Running Shoes - Knee Arthritis

I've been diagnosed with arthritis in my right knee. It's manageable to some extent but is restricting my training. I guess it won't improve much until I have an arthroscopy to clear out the debris. I'm looking for a running shoe, presumably with maximum cushioning that will help. My left foot pronates a bit so need a bit of stability. I'm medium build and weigh 11.5 stone. I've previously used New Balance 1224 and 1226 (before the diagnosis) which were great shoes, but their replacement, the 1260V2 seems to have a different, much tighter fit in the toe-box, despite being from the same PL1 last. I do a mix of fell, tail and road and am looking for any road and trail shoe suggestions that will hopefully help the problem.

Any advice welcome - thanks in advance!

Hi Greg,

I suffer from arthritis in both knees. However, I'm not sure I have ever found a shoe with more cushioning that really made a big difference to that. I'm sure someone will be along to contradict me soon!

Personally what I have found, is that switching to more minimal shoes has forced me to run more on my toes and as such causes less pain in the knees. I used to run in Nike Pegasus on the road - now use Saucony Fastwitch. Again rather than aasics trail shoes, I generally now only use Inov-8.

Also regular exercises to strengthen the muscles around the knees and stretches e.g. ITB, calf etc. should help. I'm sure if you have an arthroscopy, you will be prescribed this by physio anyway.

Good luck and keep on running!

Thanks for the advice Pete. What you are saying about shoes backs up something I read on the internet about lower profile shoes putting less strain on your knees. I think I'll try some new road shoes and start using my Roclite 319s for trail runs. I had been a bit lapse with training and now I'm stretching twice a day it's improved a bit, need to do some quad strengthening too. I had some ultrasound and manipulation of the knee cap this week at the physio which has loosened it up a bit - just back from a 5 mile fell run and it felt much better than I expected .

Ah another fell runner with arthritis! Coincidence?

There's some useful advice over on the FRA forum:

http://forum.fellrunner.org.uk/showthread.php?18330-Running-with-arthritis

Why not join us on the dark side! (Well, peaty brown anyway)

I guess you're a DPFR member then Pete?!

Thanks for the link - I noticed it on the FRA forums but have now read it properly. I'm assuming the "dips" mentioned are mini one leg squats (the physio has given me these to do). It's a pity there isn't a link on there to the full article. I've also just started squats, lunges and dynamic lunges - hopefully improving quad strength will help. Knee doesn't seem too bad after yesterday's run on Moel Y Gest. I've ben trying to find out if spinning helps or not? Did a session tonight and it was painless so I'm assuming it's OK and will help with flexibility

Hi Greg, I'm currently "unattached" though would be more likely Mercia than DP. (Most of my fell running tends to be in Shropshire with the odd excursion up to the Lakes.) IMHO anything you can do to strengthen the muscles around the knee and increase flexibility will undoubtedly help. I also prescribe to the "use it or lose it" approach to managing the arthritis. This is what I was told by the last consultant I saw; incidentally totally contradicting the first one. Hurrah for 2nd opinions!