Maybe you used to play football every week and now it is once a month, or you have started running again after a few years off. In your 30s and 40s, routines change, and knees can feel the difference. Keeping them strong and active now can help them stay comfortable for decades to come.

Why knees can ache at this stage

Knee pain in your 30s and 40s often comes from a mix of changes:

• Less regular activity, with occasional bursts of sport or exercise.
• Returning to running or training after a break.
• Longer spells sitting at a desk or in the car.
• Gradual changes in muscle strength, which starts to decline slowly from around your 30s if you do not keep it up.

When load goes up faster than your knees can adapt, like a big weekend of sport after a quiet week, they can become sore. In most cases, the knee is irritated rather than damaged.

Changes on scans are common

If you have had a scan, you may have been told about changes in the cartilage or the cushioning pads in your knee, called the menisci. These changes are very common from your 30s onwards, including in people with no pain at all. They are a normal part of getting older, a bit like grey hair on the inside, and they do not mean your knee cannot get stronger or more comfortable.

Being a weekend warrior

When time is short, it is common to squeeze all your activity into the weekend. This can be hard on knees, which prefer a steadier load. Some ideas:

• Add a short walk or strength session or two during the week.
• Warm up properly before weekend sport, with some jogging, side steps and leg swings.
• Build up gradually when returning to a sport or running.
• Leave a rest day after a particularly demanding match or run.

Building knee strength

Strong muscles around your knee act like shock absorbers, taking load off the joint. Strength work is one of the best long-term investments you can make for your knees. Something to try two or three times a week:

• Sit to stand or squats, lowering slowly.
• Reverse lunges, going only as deep as feels comfortable.
• Step-ups onto a low step or bottom stair.
• Bridges. Lie on your back with your knees bent, lift your hips, then lower slowly.
• Heel raises. Rise onto your toes, pause, then lower slowly.

If you would like to follow along, VIDA has short videos of sit to stands, lunges, bridges and heel raises you can use at your own pace. Strengthening your hips as well as your thighs helps your knees too. Even short sessions add up over time.

Returning to running or sport

If you are getting back into running or sport after a break, a gradual return gives your knees time to adapt. Some ideas:

• Start with run and walk intervals, building up over several weeks.
• Increase one thing at a time, like distance, speed or how often you play.
• Choose flatter routes and softer surfaces at first.
• Keep strength work going alongside.

Running is not bad for your knees. Research suggests recreational runners have lower rates of knee osteoarthritis than people who do not run.

Reading how your knee responds

A mild ache during or after activity that settles by the next morning is usually fine. If your knee is sorer or more swollen the next day, ease back a little and build up more slowly.

Breaking up sitting

Long spells of sitting with your knees bent can make them feel stiff. Straightening your legs every so often, or getting up for a short walk, helps. VIDA’s Pomodoro stretches, in the top right corner, can remind you to pause during focused work.

Your VIDA pain check-in can help you notice how your knees respond as your routine changes.

What to take away

• Changing routines in your 30s and 40s can affect your knees.
• Changes on scans are common and do not mean your knee cannot get stronger.
• Spread activity through the week rather than squeezing it into the weekend.
• Strengthen your knees and hips two or three times a week.
• Build up gradually when returning to running or sport.

‍