# Knees Hurt!



## Freemare (Jun 2, 2012)

Your not the only one with the same problem. My family is the same way with bad knees, joints...etc. I have knee supports now, you know the slip on ones. They help a lot. They give extra support to places that need it. I am 22 and rode english for a short time, and even with support I could not post a long time. It made me to sore. I only ride english now when I need to.


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## DancingArabian (Jul 15, 2011)

Knees can't get stronger from exercise because its a joint. You have to make all the muscles around your knees stronger and also work on your form to not stress your knees. You want to be sure that you're not pinching the saddle with your knees as well.

Here's some exercises that may help: 11 Exercises that Help Decrease Knee Pain | SparkPeople
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## showjumperachel (Jul 13, 2013)

My knees tend to hurt when I'm really anchoring my heels down for a long period of time. For example, they won't really get sore after a typical jump lesson, but when I trail ride for 2-3 hours they HURT.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

It's not weak knees.. it's strain on knees. 

Something.. either your stirrup length/placement, your saddle, your boots.. something is causing them to be strained more so than usual.

I know when I changed my boots my knee pain went away.

You need to stretch before and after you ride. Working intensely on "strengthening your knees" will only wear them out more.


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## MissingStar (Feb 20, 2013)

^^^ Agree with Sky.

Do you do any work without stirrups? Years ago I had trouble with my knees. I spent a lot of time riding (even posting) without stirrups, just because it felt more comfortable. I found that when I returned to the stirrups, I needed to lengthen them - I had been riding too short.

Of course, now my knees ache because I'm old :lol:!


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## totalfreedom (Nov 23, 2009)

Unfortunately this is a cause from something so simple that it's overlooked.........diet.

I spent a good 6 years of my life studying human health and healing, and the final conclusion of all that studying......we've been taught, "marketed to", to eat things that the human body really isn't supposed to be eating. We can eat those things and survive as can be seen, but our health and the health of future generations has to pay the piper for it, "this is very evident in our times".

The food pyramid taught in schools is actually nothing more than marketing from large industries who have lobbied to the government to tell us this is "healthy" and we need it.

Studying the animal species that most closely resembles us will give you insight into what our bodies run optimally on. But beyond just studying this subject......once you experience it you will absolutely know without a doubt what your body is supposed to use as a fuel source.

I'll make it easy on ya..... Chimpanzee --- ;-)


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

You don't need to eat "Chimpanzee ---" to protect your knees. I'm 55, have lived on pizza, hamburger, coffee and Diet Coke, and my knees are fine. And I took up jogging in 1972...

Do your knees hurt when you sit in a chair for an hour, reading a good book? If not, then something you are doing in riding is putting more stress on your knees. You need to look at how you ride, and see what you are doing to put stress on your knees. Do you press hard into the stirrups? Do you push with your leg to shove your heel down? Where is your leg around the horse? Where are your toes? If I tried to ride with toes straight ahead, I'd be crippled in 20 minutes. My knees wouldn't handle the rotational stress. So I ride with toes 30-50 deg out - more with my left leg because my left foot always points out more, even just standing in the shower. Do you grip with your knee?

Can you post a picture of your riding?


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

bsms, what does Chimpanzee taste like?


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## Chevaux (Jun 27, 2012)

Probably chicken.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

or, a bit like California Condor, perhaps.

Sorry OP, I couldn't resist.

my knees hurt too, but I am 55, and badminton trashed my knees.

I am sure diet does help with the inflammation that makes knees and other joints hurt.
however, there might be some things to do with the saddle or your position that can be adapted. want to post a photo?


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## tempest (Jan 26, 2009)

Start taking glucosamine sulfate, it will help with joint pain and keep the cartilage around your knees healthy. You also need to strengthen the muscles around your knees (squats and lunges will help), and as others have said look at the form you're using for riding.

Glucosamine Supplements for Joint Pain, Arthritis, Osteoarthritis


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

I used to think glucosamine was a gimmick, but several co-workers in their 60s told me they were able to cancel surgery after they started using it. IIRC, one of the runner's magazines did a survey & about 90% responded positively about it.

I don't know what chimpanzee tastes like, but an Internet search revealed it sometimes sells in England for around $30-35/pound as an exotic meat. Apart from my squeamishness about eating something that looks like some of my immediate family, the price will ensure I stick to hamburger, pizza and maybe some chicken that I'll tell myself tastes like chimp...:wink:

If I sprain my knee while running (desert, very uneven footing), I use the tubular white Ace bandages for knee support for a few days. It helps enough that I can continue riding and jogging.

But when my knees hurt from riding horses, it usually means I've been bracing against the stirrups - a bad habit I fall back into more often than I like to admit. I don't even realize I'm doing it until my knees or feet hurt. One of our two western saddles hurts my knees as well...something about its shape.


