Joint Fatigue/ Physical Therapy

Question
I seem to have a bit of pesky joint fatigue in this right knee. I'd
like to run a lot more, but this gets in the way of it.

Questions:

1. How long does something like this usually take to clear up?

2. What can I do to speed up the process?

3. Does glucosamine chondroiton *really* do all they say it does?

Also: I have very tight hamstrings.

4. What type of therapy do they usually recommend for that?

Lastly:

5. I'm thinking about visiting a physical therapy center. Is there anything that I could really expect them to do for tight hamstrings? I
mean, is that something that people see so often that they would say "Oh, we've seen this a thousand times before. We know where to go from
here."

Thanks for your feedback

Answer
Hi Lemas:

First of all, it depends on what type of injury it is, it could be minor or a bit more serious.  The main thing is that you want to treat it before it gets worse.

If you are having pain of some kind, the best thing you can do is give your knee rest, ice it and take anti-inflammatories (if you have taken them before), they will help reduce any inflammation.

Tight hamstrings and weak quadracip muscles will not help to protect the knee, so building strength here is a good idea.  As far as visiting a physiotherapist, that is a great idea, if you can see someone who specializes in sports therapy, they will know all the ins and outs of your injury.  They will put you on a strengthening program that will help protect your knees.  Don't lose heart, knee injuries do heal with time and patience, in the meantime there are other forms of exercise you can do, water running is easy on the joints as well as the elliptical trainer..  Good Luck

margie :-)