Q I am a 50-year-old runner, and I’ve averaged 20-40 miles a week for the last 25 years. A year ago – just after completing some sit-ups – I starting getting severe back pain around my mid-spine, which extended around the chest and into the abdomen

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

Q I started running purely to increase my stamina for football, but soon came to love that ‘flushed-out’ feeling after a hard run and a shower. So it was a massive blow when I broke my ankle and damaged ligaments during a match. I’m now faced

, then shedding some pounds can be extremely helpful. Your bones and joints are simply a system of levers to propel you forwards, and the very large forces which they take can be reduced with a loss of weight.—Simon Moyes, consultant orthopaedic surgeon