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## totalfreedom (Nov 23, 2009)

I just wanted to clarify in-case someone came in here thinking that I was promoting everyone eat chimpanzee. LOL "someone probably would of"

I'm saying that eating raw plants will allow your body to run optimally. I was closed minded to it years ago when I first started my research but after experiencing it I can't deny it. The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about. Of course bad technique is gonna make ya sore. But aside from that when joints ache it's an indication of obstructions within and around the joint itself. I'm not a fan of chemicals and pills to cover up symptoms while the true reason for the ailment remains laying underneath brewing and becoming worse. I learned to remove obstruction from the body via the foods I eat. When we consume foods that our body isn't really able to cope with without doing damage in the long run, our bodies will create mucus to wrap up the gunk that could do harm to our systems and tuck it away.

And as we continue to eat in such a way that mucus starts to create obstructions in the body....as in achy joints, and so much more and worse conditions. And unfortunately those obstructions and mucus that are in the mother pass on to the child as it grows. "we are what we eat" So the future generations are becoming more and more obstructed than the previous generations and then we see teenagers and young children with serious ailments. If you are really interested in this subject then do a google search on Pottengers cats. Sometimes I wish I could of been in my great grandparents time so that I could eat anything I wanted without having to pay the repercussions of it.  But unfortunately I'm on the receiving end of the poor food choices they made and I am the one that had to suffer the pain from it and make better choices so that I wouldn't hurt.


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## bsms (Dec 31, 2010)

Humans are omnivores. Easy access to meat is a blessing, not a curse. And knees that don't work well are not caused by mucus obstructions in the body or the knee.

I remove obstructions from the body too. It's called coffee.

Lesson of the Pottenger's Cats Experiment--Cats Are Not Humans


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## totalfreedom (Nov 23, 2009)

I think we're omnivores too, nor do I think meat is a curse, but as it's suggested in religious texts, "for times of famine". And from my own personal experience I can say that I understand why this is recommended.

So have you eaten a raw plant food diet for a long enough period of time to fully experience it? I have and I can tell you what foods cause my body to remove mucus and which ones create mucus. I can also tell you what foods make my vision blurry and which ones make it clear. Or which foods make my joints and bones hurt and which ones make me feel good. I was born with the inability to breath through my nose at 100%, it was more like 10% and I ALWAYS had one nostril plugged up. Guess what changed that......the foods I quit eating.

We can put Pottenger aside and disregard it simply because they're cats. I doubted all this too, but I eventually told myself...."how can I really know, unless I put in the commitment to fully experience it for a few months." But I can see the Pottenger study reflected in other species, namely the only species on the planet that cooks it's food or makes, "food ingredients", in a lab. 

All I'm trying to do here is offer a suggestion to the OP of my own personal experience in what has helped me feel better. The OP didn't say her knees hurt after one ride, it was said that over time they began to ache....and that in her family there's a history of knee issues. So I commented on what I felt could be of benefit, and I can't be convinced that my own personal experience is false.

If processed food works for some that's fine. But for me it doesn't work and it makes me feel terrible. The generations before me ate more and more processed food with less and less nutrition and that lack of good nutrition was passed onto me so I had to figure out how to feel better without destroying my body via more and more chemicals the doctors wanted me to take to just cover up my symptoms. And that lead me to what I'm trying to share with the OP. Eating good makes me feel good.  And everyone else was commenting on riding technique, so I commented on something that I felt was also important and in my experience makes a difference.


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## Shoebox (Apr 18, 2012)

I had knee problems that stemmed from my saddle. It was putting my legs at a weird angle, and thus my knees were too. By the end of any ride over an hour I'd near collapse when I dismounted because they hurt so bad. I eventually switched saddles (I bought an Aussie, because I'd heard they were quite good at alleviating knee pain) and I haven't experienced any knee pain since then.

So, it may just be the angle you're sitting at, too - if it holds your lower leg one way and your upper leg a different way, that torque will just kill your knees. Just some more food for thought.


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## faiza425 (Dec 21, 2012)

Thank you all for your replies - I think it's a combination of the short stirrups and that I need to work on strengthening my knees. I'm sure a change in my diet wouldn't hurt, either  although I love meat too much to go full 'chimpanzee'


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## amberly (Dec 16, 2012)

I used to have weak knees and ankles - but doing just little exercises can help a ton. 
What I did to strengthen my knees:
- lie on on your back and lift your legs up. Slowly bend your knees up and down a few times. This really helped my - my knees actually popped quite a bit doing this.
- squats. these help too.
I just did these two - but they strengthened my knees a lot!


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## tempest (Jan 26, 2009)

Oh and also start putting more Omega-3 fatty acids into your body. Whether that is through eating more fish or taking fish oil supplements. The actual intake of food with vitamins and minerals in them are a lot easier for your body to digest but supplements are a lot quicker. So it's up to you.

The Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats (in other words your body requires them to function properly) which help to remove all of the saturated fats that are being stored up in your body. Saturated fat is the type of fat that causes heart problems. Omega-3 is also and ant-inflammatory so it will help keep any swelling in your joints down. Even if it is swelling you can't see. If you are taking any anticoagulant drugs avoid taking the supplements, instead eat foods with Omega-3, because the supplements may cause your blood to thin.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids Facts

Omega-3 fatty acids | University of Maryland Medical Center


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## GodGirl11 (Jan 10, 2013)

Wintergreen oil ^_*


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