Runner's knee?

My "new expensive shoes" ended up being a 1/2 size too small and I had all sorts of problems from them. After that, I did the gait analysis and switched shoes and it really helped. It just took time. Almost more time than it took to injure myself in the first place. Sorry. Sounds like you are catching it early and that should help.

I think new shoes, ice, Advil, and taking it slooooow helped the most. I'm not sure, but the shoes along with adding distance seems to be what did it.

Are you stretching your quads really well? I found some stretches by searching running sites that helped me.

[planet]

I haven't had knee problems (knock on wood) but so many people I have known have ended up with problems from shoes. It sounds like you have a plan. Stretching is so key do as I say not as I do

Annie, can you pm me where you went for the analysis? I've never done that and it sounds like a good idea.

[houseelf]

The key to injury prevention is to make sure you are taking time off, you ramp up your distance/frequency at a painfully slow pace, and buy the best damn shoes that money can buy. Switch your shoes out every 300 miles. Keep trying different types of shoes. I try to have two different brands of shoes that I alternate in order to minimize the stress on different parts of my feet and legs.

Go to a store that sells only running shoes. Take your old shoes to let them look at your treads. Have them watch you run. Analyze your arch to determine your needs. Go to Roadrunnersports.com or runnersworld and see what people are saying about the shoes.

While painkillers help, be careful of masking the pain and pushing through because you'll just set yourself up for a deeper, more painful injury. Maybe see a massuese or a physical therapists to help do some rehab. Have someone check out your gait. We all have little affectations that set us up for injury over time.

I hope that some of this helps. Best of luck.

Kelly

Switch your shoes out every 300 miles.

But that would mean a new pair for me every week!

runners really are crazy. :!

[houseelf]

I freely admit that we're nut jobs. If I lived near you, you would be on the top of my list to convert.

I guess that the only time that I feel *freaky* about running is when it's well-digger a** cold and I'm out there in ski gear. Then I question my sanity. Otherwise, running is my happy hour!

Kelly

I freely admit that we're nut jobs. If I lived near you, you would be on the top of my list to convert.

Oh honey - the Mormons would have better luck with me, and I think we all know where I stand on organized religion. Sweet thought, though.

That's great! I'm glad it went better. Keep stretching!

A few days ago, our paper had some stretches in the Lifestyle section that made me think of you. I had some knee pain while running a while back (not sure if it is the same deal) and did the same stretch -- for hip flexors. I can't describe it, but it is sort of a lunge on the ground. I'm sure that if you searched on it you would find a description. Anyway, I thought my problem was with the quads right above my knee but stretching further up helped a ton.

Woohoo!