Foot Health Information

There are several precautions you can take to prevent runner’s knee, a painful wearing away of the cartilage surrounding the kneecap.  This condition (known as patellofemoral pain syndrome, or PFPS) is more likely to affect women than men and is particularly common among beginning runners who start out too intensely.  

The first way to prevent runner’s knee is to stretch and strengthen your leg muscles.  The condition is often the result of an imbalance in the muscles of the thighs (quadriceps, hamstrings and hip abductors).  An unbalanced body (if your quadriceps are much stronger than your hamstrings, for example) puts stress on your joints.  The most common imbalance that leads to runner’s knee occurs when the hamstrings and calves are too tight, and the quadriceps are too weak.  It is important to develop a combination of stretching and strengthening exercises to correct this imbalance before it leads to injury.  

In addition to maintaining your body, it is important to be smart about the environment you run in as well.  Avoid hard surfaces like concrete.  Instead, seek out asphalt or, even better, dirt paths.  Running downhill also puts added stress on your knees.  If you start to experience inflammation or pain in the area surrounding your kneecap, then you should modify your route for a few days so that your knees won’t be subjected to steep declines.  

It is also important to be smart with your exercise plans.  You should never increase your mileage more than 10 percent per week.  Too much of a work out can cripple you before you even get started.   It is important to pay attention to what your body is telling you.  Pain means that something is not right.  You shouldn’t feel like you need to push through the pain.  (Especially when it comes to your knees!)  Instead, you should feel free to cut back your workouts for a few days to allow your body to recuperate.  Taking a little bit a time off to stop runner’s knee in its early stages will ultimately mean less of break then if you wait for the condition to digress into a much more debilitating stage.  

Finally, invest in a quality pair of running shoes.  Look for shoes that advertise high quality shock absorption.  If you have flat feet or tend to over pronate, you may want a pair of running shoes with motion control.  Over pronation puts a lot of extra stress on your knees.  Remember: your running shoes should be replaced every 300 to 500 miles.  A really expensive pair of high-tech shoes won’t do your body much good if you wear them until they are flat.

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