Can orthotics be the only answer for some problems?

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hellen Feb 2012 9:51am, 14 Feb 2012 12,217 posts	0 hellen I've had an ongoing knee problem for well over a year. It has put me out a few times for months and other times for just a few days after a hard effort. The physio has shown me how to tape it which usually means it is OK and I have been doing shorter runs without tape - problem is mistracking kneecap. Last time I saw the physio 6 weeks ago he gave me some more exercises and also asked if I had considered orthotics. I hadnt and asked how long I should give these new exercises. He said about 6 weeks I should notice a difference. My knee has been getting a bit better and I have been doing more runs without the tape (still using for longer runs). But this weekend I did two marathons and it has set my knee off again so much so that it was really painful yesterday and I skipped me evening run. So, should I try the othotics route? It is going to be very expensive and I alternate my shoes so think they are going to be a bit of a faff changing them between shoes all the time. Or should I see this weekend as a relapse from overdoing it and give the new exercises a bit more time as they did seem to be working to a certain extent eg previously I found after about 3-4 days of running with no tape, now I can run every week day with no tape but put it back on for the weekend long run.
heebiejeebie Feb 2012 9:36pm, 15 Feb 2012 2,156 posts	0 heebiejeebie I'm no expert here, but if it was me I'd give the exercises a bit more time to have an effect before considering orthotics. LionBar got orthotics and still seems to be permanently on the verge of injury.
hellen Feb 2012 9:42pm, 15 Feb 2012 12,228 posts	0 hellen Thnaks heebs, spoke to physio and he said that because her exercises have shown a bit of improvement I need to keep going as it will take longer to get to full fixing