acupuncture – is this a waste of time?A Unfortunately the short answer is, probably ‘yes’. While acupuncture itself is fine for treating symptoms, it may side-step the actual cause of your problem. You need to find a recognised practitioner – perhaps

Q Every time I run, my knee clicks loudly but painlessly. It’s annoying rather than painful. The noise comes from below and outside the kneecap. Is it, or the cartilage, damaged? I broke my kneecap when I was 12 – could this be a cause?A Your

preference and experience of your doctor.Can you run through it? Not a hope, though some lightweight plaster and special boots may allow a little walking.Recovery timeAt least six weeks in plaster and probably a minimum of four months to rehabilitation and a

Q Severe osteoarthritis in both knees has forced me to stop running. Some time ago I read about a pioneering operation that was performed on a professional footballer, in which sections of the knee cartilage were removed, regrown in a laboratory

. Avoid bed rest. Movement, even crawling on hands and knees, is better than inactivity. Backs: to the future. (Real-life solutions) Real-life stories: how two runners beat back pain Injury-Proof Your Back: five sets of everyday tips to stay pain

that they assist with the function of both, making an injury to either muscle group extremely disruptive to running. Both can be strained (or pulled) if they are overextended to the point that they rip slightly. A complete tear of the muscle is called a rupture

. Injury, in the form of a rupture, may be due to an accident in everyday life, or as a result of sporting trauma. If a tear occurs, nine times out of 10 it will be in the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).SymptomsYou are likely to have twisted your knee

-initiated treatment, some forms of electrical therapy may further speed up healing. The risk is always of over-enthusiastic treatment and the complications mentioned above.Can you run through it?/Recovery timeWhile a simple tear may recover in a week, a complete

they recognised a lack of data linking specific traits – age, weight, gender, foot type – to running injuries. So they decided to conduct research that was later published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. "We found that certain injuries were

efficient running, faster recovery and fewer injuries."Sports massage can improve flexibility of tight muscles and correct imbalances," explains Western."Some techniques improve circulation, enabling muscles to use oxygen and nutrients more effectively