You must log in or register to comment.
I hit my knees so many times. 29, still functional.
Yall some sedentary motherfuckers if your knees already hurt at 30
Not always, some of us had knee injuries.
Nah, I’m a sedentary motherfucker.
Start running, it will strengthen the muscles around your knees and protect them. It also brings a million other health benefits.
Running is about the worst thing you can do to your knees.
If done correctly, it will not have a negative impact on the joints. Dampened running shoes and starting really slow are important. Movement will keep your knees healthy. The strengthened muscles will help when you lift heavy weights. Running is also one of the best ways to loose weight, which will reduce pressure on the knees in return.
Of course there are exceptions when running isn’t a great idea, like high obesity, chronic pain or injuries.
If running isn’t your thing, biking or swimming could be nice alternatives.
Doesn’t seem to be strictly true, but I do think it’s complicated. Running is awful for your knees if they’re injured or you have some sort of congenital skeletal issue. If you’re just sedentary, it’s awful for your knees if you do too much too soon.
Otherwise it seems to strengthen them. I will grant that it’s pretty hard to truly run easy enough and build up slowly enough. Takes patience and some trial and error in my experience. I skateboarded through my teens and 20s and had all sorts of nagging pains that have gone away completely after a couple years of consistent running, as an anecdote.
https://longevity.stanford.edu/lifestyle/2023/08/29/is-running-bad-for-your-knees-research-says-no/
There’s a sweet spot. Go too easy and they get screwed up and go too hard and they screw up.
But it’s true that being reasonably active helps a ton. Someone I know who complained of joint pain as they retired claims it went away as his leisure time caused him to walk all over the place, and now he’s 70 with no joint pain. Closest he got was when we spent two hours in a crawlspace working on some frozen pipes and complained that his back hurt a bit and wondered if it was because he was old. No, even the 20 year old hurt after waddling around hunched over in freezing temperatures for a couple of hours.
Great to hear that being active still strengthens your body when being older. That’s one of my biggest motivations: To be physically healthy and strong when I’m old.
Just don’t do it wrong though, because then you will ruin everything.
Yes, it’s recommended to start slow and get fitting running shoes
Mine hurt at 25 thanks to the Army.
OK I chuckled but real talk: knee trouble in your 30s isn’t normal and shouldn’t be treated as normal
37, Mechanic, lot of squatting and bending. No knee issues.
Moral: Use it, or lose it
Yeah, if your knees are fucked up at 30, you’re probably an athlete and injured your knees multiple times, or obese and overloaded them with too much weight.
Also it’s hard to really fuck up your knees irrecoverably. They can bounce back from a lot.
Consistent use makes them stronger
There is an upper limit to the kind of weight they can sustain but (theoretically and with enough training to work up to it) that limit is pretty high.
Even knees that have been abused long-term can often recover. I hope more people learn this and reclaim the mobility they’ve lost.
ETA: TLDR
I wonder if squatting while lifting weights (gym) is also a speedrun to bad knees, or whether that actually does improvements
Nope, it’s great if you do it with proper form.
Squats should strengthen your knees. Proper form will prevent excessive sheering force and risk of injury should be low with gradual weight increase.
But here’s a common beginner injury and how to avoid it
A common injury (usually just a discomfort, rarely injury) new lifters sometimes experience is patellar instability. It happens when there’s an imbalance in the strength of the muscles holding the patella in position — the patella is the bone covering the front of the joint. Usually the instability resolves within a few sessions as the muscles strengthen, but to prevent discomfort or injury you can wear a knee strap or brace. (The strap is just a velcro band with a plastic/rubber tube on the front. The brace is a full-coverage support that isolates the movement.)
Knees don’t get used up. In fact, using them allows more use.
Absent severe injuries or joint-related diseases, a “bad knee” is only ever a temporary condition. There’s a common myth that knees can be used up, which is the opposite of how the knees (and most of your joints) work.
