Knee pain

[Bitseach]

I have recently developed pain in my left knee when it bends through about 5 degrees of motion when my knee passes from flexed to extended. It is sharply painful but with repeated motion becomes fine. The pain is on the inside, between the patella and head of the femur.

 

Anybody had this or knows about this who could advise? It's fine if I run but not so good in the motion of getting out of a chair, or the first few revolutions of cycling!

 

Cheers folkies.

 

Bits'

[ramymensa]

Welcome to my club

 

Have the same "pleasure" and so far I just live with it. maybe KickChick could help us.

 

HELP PLEASE

[Bitseach]

Boo! Nobody has any ideas. Have you found that anything helps it? Mine's fine when I do running or after a few squats it stops hurting. I looked up in a book which listed similar symptoms and suggested it was the cartilage ligament trapped in something but I am not sure how this information helps me!

[KickChick]

DIDN"T HEAR YOU FROM WAY OVER HEAR .... sorry

 

hmm, I'll try and help out girls....

 

There are so many ligament and cartilage injuries that occur in the martial arts. Anything but the most superficial knee injury should be seen by a doctor.

 

What you seem to both have is "runners knee" (known medically as chondromalacia patella or patello-femoral syndrome) this is caused by misalignment of the kneecap in its groove. The kneecap normally goes up and down in the groove as the knee flexes and straightens. If the kneecap is misaligned, it will pull off to one side and rub on the side of the groove. This causes both the cartilage on the side of the groove and the cartilage on the back of the kneecap to wear out. On occasion, fluid builds up and causes swelling in the knee.

 

As a result, you will experience pain around the back of the kneecap or in the back of the knee. Runner's knee is very common in the martial arts because of the characteristic bent knee stance and rapid, forceful kicks causing the kneecap to shift and to rub on the side of the groove, thus causing pain under the kneecap.

 

This type of injury requires rest until the pain eases, icing, and anti-inflammatories. Aspirin seems to have a healing effect. To reduce pain on a daily basis treat the problem as you would runner's knee: Use an arch support or orthotic device in your shoe and do quadriceps-strengthening exercises.The proper treatment, really, is to correct the foot position to ease the stress on the knee. The problem is that most martial arts are done barefoot. Wearing an arch or orthotic in your shoe in daily life will allow your knee pain to subside so that you can function on the mat without a shoe.

[ramymensa]

Thank you KickChick. I knew you'd help some girls in distress

 

I'll try to follow your advices.

[ZR440]

That's what I had early this year. Hurt so d@mn bad that I went in for MRI. I thought my knee was falling apart. Doc said it's just mis-alignment of kneecap. Rehab involved ankle weights. Stupid knees anyway.

[ZR440]

Hey Ramymensa,

 

I see you're from Romania. My grandparents were from there. Immigrated to US somewhere in the 1920's. I think they were from an area called Hunedora, but the spelling of that might not be correct.

[Bitseach]

Ooh cheers Kickchick - you're a wee angel. I'll try some of that and avoid horse stance for a while!

 

I am already doing quads strengthening although very lightly at first until the pain eases with movement, at which point I can then add weights and I've recently found that keeping the knee straight when I'm sitting in my office or at home has eased it off a bit. This is one of the hardest things to do though, as for preference I always sit cross-legged on teh floor, just always found it comfortable!

 

Thanks again.

 

Bits'