How to treat "Runner's Knee"

I read online that 42% of all overuse injuries affect the knee joint and one those injuries is patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS), or simply "runner's knee," which is the most common overuse injury among runners. It occurs when a mistracking kneecap (patella) irritates the femoral groove in which it rests on the thighbone (femur). 


At the first sign of pain, cut back your mileage. The sooner you lessen the knee's workload, the faster healing begins,  As you rebuild mileage, use a smaller stride on hills


Below are some quick tips to improve your knees by concentrating on the muscles affecting your knee. Quads, Hamstrings, Calves. 

•  Foam Roll the outside of your thighs 
•  Direct soft tissue work (massage) of the outside muscles of your thigh 
•  Improving general quad strength (via quad sets i.e tensing your quad muscles and doing isometric hold for about 5- 10 sec, leg extensions and TKE = Terminal Knee Extensions ) Youtube/Google any of these to get a better description.  For Sets and Reps about 3 x 12 
•  Improving the control of your butt muscles ( via Hip Bridge aka Supine Bridge ) doing both two leg version and single leg version for about 2 x 25 
• Stretching the quads and calves ( via Standing Quad Stretch , and Standing Calve Stretch) doing 2 sets of 30sec holds for each leg 

Another useful stretch is the Standing Hamstring Stretch , do this for 2 sets of 30 secs for each leg

Another Exercise to strengthen your thighs and butt is the Lying Straight Leg Lift , perform 3 sets of 10 reps each leg , if you want more of a challenge work up to 10 sets of 10 reps each leg.  

The above tips should help strengthen those muscles and loosen those that are pulling your kneecap into a compromised position. One more tip for those who want to try something radical try running barefoot some people have noticed the pain completely disappearing when running barefoot / using minimalist style shoes i.e Vibram's 5 finger shoes.  Good Luck :) and Cool Running's