Shoes for RUNNERS KNEE?

Are you older? Do you have problems with your lower back?

Nope, I'm a sophomore in HS.

Maybe you need some "specific" cross-training to strengthen certain muscles.

Runner's knee is often associated with weak hip stabilizers. Sorting out a stiff or weak back, and/or strengthening these muscles will keep your hips from rotating, stressing the knees. (At least that's my theory what happened to me).

For example, Matt Fitzgerald wrote a book "Brain Training" with some exercises to strengthen hip stabilizers. He wrote another book "Cross-Training" with more exercises, which might even be better, but I didn't read it.

Otherwise, switching to a more forward foot strike is known to shift the stress from the hips and knees to the lower calf and ankles. This will happen naturally when you run faster, e.g. with fartlek or tempo or interval training at faster than 8-9 min/mile.

As far as shoes go, I'm part of the camp that thinks a strong shoe makes a weak foot. Unless you have some serious pronation, or a high arch, or flat foot, or other significant deviation, I would stay with a neutral shoe, or a performance trainer, and work in the direction of strengthening your ankles and back, e.g. jumping drills, plyos, maybe even some barefoot running, combined with exercises that isolate, loosen and strengthen hip-stabilizers. If your hips are weak, and your ankles are weak, your knees will absorb all the stress.

It's unlikely that your shoes played a big role in causing your runner's knee (PFPS). Runners who go on to develop PFPS don't pronate any more than runners who stay healthy, and there's no evidence to date that suggests that impact forces are related to PFPS either.

Rather, your hip mechanics and hip strength are probably to blame. A LOT of high school runners—and runners in general, for that matter—have very poor hip abductor and external rotator strength and/or coordination, which leads to bad hip mechanics and excessive stress on your knee.

You will probably have more success getting over PFPS with hip strength exercises like side leg lifts, clamshells, and glute bridges. Quad strength is also important for treating PFPS, and scientific research supports doing single-leg "mini-squats" off a step and straight-knee leg raises for calf strength.

I wrote a fairly detailed article about causes and treatments for PFPS. You might find it helpful.

http://www.runningwritings.com/2012/03/injury-series-uncovering-role-of-hip.html

I do barefoot sand running fairly regularly, so a strong shoe would just go hand in hand with a strong foot and lower leg muscles.

Why are you putting your shoes on your hands?

Cheesy joke alert

Yolo yo yoloyou wrote:

Cheesy joke alert

yep, rekrunner is a cheesy joke

I went through a year and a half of runner's knee. I almost quit running. Going minimalist helped me a lot, but probably mostly because I cut way back on my mileage while I got used to it. Now I just run in flats all the time, and my knees have never been better. I'm 37, by the way.

I've had numerous training-induced (non-traumatic) running injuries in my life, though not the issue you describe. I say that because I got specially fitted for orthodic inserts in 2006 and they did provide a lot of relief and were useful.

However, there is no substitute for seeing a Physical Therapist through your Health Insurance provider to analyze your situation and prescribe a short-term and long-term exercise regimen.

(Not saying you haven't done that or are or are not enthusiastic about it, but I always like to praise good Physical Therapists and this approach--it's a sound approach for all distance runners, whether they have yet encountered a training-induced injury or not.)

Anyway, just wanted to share that, and also, I'm an idiot when it comes to shoes but I'm sure there are many shoe experts that will continue to opine on this thread. Good luck with your PFPS.

I wouldn't claim to be able to diagnose you or give sound advice over the Internet from what you have said, but with that caveat, my 2 cents would be that stability shoes probably won't help. The pronation/stability shoe advice people used to give has very little scientific or factual support.

Given your miles, I would go with some cushioning but in a neutral shoe that you find comfortable (try the Saucony Kinvara or something like that) AND hip strengthening.

Exercises like those in Jay Johnson's Myrtl routine are good:

http://hhrunningclub.tripod.com/webonmediacontents/MYRTLE%20ROUTINE%20.pdf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GLrKr54yA0

Yes! This. A lot of runners, including myself, have/had weak muscles like the poster described. I myself would emphasize the how widespread weak hip flexor muscles are. Unlike, say, hamstrings or biceps, which have a lot of common gym machines to work, hip flexor isolation exercises are hard to come by. There are many suggestions out there, but I think the best one--though I don't have empirical Scientific data for this, it's just my caring opinion--is something I devised. A few years ago, me and my running coach were thinking about this and he suggested a bunch of free-standing motions, one which utilized a bench. Somewhere along the line, I came up with the idea to add significant weight resistance to this motion.

Basically, if you can get an ankle strap, you can bring it to a gym that has a weight stack and a pulley attachment that slides down to floor level (usually, those structures with pullup bars in the middle and weight stacks--usually used by people for arm exercises--will do. This is what I use specifically).

Then, you essentially do like a sprint driving motion, raising the foot and getting lift with the leg that has the ankle strap attached to the pulley.

I like to pretend I'm Usain Bolt or something when I'm doing this (hehe). Your typical weight stack will likely provide for your entire lifetime of hip flexor strength growth. I've always wondered what Usain Bolt could do for this exercise (how much weight?).

But anyway, that poster has it spot on. If you have knee problems, the most essential and simplest explanation is that the knee is bearing undue weight and force/compensation owing to some imbalance or inadequacy from a root function--that is, the upper leg/hips--"higher up" or more "basic." That's a pretty good heuristic to use for treating any training injuries in which the suspected culprit is muscular imbalance/weaknesses. A good place to start. After that, then, there are muscles of the lower leg and foot which are often neglected--and of course, always try to see a Physical Therapist through your Health Insurance provider, and don't substitute Letsrun forum advice for seeing a Doctor!

Ah! good to get an early start on these things! It took me all the years of late high school and undergraduate college to acquire a lot of the needed knowledge (the muscular balance paradigm) and the necessary approach (consulting with licensed experts, aka Physical Therapists). When I first was injured in late high school and I was completely ignorant as to a sustainable, viable solution or who to even consult (regular Doctors didn't know squat, their solutions were worse than useless), it was a very unhappy time. It can be devastating for a young person and even non-running aspects of their life!

Stability shoes wrote:

I need some new shoes, as I recently got injured due to PFPS, runners knee. I overpronate some, but I mostly wear neutral shoes anyway, and I am kind of knock-kneed. I run 40-50mpw usually at 8-9 min/mile. I weigh 95 lbs, 5'4", male, and I do a lot of running on asphalt. With high drop shoes, I just barely heel strike, and with lower drop shoes I midfoot strike. I'm probably gonna need some cushioned stability shoes, I was looking at the Gel Kayano 19's or Mizuno Wave Rider.

Suggest some shoes that would fit me right, please.

I suggest barefoot, stupid ass.

by the way, +1/10. bravo.

I keep my shoes neutral and just throw some Superfeet in them. Seems to do the trick.

Go get fitted at a running specialty store. The shoes are important but it is NOT what is causing you issues. There are so many other mechanical factors going on while running that can cause 'runner's knee'.