hi, I have acute rheumatoid arthritis, almost no cartilage in both knees so walking more than 5km is painful...and if that wasn't challenging enough my collapsed arches in my feet hurt after an hr of pavement pounding... before my Camino last May my rheumatologist and orthopedic surgeon both said I wouldn't manage to walk 30km let alone 800km... bully to them because I did it last year and have just got home after my 2nd...
I saw a physiotherapist last year who taught me how to strap my knees using KT tape...which worked really well last year. This year, again I strapped up my knees using KT tape... I also strapped up my big toes (hot spot friction, tape helped to prevent blisters), strapped up the undersides of feet near my toes and when I got jiggly pains running up my leg from my ankles, I taped that too... in bright blue Leukotape, which is available in most pharmacies on the
Camino Frances route, my Spanish is limited, I'd just mention Leukotape to the pharmacists and voila.
In addition to this i had picked up a few tips on my 1st Camino....
* I use walking poles - PacerPoles, they're brilliant
www.pacerpoles.com
* on steep downhills, I'm the nutter walking in a zig zag pattern rather than straight down
* on steep uphill I take smaller steps
* I drink a lot of water during the walk, it lubricates the joints
* I got a cortisone shot before I left and took Celebrex (prescribed by my rheumatologist just for the Camino walking)
Doing all of the above, I had largely pain free Camino's
...a note regarding the knee tube - I'd tried this once but didn't like the way it constricted the back of my knees, legs which is why I personally opted for the KT tape...