[ImpalaHoarder]

I'm 25 now, and 230ish pounds. I went through weight loss before when I was 16-18 and between 210 and 160 pounds and I started saber fencing, which is kind of a combination of doing squats and jumping around a lot, and is notoriously bad for knees.

I'm not sure if that is what's causing my current problems, though. I've run while fairly heavy for a long time, and I've never had joint pain, but during the last week, since I've increased the amount of exercise I'm doing, my knees and elbows (mostly knees) have been hurting a lot, although stretching the nearby muscles really seems to help, especially with elbows, which makes me wonder if this is really an issue with muscles.

The other thing is, though, when I used to fence and really ever since then I would get sore joints when I was tired or hungry. I've also been feeling very woozy since I added exercise. I upped my calories in the middle of the day, but it didn't seem to really help.

The other perplexing thing is that I don't think the exercise I'm doing is all that hard on my joints. I'm walking on the treadmill with the incline up and otherwise doing classes at the gym that are mostly attended by 65+ year old women, and instructors seem pretty focused on minimizing joint damage. A lot of the classes are even in the water. So what gives?

Has anyone else experienced this? What the heck? I probably sound like a whiny young person, but it's tough for me to exercise when my knees are aching. Does anyone know how to prevent or treat it?

[Misti in Seattle]

I have had fabulous results from having very good physical therapy on my legs and feet!

Hope you are able to find whatever help you need to solve your pain problem.

[Palestrina]

This is worth seeing a doctor for. I suggest and osteopath since they can easily see if there is something in your gait or skeletal structure that is causing this pain. Getting a prescription for PT could do wonders. In my experience joint problems stem from weak muscles. Take an anti inflammatory for temporary relief and check your shoes to make sure they are supportive for your structure. And lay off doing the exercises that hurt your knees. This is a no brainer and the first step in treating the condition. Trust me, as someone who messed up my knees because I was overzealous about step aerobics when I was in my early 20's there is no going back to 100% so prevent prevent prevent damage now.