Continuous use actually makes knees stronger, better lubricated, more resistant to injury, etc. It even speeds up recovery from injuries and prevents formation of scar tissue. This is why physical therapists use the active recovery techniques that patients love so much ;)
ETA: TLDR
It 100% improves your knees. Even half squats or bad form will still strengthen your knees, it will just fuck up your back if you do it wrong.
OP probably played football in high school or something.
Perhaps, but all that’s mentioned is age.
I’ve heard knees-crap-out-after-30-amirite jokes since my early 20s. It’s a form of denial coalition-building favored by folks obviously avoiding important lifestyle changes, and it’s rarely harmless to affirm that kind of denial.
In addition, unexplained joint pain is a symptom of a number of chronic illnesses that have better outcomes with early diagnosis and treatment, such as rheumatoid arthritis. If someone thinks it’s normal, they might not even ask about it until the pain and damage is life-altering.
That’s why I say it shouldn’t be treated as normal.
Could be seriously overweight. I know two 30-yo people who joke about old age hitting them hard but almost all of their issues is due to lifelong serious obesity. Not that they’re willing to accept that
Their choice. Wanna be fat? It’s okay you can be fat. Don’t want to be fat but you are still fat? Well it is often what happens.
Does this sound reasonable in any way? It’s really hard to formulate simpler sentences with altered brain by chemistry 🧾
I guess my point is that someone being fat doesn’t involve me in any way or affects me negatively. Like it makes me feel better actually if anything
Because if everyone was fit then it would be nothing special. It would be not an accomplishment at all if you could just take a pill and become fit or smh.
No it requires some special attitude and willpower. Focus, dedication, concentration. The kind of which is required for quitting cigarettes cold turkey and that is another challenge under my belt sorry for boasting a little but I like such things. I like quitting things randomly and feeling the pangs of hunger for that addiction and yet stopping it. It is satisfying to do and a source of certain sense of worth. I don’t even feel hunger for vodka anymore though I must admit that it will never stop to be seen by me as a miraculous substance and a liquid ambrosia
Quitting alcohol is strange in this way that it never stops being alluring but you get used to denying this allure just because of your sheer force of will. The more you deny yourself the stronger your willpower
One of my neighbors is an entire family of obesity. Mom and dad are both obese. The two high school boys are obese. A younger daughter that looks around 10 is obese. Only a 4ish year old boy is not obese, but he won’t be for long.
I cringe so hard when i see families like that. The daughter that looks 10 is probably like 5. They either stay fat and suffer their whole life, because gaining weight is so much easier than losing it.
That is a rough situation, as from experience I can say trying to maintain a healthy weight will cause the obese folks in the family of accusing you of being anorexic and take any opportunity to try to get you to fatten up.
They also marvel about how I must have good genetics because my back and legs don’t hurt and my blood tests come back so good at physicals.
Isn’t normal? Maybe if you never injured them doing things. Knee problems are extremely common, human knees are poorly evolved and prone to injury just by being used.
Backpacking, skiing, horse riding wrecked mine long ago. Now I just try to keep the surrounding muscles fit to hold all the loose shit together.
Isn’t normal? Maybe if you never injured them doing things.
Thanks for confirming that it isn’t normal. Most people who are 30 have not injured their knees to the point of issues.
If your knees are screwed up from “just turning 30”, then that indicates an expectation that you don’t need injuries to have bad knees.
Repetitive impact injury can screw things up, but the vast majority of people bemoaning their old age joints especially in their 30s are not exercising enough and/or are obese.
Whatever the case, bring it up to your doctor, didn’t assume changes like this are just normal/expected.
The knees are remarkably hard-wearing joints, capable of a lifetime of sustained use. It’s a common myth that they have some finite mileage that can be used up.
How to restore “bad knees”
Most “bad knees” just need some TLC. Overtraining can put them out of order temporarily, and yes some severe injuries can prevent full recovery, but knees can bounce back from almost anything with rest and continued use, even in old age.
