My husband has taken up jogging...

Question
He is 27, 5'11 and around 300 pounds. He has a job that keeps him on his feet for the entire shift but is not very strenuous. He has taken up jogging to try and lose weight. He just bought some new pairs of running shoes and he is going just about every day, for about 3 or 4 miles on the street. But then his knees really start hurting him and he takes OTC pain meds almost every day and takes a break from jogging until his knee feels better. Is this normal? Will it get better if he just pushes through it? Would running on a cushier track or getting different shoes help? I am very concerned that he may permanently jack up his knee. Before he started this routine he was going to the gym occasionally but not as often as he jogs now. I'd like to see him keep this up but I don't want him getting hurt. Thanks.

Answer
Allison,

At 300 pounds, that's a lot of force on his knees & other joints, too, with the action of running. 3-4 miles as well is a lot of mileage to cover for his weight, I imagine it takes him 30-40 minutes or more to cover.  If he is constantly taking pain killers for it, I would advise him to back off the running, try cycling instead, or substituting it every other workout.  

Shoes may help, but really, his weight is the bigger issue here, in my opinion, it is literally close to 1000 pounds or more on each leg that he's moving (3x-4x his bodyweight is supported in ground forces on each footstep). So, you add that up over 3-4 miles of strides, and you see you have a lot of wear & tear being caused there.

I've had a client who's been at 300 to 280 lbs throughout the past year, and we had to back off his cardio workouts because he'd play 3x/week basketball for 45-60 minutes a workout.  Add 5 more workouts a week with me, and his feet started taking a beating.  Once we backed off the exercise, his weight started dropping (because his body was resting better & recovering better, I believe).  Sometimes more rest is better than more exercise.  I really can't say much more because I don't know the full scope of his whole routine (you mentioned the gym, but who knows what he's done or is doing there at all). If the knee is in pain, its time to change the workout structure, rest the knee joint and give it some other mode of exercise that's less stressful.  An elliptical trainer could also be another training option, too.

I hope this helps you well,

Rick Karboviak
http://speeddialcoach.com