Left Knee Injury (3/3 hikes)

i have climbed 3 mountains, and in all of those events, i injured my left knee.

1st climb, knee injury after 6 hours of walking
2nd climb, knee injury after 4 hours of walking
3rd climb, knee injury after 3 hours of walking

i went to doctor, he said im new to hiking that's why im experiencing this pain, he just gave me anti-inflammation medicine. my knee would be back to normal after 3-4 days.

on my 3rd climb, i wore knee pads, no luck.

is it because im lifting heavy bag? its only 32 liter bag.

or maybe because i did not train with heavy bag, thus my knees cant take the added weight?

what do you guys think, is this normal or not?

A heavy pack can certainly cause problems. It has nothing to do with size but with weight. For ideas on lighening up, see the articles on the home page of this site, left hand column.

Strengthening the leg muscles is also important. Those muscles support your knee.

Finally, ask for a referral to a sports medicine specialist.

It might not be the pack that's too heavy...it could be you!

We need a bit more information before we can give you more advice. Do you walk three times a week for an hour or so? THat would help you get into practice and condition for more hikes...

walk three times a week for 1 hour = no.

i just train like few days before going to hike, i have this mindset coz im always thinking , "hey, that mountain is not so high, then i should just train lightly"

maybe this is why im getting injured.

im not heavy, maybe im underweight? weight 135lbs, height 5'7"

I think you're not hiking enough to support mountain climbing. There is no substitute - exercise at home helps, but the only thing that keeps me hiking is hiking - pretty much every day I am walking the dog, every weekend I am hiking some trail.

Stair steppers, yoga, and things that work the body help. Go hiking more.

There some serious yoga exercise that strain the daylights out of your knees and legs!! Look them up. I did squats, lunges, and various of other exercises between trips when I didn't have time to hike. This kept my soreness minimal (if even) and gave my muscles endurance. And drink milk for calcium in the bones.

Edit: I should also mention I do a lot of mountain biking, but you use different set of muscles biking and hiking.

Yeah, I learned that the hard way - Pigeon pose doesn't hurt when I do it, but I can barely walk the next day. I can't do squats either - but this is directly related to the exact injury! Interior / Exterior ligaments, cartilage damage etc. are all going to be different. However, it sounds like your dr. does not think that anything that major is wrong. Look up knee strengthening exercises online and of course talk to your dr. first!

Training for a few days just prior to what you are training for has so little benefit that, depending on how you trained, it could be as likely to hurt you as to help you. If your training is going to help at all, you need to get serious about it.

The advice to hike every day or as close to every day as you can manage is very good advice. It seems clear from your experience that your knees require strengthening and walking is very low impact, so your knees won't be overworked by hiking, as they seem to be when you are mountain climbing.

Going down stresses knees much more than going up. Try slowing down on the descent and get trekking poles. Properly using trekking poles really saves your knees. Because going down seems easy (not gasping for breath) you tend to go too fast and not take enough rests.

I just came down 6,500 feet over 6 miles yesterday, in 6 hours. I kept a purposely slower pace than I felt I "could" go, took substantial rests every hour, and really used my trekking poles. My knees did fine. Whereas, last year I did a 5,000 foot descent over 13 miles, literally running at some points, and my knees killed me for weeks after.

i forgot, i used 1 trekking pole (made of wood lol) on my 1st day only, thats why i think i lasted for 6 hours without injury.

then on my 2nd and 3rd climb, no trekking poles of any kind.

I've found that physical therapy/simple strengthening exercises and stretching helps a lot with recovering from and preventing injuries...