The Knee

Question
So a little background first though there isn't much to give.  I've had no past
injuries or ailments to either of my legs at any time.  I ran competitively in
both track and xc in high school and have since been off and on with running.  
Typically i run no more than 4 miles and roughly 3 times a week.  I'm 24 years
old 175 pounds and 6 ft short.

On to the problem.  After about 8 minutes of my run the right outside of my
knee hurts.  Right above the huge tendon where i can feel a large bone of
some sort.  It's isolated right there.  I have no pain at any other time of the
day.  I go up and down stairs and sit for hours and I don't even think about it
except for the fact that i know it is going to hurt when i try to run on it.

In my head i am currently blaming the crappy-er shoes that i was using so i
switched back to an older pair of shoes that is a nicer make/model than my
newer pair (but they are pretty worn).  The pain showed up later in my run but
by the time i stopped it was hurting just as bad as before.  I have tried
running a total of 4 times since it started to hurt including that first time.  i
waited at least 2 weeks maybe longer in between the 2nd and 3rd times i ran
to give it time to maybe go away to no avail.

I should point out that I have been doing the same stretches since high
school after a half mile warm up.

Answer
Hi Dutch,

Well, it doesn't seem that anything you're doing, other than maybe running in old shoes, is setting you up for injury.  Right now, I would not see a doctor for this.  I would concentrate on 2 things.  First is ice.  I would try to ice your knee at least 2 times a day, 3 or 4 would be better.  Just throw a bag of frozen veggies on there for 20 minutes.  This will reduce any inflammation you have.  Second, I would buy a foam roller.  The reason is that you probably have iliotibial band syndrome.  This injury usually starts out with tenderness on the outside of the knee...as it progresses, you may feel tightness on the outside of the thigh or even in the hip.  Using a foam roller on your IT band will help loosen it, break up any scar tissue or adhesions, and ultimately reduce the tension in your knee.  Keep in mind, this will HURT.  It gets better over time though.  The rollers are $20 online.  Also, I would massage the painful area with your hands for 5 minutes a day.  Really dig in there!  Make sure you ice at the end of all this.  I would do this for 2 weeks and try a couple of short easy jogs to see how things are coming.  If, after 2 weeks of this, you're still having problems, I would then probably see a sports PT.  Good luck, Larry