I'm hoping to hike the Georgia section of the AT late this spring and I know I need to improve my fitness to meet some of the goals I've set myself. This past Thanksgiving, I hiked a section of the Benton MacKaye, camping at Bryson Gap, and on the way out the second day developed a bit of knee pain. It was like extreme muscle soreness on the outside of my right knee. From my description, my occupational therapist and doctor-resident boyfriend thought I had an overworked tendon (I forgot the specific one they mentioned). I actually managed 10 miles on it on the Len Foote trail three days later and aggravated it after it had started to clear up. A month later, I was doing a 4-mile day hike at a state park and it started to flare up again, but didn't get bad enough to cause problems.
Anyway, I'm planning on be on the trail for 7 days at least and I know that's a fairly rough section. I found out from that state park hike that what causes it is inclines and, worse, declines on uneven terrain. I can climb stairs all day.
What are some excercises I can do to help strengthen the stabilizer muscles in my knee? I've bought trekking poles, so I expect that to help, and I may buy some sort of knee brace before heading out, but I'd really prefer to work on some prevention if possible.
I actually coach high school tennis and I actually do a good bit of playing with my team during practice while the other coach teaches strategy, so those muscles are getting a lot of use right now from the sudden side-to-side and forward sudden stops and starts of tennis, but I think something more focused may provide me more benefit, especially later in the season when I spend less time with a raquet and when the season ends.