Lactic Acid in the Knees

Your body produces lactic acid when it lacks enough oxygen to turn glucose into energy. As your strength increases, so does your lactate level. Muscle fatigue and pain accompanied by lactate have caused bad reactions in athletes, especially in runners with knee joint pain after strenuous exercise. (picture: halftoint / iStock / Getty Images)

lactate

when the oxygen level is low, the body will produce lactate, so that glucose can be broken down into energy. Your body usually gets its fuel through a process called glycolysis, which converts glucose into pyruvic acid, and then, when there is enough oxygen, delivers it as energy through an aerobic pathway. However, when oxygen levels run out, as they often do during strenuous exercise or infectious diseases, your body converts pyruvate into lactate to promote glucose breakdown. Lactate acidosis is a condition that occurs when there is too much lactate in the blood and its speed is faster than now. This condition can lead to nausea and weakness and may interfere with motor performance. It was found that lactate did not actually cause muscle weakness, but other metabolites were not fully understood. These metabolites can cause fatigue, burning and post exercise soreness. Although lactic acid burns quickly and leaves the body about an hour after exercise, many athletes begin to develop delayed muscle soreness (DOMS). This condition, often resulting in muscle and knee pain, is often attributed to the accumulation of lactate. However, an article published in the American Journal of comprehensive and comparative physiology of physiological regulation in 2004 was not so simple. It reported that lactic acid delayed fatigue and soreness, but it was the result of other biological processes.

lactate threshold

although the previous logic about the causal relationship between lactate and muscle fatigue has been proved wrong, this information is still the same for runners who want to protect their knees. Lactate thresholds are determined by blood tests and are used to determine the best training regime to maximize speed while minimizing muscle fatigue. Although this relationship may not be direct, lactate thresholds seem to play a role in determining the best training. In March 2011, an article published in the Journal of strength and conditioned reflex research reported that the lactate threshold training of middle and long distance runners was significantly higher than that of slow rhythm training.