One of the best feelings to experience is that of running to the beat of your music playlist whilst your heart races with every stride. For some runners however, this exhilarating experience could be marred by a sudden sharp pain that springs up at the knee right as they are about to speed up to attempt their personal best.

How should runners avoid this sharp knee pain and prevent aggravating potential knee injuries? We sought the advice of 3 experienced runners:

Before you run, strengthen your glutes by doing sufficient warm-up exercises to stretch your hamstrings.

After most training sessions, cool down stretches are often neglected and its importance for the long run, forgotten. One of the most common knee injuries can be traced back to a tightened IT (Iliobtibial) band - which is a band of fibrous connective tissue running from the hip to the outside of the knee. With overuse or poor running form, the IT band can tighten and cause pain and inflammation as it rubs against the thigh bone.

Thigh muscles are very important when it comes to reducing the chances of knee injury; thus, implementing thigh muscle exercises into your training program should not be neglected.

Examples of such exercises are lunges, squats and single-leg squats. For runners, it’s always a single-leg activity. When our leg strikes the ground, we are essentially putting all our body weight on that side which is also augmented by other forces when we run.

Additionally, it is also important to have solid core strength to keep our torso in an upright posture to prevent any imbalances and unnecessary pressure on our hips.

Another way you can protect your knees would be to choose cushioning shoes for hard surface training. Ow Yong prefered the GEL-Nimbus for his training as he enjoys the cushioning effect, Annie Yee prefers the GEL-Kayano for its stabilizing properties.

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To all runners out there, be patient with your training progression. As determined as you are to ramp up your training, it is important to actively listen to your body and resting is also an important part of training. Train hard and train smart!

How do you overcome your knee pain? Share with us HERE !

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Ow Yong Jin Kuang - Running Coach

Annie Yee - Nutritionist, runner

Joy - HIIT gym trainer, Track and field coach