Hi Ben,

If possible, a doctor or therapist should have a good look at your knees, and suggest a course of action. Of course, they may just say "Tough luck, there's nothing we can do." If that's the case, I know people who have had some success with glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate supplements.

Medical studies are inconclusive about these ([url]http://www.wellsphere.com/endurance-training-article/the-use-of-glucosamine-and-chondroitin-sulfate-for-knee-arthritis/598411[/url]), but numerous people have mentioned that their knees aren't as sore when they regularly take the supplements.

The other thing you might look into are exercises to strengthen your thigh muscles - sometimes knee pain is aggravated by imbalances between the thigh and hamstring muscles.

Good luck, I hope you find a solution to minimize the pain so you can continue training.

Peter

[QUOTE=ben;4134]Don't know if this should go in off topic or not, so I'm putting it here.

In the interest of me being able to continue to practice without destroying my knees, I would like to pick up a knee brace and a pair of training/mat/indoor shoes.

So any recs would be appreciated. For the knee brace I'm looking for something that will stabilize the knee more than just a compression sleeve will.

thanks[/QUOTE]

My right knee gives me some trouble sometimes. I found as long as I'm stretching well and take a calcium/magnezium/zinc supplament then I don't have an trouble out of it. My neighbor two doors over is developing new braces made out of Navy seal wetsuit material(or something like that) they are currently making them cheep for friends. If you're interested I could see about getting you one. If you haven't tried a C/M/Z supplament I would recomend it.