Running Ailment

Question
I seem to have a couple of problems. Firstly my right knee tends to almost give way when I am running, no pain just very uncomfortable. I have had this for 8 months and have seen a chiropractor and physio but they can't fix it. They seem to think it's my ITB but the symptoms don't seem to be the same.
I sometimes have a pain in my right knee but it's very rare.
Secondly I seem to drag my right foot, i feel like I am not lifting it correctly it's just as am about to place my foot down it's scuffing on the ground instead. I have tried to compensate by lifting it higher but with my knee problem it all gets too much.
I also get pain in the inside of my right ankle and I have nodules on the right side just below my ankle bone.
I do hope I have not waffled too much but it really is affecting my training and just don't know what to do, can you help?

Answer
Thanks for contacting me Vanessa.  There are a couple of possibilities here that I'll discuss.  Then I'll tell you what I recommend.  

1) The knee giving out may just be a ligament problem.  I would have to see it or have you describe it better to know the details of "giving out". It could also be that your quadriceps muscle stops contracting briefly.  That is what stabilizes your knee cap. If that stops contracting then your knee would give out.

Your ankle not bringing your foot up could be a ligament problem.  Also, it may be that it is a motor learning problem.  For some reason your foot needs to learn to automatically raise on the swing through phase of running.

2) It could be what we classify as a neurological problem.  Luckily, it seems pretty isolated which is always better than diffuse.  That's great news!  It seems to be isolated at the L4-L5 level.  This means that there may be impingement of some kind in at the 4th or 5th lumbar vertebral nerves.  

I recommend you searching for an orthopaedic specialist.  Whether this is a medical doctor or a physiotherapist. In America the certification for physiotherapists is OCS, but I don't know of a certification like this in the United Kingdom.  I'm sure there is one, but I don't know it.  When choosing who to see make sure you know they are an orthopaedic specialist.  Most physiotherapists and medical doctors won't be good at figuring out the problem.  Remember, that every health care professional has different experience, training, and bias.  Keep looking until you find someone who knows what the problem is and can fix you quickly.

Finally, the pain in the ankle is related to all of this.  Your ankle won't hurt if your run properly.  Once you have your other issues fixed then you can focus on this.  I assume the nodules are inconsequential, but it's something to ask the orthopaedic specialist about as well.