NWR: Knee Injury

lannerjarv

so i'm curious if there is anyone else on here that suffers/has suffered from knee pain?
mine has come on since I have been running for the past 10 weeks.
it's patella femoral syndrome apparently.. not curable but treatable.  i'm so bloody thankful it isn't my ACL.

any advice is really appreciated.

Nebb

In the past 6 months ive sufferend knee pain and shin splints so I know it all too well. Ice your knees, after workout and when they hurt. Do strengthening exercises to make the muscles connected to your knee stronger. If this is like runners knee (or chondromalacia), just search physio exercises for that and try them out. I had a whole list of things my physio therapist gave me to do and it eventually got better, I just have to be careful.

AmoroAgain

*jumps up and down* MEMEMEMEME!!

Hell, I've been dealin with this since I was 13.  For cereals. 

They keep threatening me with surgery, but I say no.  It's gone "out" at least 5 times total.  That hurts like a sumbitch.  Honestly, just do the PT, but it sucks.  I haven't done it in years.  I've found there are certain things I just can't do without pain, one of which is ride a bike.  My knee snaps the whole time, and I can see the patella sliding off.  Just, know your body.  Know what aggravates it and what doesn't and stay away from the stuff that does!  Walking is fine, running is painful, and careful of those twisting motions.  They're a total oucher.

lannerjarv

i'm going to my Doc on Wednesday to get a referral for physio.
i'm relieved that it's not my ACL, but this thing still hurts like a mother effer.

i'm going to do aquafit tonight as it's supposed to be GREAT for building up leg muscles without impacting the knee.

pumpkinpumpkin

HAI!!!!
NFT.

Nebb

I do a lot of lower body stuff on a stability ball, so take the pressure off my knees, and have slowly incorporated other lower body exercises back in but I have to be really careful about my form. I hate knees.

lannerjarv

harrow you ;-)

the problem is, is i'm completely head over heels in love with running.
my lungs are fine, the rest of my body is loving it, it's just this frickin KNEE.
URRRRGH.

Nebb

It might do you well to switch to other forms of cardio until you have no pain. Im not happy about having to stop running for a while but I can hardly walk properly right now, so I have to. Have you tried rowing? I really enjoy rowing and it gets my heart rate way up, and fast.

laboheme68

I bumped my knee into a chair when I was 16 and it completely dislocated. There was no serious permanent damage, but I had to do the crutches/tons of physical therapy.

The culprit was eventually discovered to be the shape of my feet. There's very little "interior" support on my feet, so everything kind of rolls inward, which throws off the alignment of my legs, which makes me more prone to hip/knee dislocations.

It can be corrected with physical therapy and orthotics.

AmoroAgain

If you want to keep running, you could always get a brace.  I played basketball for 3 years after I found out about mine.  I had to quit softball though.  The only thing I found, was that I ended up having really bad charlie horses in my upper calves every night.

aMrsin09

yep, the exterior "rim" on my meniscus is worn off from years of skating.  I wear special inserts to help keep the bones from dislocating. 

When I broke my ankle I also herniated the meniscus.  That hurt more than the ankle surgery!

lannerjarv

Nebb did anyone recommend strengthening the VMO in particular?
i am slightly pigeon-toed, therefore my VMO is pretty under-developed which i think is a contributing factor.

lannerjarv

holy jeez. that sounds so painful aMrs!

Nebb

Haha i dont know what VMO means, I couldnt keep going to phsyio because i lost my job and had no money so I just went with the papers I was given in the beginning. I am thinking I need to get some sort of orthotic though or atleast see some kind of specialist because activity and the lower half of my body just doesnt seem to mix well.

lannerjarv

vmo is the vastus medialis oblique. simply put its the muscle on the inside of your kneee that runs on a angle to the outer hip. because mine is under-developed my stupid knee cap is knocking around in there with no muscles to keep it in one place i imagine.

as you can tell i have been reading. a. lot. lol

aMrsin09

if you meant the knee, nah it doesn't hurt at all.  I didn't even know it was a problem until they had to go in and clean out the chuncks of cartlidge.  I'm active enough that the muscles pretty much keep everything in place.  The inserts are more of an insurance.

If you meant the herniated meniscus...oh yeah.  pain like I have never felt before.  I will voluntarliy break my other ankle before I go through that again.

[Deleted User]

Yeah, I've had really bad knees from years of gymnastics and running only makes it worse.  I'm like you and I love running so I'm sure I'm pushing it too far but I usually ice and stretch properly so that helps.  When my knees go out it's extremely painful as well. 

katiewhompus

I ran competitively in high school until I demolished my knee. My trainer was very "run through the pain run through the pain" and I did...and then couldn't straighten my knee for about a month.

I'm going to get back into running, starting Thursday, and just taking it reaaaaly slowly.  I've also found this website to be helpful on the one occasion when I seriously over did it (playing on the wii of all things)
http://www.bigkneepain.com/knee-exercises.html

lannerjarv

awesome site!
thats exactly what i was looking for.. something i can do at work even.
thank you so much!

katiewhompus

No problem, it's been a life safer (or I guess just knee saver) for me