Runner's Training Tips: Advice about treating Runner's knee?

I finished an 8K about 3 weeks ago and the next day had muscle pain in my right quad. I figured I pulled a muscle or two...I stopped running for a few days to rest, and the pain migrated towards my right knee. The pain is still there and doesn't seem to go away, no matter how much rest I get. :( I've been looking up Runner's knee, and the pain they describe seems to be what I have - discomfort in the patello-femoral joint. I've started to do some muscle strengthening exercises around that area, like lunges and squats. I figure it will strengthen the muscles near my knee and prevent more injury or am I wrong? Should I do these before a run? or throughout the day? I tried doing those exercises right before a run, and my muscles tensed up to the point I felt like my legs were immobile and I had to stop running and stretch my legs. I've heard about taking additives like Glucosamine or wearing a brace? I've been thinking about seeing a doctor, but not sure what kind of specialist would help examine my knee, any suggestions?...I've tried going to my primary care doctor, but he wasn't exactly an expert at it and wanted to do an mri on my knee which I think is kind of extreme. Anyway, would love to hear people's opinions...

I have been experiencing the same problem with my shorter, quicker runs (I'm training for the marine corps marathon). I spoke with my physical therapist about this a couple days ago, and he told me that this is mainly an issue of muscle weakness. He told me to AVOID squats and lunges - this irritates the knee a lot. One of the exercises he strongly recommended that I do (on off days, to strengthen the muscles) are single knee raises. Here are instructions on how to do them:

"Lay on the floor, resting back on your hands. Have your legs straight out in front of you. Bend one knee and rest that foot on the floor. The other leg should still be straight. Lift your straight leg, keeping your knee straight. Raise your knee about 10 inches off the floor. Hold. Lower your leg and relax. Repeat."

 Other exercises to strengthen the muscles around your knee (mainly the quads) will help as well.

 Good luck!

I have to agree with Giggles. I have had a history of knee problems when I was younger but no longer have them now. My problems stemmed from muscle strength imbalance in my legs (my hamstrings and vastus medialis, the quad muscle that looks like a teardrop on the inside nearest the knee, were weak.) Once those were strengthened up I learned that I had damaged my plica in my left knee. One operation later I was fine. One point worth mentioning, don't be afraid to ask about plica damage as it seems to get overlooked. I had been assessed by numerous doctors, specialists, and physiotherapists and all of them missed my plica damage until the surgeon went in and saw the problem with a scope. Maybe a good mri would solve that problem now (my injury was many moons ago) but you should still ask about it anyway.

What is the plica?

I just finished my first half-marathon two days ago, and I've experienced the same knee pain.  It hurts enough that I can't tell if it is injury or just running pain.  I put an ice pack on my knee for 20 minutes immediately following my cool down stretch, and it has REALLY helped.  The pain was normally most severe a couple hours after a run, but the ice pack seemed to help.  A doc told me ice pack for twenty minutes, follow that with a heated compression after every run and the pain will lessen, if not subside.

I am a physiotherapist - my suggestion - as per many before me is to avoid lunges and squats - these exercises, whilst good quad strengthening exercises also serve to compress the patello femoral joint and potentially cause further joint damage. The problem is likely related to either a patello femoral joint issue related to a muslce imbalance  - tight ITB and weak VMO (medial quads) or a patella tendinopathy. My suggestion would be to get some strapping tape and use 6-8 pieces 4-5 inches in length. Start at the top of your patella on the outside of the knee. Pull the tape across thus moving your patella more medially. Repeat this with the 6-8 pieces moving from the top of your patella to the bottom. Try a short run/walk and see if it helps. If not go see a DR/PT

I dealt with this problem when i started marathon training...it was an over-training issue and my quads weren't strong enough, so there was an imbalance with my quads and hams.  I did strength training in my quads and avoided downhill running.  I also used a knee strap for 'runner's knee' or chondramalacia.  You can get these at Walgreen's it fits right underneath your knee cap and holds it in place while you're running to relieve pain. It won't relieve it 100% but enough to get through your run.  It'll eventually pass, you just have to baby it...maybe change surfaces for a little while and run on grass or dirt.  And always ice after your runs.

What I'm doing, with less than a month before my first marathon:

 First, my ITB issues just started and weren't terrible. I took 8 days off, icing, NSAIDs, replaced my running shoes with a fresh pair. Then did a 4 mile run and it was there, but far less and didn't worsen. Still, I wasn't happy. Then, after tons of reading here and elsewhere, identified it as textbook ITB.

Since then, started doing ITB stretches multiple times a day (hadn't ever learned the importance of ever doing them, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised I have this issue now), continued NSAID treatment, topical Arnica. I also got a gym membership for one month.

Stationary bike (recline and standard) don't bother at all, so I'm doing longish workouts on that trying to get my heart rate up to about what it is while running. After a couple days of that I tried 2.5 miles on the treadmill and the pain was even further reduced.

 So, what I'm going to try is to continue this, try to increase my mileage on the treadmill only (flat non-crowned, absorbent surface) while biking--the extra warm-up on the bike first seems to help. This was supposed to be taper month anyway, but I'm going to try to work up to some mid-distance runs before the race. I'm trying to schedule my NSAIDs so that I workout right before the next dose is needed, as I don't want them to simply mask pain that might be there.  I'll look up some suggested knee wraps to try also.

If I can get through the rest of this training without bad flare up, I'm going to attempt my race. I have serious doubts that I'll attempt another full marathon after this one (waayy more time needed than I bargained for), sticking to halfs probably. Then again, 2 years ago I never thought I'd attempt my first marathon.