PROMOTION Staying actıve with knee pain Sharron Davies has been plagued by a knee injury since childhood, but an Unloader brace has allowed the former Olympian to exercise pain-free for the first time in years T welve months prior to competing on the world's sporting stage, at the age of 13, I had an accident that was to be a defining moment in my swimming career. While running a 100m race at school, my foot got caught in a pothole and my knee became twisted at a 90° angle. MRI scans didn't exist then, so my dad strapped up my leg and I struggled through training like that for three months. Many years later, in the mid-1990s, an accident on the set of the TV show Gladiators damaged my knee again. I couldn't put any weight on it and I was told I'd need reconstructive surgery on my cruciate ligament - it would become the first of nine operations. AFTER I WAS FITTED WITH THE UNLOADER, I WAS ABLE TO WALK WITHOUT PAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS - I'M NOW RUNNING AGAIN