Stretching for Knees

Stretching may help ward off "runner's knee" - study
 

New article today shows new evidence that stretching can help prevent knee pain.

Nearly 25 percent of physically active people suffer from anterior knee pain (AKP) -- pain at the front of the knee that is worsened by climbing stairs or running -- and it is also the main reason new British army recruits drop out.

A study at the Defense Medical Rehabilitation Center in Surrey, the United Kingdom, followed more than 1,500 recruits during a grueling 14-week training program.

Half were told to do standard warm ups and cool downs and the other half added stretching exercises. The number of hurt knees went from 5 percent of the warm up only group to only 1 percent hurt knees in the stretching group.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_knee_fitness

From my own perspective as someone who stays active as much as possible. I've noticed that by doing stretches I do seem to have less knee issues, but from personal experience I know it's not a good idea to stretch too much at once. You can pull your muscles and do more harm than good if you crazy with it. I like to go slow and stretch right after workouts and I do a very short easy stretch sometimes before sprinting after I've done some walking to get warmed up. Stretching while your cold can cause injury.   It's important to stay limber as we grow older.

Here are a huge list of books on stretching you might check out available through amazon, and here's a huge list of DVDs on stretching.

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