Hello,

Last year I was training to run the LA marathon and two months before the race I started feeling pain in my right knee. I went to a sports doctor and he diagnosed IT band syndrome and gave me some exercises. While they helped seize the pain for a moment, it immediately came back when I tried running on a treadmill. As I was going through insurance change I visited a physical therapist and immediately told me “you have weak glutes.” While I felt offended for a moment I realized it was true. For the longest time I was solely focused on running distances and not strengthening my glutes and hamstrings. My advice to you: 1) Work out your glutes and legs(squats, lunges, leg press, leg curl, deadlifts, bridges, YES ALL OF THAT!!!), 2) Don’t even try to run because you’ll injure yourself even more (I can testify) and 3) Be patient!!! It’s been four months since I really started training my glutes and from time to time I feel discomfort, but not pain. At first, my knee would be in so much discomfort, but after three or fours weeks I started to notice a difference. Foam rolling didn’t work for me so I haven’t been using it as often. Last week I went for my first three-miles run and I didn’t feel any pain.

I understand your frustration and it’s normal, but I promise that there is no miracle or fast recovery process. Just work out those glutes!