You’re right that knee problems are common today, moreso than ever before. But the increased prevalence tracks closely with the rise of sedentary lifestyles (i.e., infrequent use) and excess weight (i.e., transient overload).
The good news is that knees can recover from this too! The tried and true strategy is just regular use that starts small and gradually increases over time.
For example, regular low-intensity walking and cycling (especially alternating both) has been shown to quickly increase knee strength and reduce knee pain significantly.
As to how quickly you can progress, your knees will tell you. Discomfort is usually OK, but pain means you’re pushing too hard. Sharp pain means stop immediately, rest, and take it easier next time.
Most people notice immediate improvement. I hope you can enjoy more backpacking, skiing, and horseback riding in the future :)
Hmu if you want a training buddy. ETA: TLDR
Currently in a waiting room because my knees stopped kneeing. And I’m younger than 35.
I’m 50. If a terrorist put a gun to my head and ordered me to get on my knees, my head would end up blown off.
I’m pushing 40 and my knees are just fine. My esophageal sphincter on the other hand is very angryface. Omeprazole helps but it’s very much thrown in the towel.
Ugh, kill me.
You should probably switch from omeprazole to famotidine. I used to be on omeprazole until my doc noted that there are indications of it be a carcinogen when used long term. Switching was a non-issue for me.
Of course, I’m just some rando on the internet. You may want to seek some reliable info on the topic. Look for PPI vs H2 receptor antagonist.
That doesn’t work for me. We tried using it first and switched to Omeprazole.
Same for me, sucks knowing that I have to take PPIs for pretty much the rest of my life or deal with constant heartburn and an increased cancer risk…
Working my way gradually down to deep squats has been great for my knees. It doesn’t take much to get there and maintain. I just found times to hold a squat for a bit while watching TV or gardening. Also, the knees over toes guy has some good advice for keeping your joints healthy.
I’m 30 and my body feels better than when I was 20. Looking after myself alot better now.
I’m in the same boat. I started to turn things around in my late 20s with regular exercise, and my knees (and back) feel better at 31 than they did at 25.
Looking after myself alot better now.
46 here, knees are fine, digestive system on the other hand…
37 here, my knees are great. Sprained my ankle back for the very first time back in November in my kickboxing class and I’m starting to fear I’ve done permanent damage.
It gets worse. Take care of your body
If they’re in a kickboxing class it sounds like they are.
Ehhhhh
Damage from being kicked is far less damaging than damage from a sedentary lifestyle
maybe, if you get kicked in the head a couple times it’s potentially far worse, and in all cases it’s far greater than most other kinds of exercise. do kickboxing if you want to, I’m not trying to knock anyone’s interest, and life is too short to avoid things you love for fear of injury, but if it’s actually about health you wanna do low impact cardio and careful, controlled resistance training
The sprained ankle wasn’t from being kicked. They have a “light sparring” class which I haven’t done yet. I’ve been kickboxing for about 9 months, we’re either hitting a bag or doing partner work where one person is using mitts or paddles which the other person strikes in a predetermined combo. I got the mouth guard and the shin guards, hoping to try it out in the next couple of weeks.
The sprained ankle was from doing a switch kick in the air and falling on my ass. The ankle that was supporting my weight when I fell was the one that got sprained.
One of my goals in life is to never get kicked in the head. Maybe going to kickboxing isn’t a good idea.
just a reminder that most people bodies do not degrade. they just stop using them as much as they did when they were younger. the human body is surprisingly resilient to breaking down with regular upkeep. Motion is lotion
Oh hey, it’s actually my 30th birthday today. I feel this.
Happy birthday 🎂
Happy B-day!
It’s coming for me in a couple months. I was out dancing Friday night, and then did some disc golf wand walking all over town yesterday and my legs are absolutely killing me today
I got a little heavier with beer and tried running again and my knee hates it. Gotta start doing other things that’s not cardio to get my knee back up to shape so I can get back in shape!
More like 40th but still painfully (literally) accurate.
Meh. I’m over 50 and my knees are fine.
