort and learn to act before they get worse. You need the right shoes, the right socks, the right underwear, the righ rucksack, the right hat, the right lubrication (for overweight people, that can make a huge difference), and then, pain free, well hydrated and fed, you start realizing that when you are tired you can recover again if you know how to.

A matter of experience, but long distance walking is the best therapy! (again, as long as it is a pain free experience)

 

[simply B]

Being a sub-sample of "1", I cannot say whether this is "normal' - - I just know that it always happens to me.

I have never had time to "train for the Camino", rather I train "on the Camino" by starting slow and growing into longer distances.

From my late 50's through my early 60's, and dependent upon starting fitness, it took me between 4-7 days for the moderate pain of the first two days exertion to go away. (Severe pain is a problem, no?)

B

 

[davebugg]

Being a sub-sample of "1", I cannot say whether this is "normal' - - I just know that it always happens to me.

I have never had time to "train for the Camino", rather I train "on the Camino" by starting slow and growing into longer distances.

From my late 50's through my early 60's, and dependent upon starting fitness, it took me between 4-7 days for the moderate pain of the first two days exertion to go away. (Severe pain is a problem, no?)

B

Severe pain needs investigation.

 

[NJohn]

Good information, @davebugg I think you could pair this with a previous post you did on exercises to prevent injury: https://www.caminodesantiago.me/com...of-shin-splints-while-walking-a-camino.73690/

As one who has dealt with Achilles and knee issues on previous long distance walks, I’ve been on the search for a good stretching routine for before and after hiking, and other exercises.

 

[Phil71]

Good post @davebugg . The body takes time to adjust to this new regime of walking 20, 30 kms a day instead of sitting at a desk. But it does adjust, it can take a while, but it does. I find 5 to 10 days in the pain disappears and I get stronger with each day

 

[Moorwalker]

Ligaments and joints take a lot longer than muscles to strengthen and adapt, and longer to recover if you damage them. That's why being active well before you go is a good idea, also building up at the start and not pushing too hard initially. Many people don't realise that walking every day is different from the intermittent walking most of us do normally, especially if we are carrying a pack that we aren't used to.

So yes, most of us will get some aches and discomfort especially at first but provided we don't overdo it until our bodies adapt most of that will subside. If you get sharp pain rather than aches ease off and take expert advice if you are concerned rather than trying to push through.

 

[Liana]

For those just starting out with long distance walking activities or training to get ready for a Camino, this is a post I wrote a while ago that may be of help.

--------------------------------------------------------------

The purpose of this post is not to act as a guideline to diagnose injuries or abnormalities. It is to help those who are new to long distance walking, to appreciate the fact that feet and knees, like any other part of the body, can have normal responses of discomfort when suddenly being tasked to work at higher than normal levels of exertion.

Remember how sore you became during times that when you first started a new physical adventure? Whether starting a fitness program, physical labor in the yard, or starting a new recreational hobby like bicycle riding, chances are that by the next morning, your muscles felt sore and tender and it was a bit difficult to get moving.

The same holds true with feet and knees. When one first starts to do extended walking, hiking, fitness training, etc., feet can become tender and knees feel sore. If there is uphill and downhill walking, the effects can be even more pronounced.

This can sometimes cause alarm; and when it does occur, can make it difficult to gauge whether the discomfort one feels is within normal limits, or is the beginning of an injury.

Feet and knees are complicated structures and full of reasons why increases in activity takes some getting used to.

Each of your feet and ankles contain:

• 26 bones (about 1/4 of all the bones in the body)
• 33 joints
• Over 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
  • The tendons are a fibrous tissues that connect muscles to bones; the ligaments are fibrous tissues that connect bones to other bones.

Each knee has:

• 2 main joints
• 4 bones around the knee
• 6 ligaments
• tendons from 4 major muscles
• A variety of cartilage, bursae, meniscus, and other goodies

Most of the time, it is the level of severity of symptoms which is used to differentiate normal from abnormal. For instance, the pain grows more severe or starts out as intense and sharp; or a small amount of swelling continues to rapidly increase; or there is discoloration at the site of the discomfort. But to add to the concern and confusion, it can also be normal for those brand new aches in the feet and knees to require a bit of rest for a day or so in order to help relieve the discomfort.
This is something I wrote a while back that may be of help to those just starting out with long distance walking or who

When I first start getting back into shape for backpacking after taking a break during late winter, I do daily hikes into steep and high foothills to the Cascade Mountains. Trails and paths may be anywhere from 8 percent to over 30 percent, and elevation gain and loss can be as high as 3300 feet/1006 meters within a 2.5 to 5 hour period.

And I always seem to forget when I first start, that it takes time for my feet and knees to adjust. And they DO adjust. It just takes a bit of time.

The day after that first day hike, my knees let me know that they are sore from the sudden activity, and that they do not like what I am doing. So, after the hikes I will Ice and Rest the knees for a period of time while reading or doing stuff like this post, or even working at my consulting job. Sometimes I find it beneficial to take the recommended dosage of ibuprofen to help with tissue swelling rather than any discomfort, but the main post-exercise therapy is Ice and Rest.

For the first 7 to 10 days on my training hikes, I tend to go slower, adjust my pace and stride to minimize how hard my foot impacts the ground on downhills, and if my knees start to bark too much, I will simply stop for a little bit and give them a rest.

This also helps with the period of adjustment as my feet structures strengthen from the increased activity.

Anyway, I just wanted to provide some encouragement to those who are doing Camino for the first time that, yes, knees and feet can and do adapt, as long as everything else is equal; like good footwear and commonsense

Also if you do have any suspicion or concern that there might be an injury, get it checked out by a medical professional. Do not be embarrassed that your symptoms might end up NOT being an injury. . . that's why the medics get paid to do what they do, to figure that stuff out.

Wonderful and helpful info Dave, thanks so much for posting! So true that we tend not to
give those body parts much notice, since their always in motion. Another are your hips, also
which we don't give much thought, but coming down hill, puts lots of pressure on them. Fractured
mine on my second camino not realizing and thought it was just a pulled muscle. Even saw a
PT with x-ray and didn't show up till 2 weeks later on my return. 5 months on a walker taught me
if I wanted to enjoy another camino, poles were in order and love using them now!