Knee's been bothering me. Any tips?

for about two weeks now, since i competed, my knee has been bothering me. i'm assuming that i might've strained a ligament, but i'm not sure. my knee isn't swollen, it doesn't hurt to the touch, but when doing any kind of strenuous activity, whether from the gym or even going on a long walk, it starts to get i guess irritated and somewhat sore. if trying to put my left leg into single lotus, it starts barking, or, if i bend it a little, i can feel it as well. I was also having trouble keeping my guard and RG intact because of the pressure I felt on my knee.

i tried going to the gym last week, but haven't gone since in hopes it'd get better, which it's seems to maybe have improved, if only slightly. i finally went and got a brace yesterday and have started icing it more regularly, but not sure how much icing is helping since it's not swollen. i'd rather not go to the doctor unless i have to. i'm hoping that staying out of the gym for a little will help it get better. if anyone else has experienced something similar, what did you do to to heal up? any advice or tips is greatly appreciated.

The only advice I have gleaned from knee issues, when using Rubberguard, is make sure you pull your knee up high, as if you were trying to touch your knee to your shoulder.
Never pull your foot up higher than the knee. That will take a tremendous amount of pressure off the knee.

Im sure you know the whole RICE bit. I'm no doctor so I won't even guess at what it is. But here's some good advice: Treat it as if it were more serious than it is. Always play it safe with injuries especially knees and spine. "You only have one knee, better take care of it". It's a joke, but its also very real, very good advice...

strengthen the other muscles around your knee without weights. just look up exercises to strengthen your thigh and hamstring. and slow down your training and build it up. go 50-60% rolling, then go up 10% every week and keep with the exercises.

get over it, go out with somebody else

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...h2QvtX8ss#t=10

If its a ligament, its common to take months to heal. Even if you don't see swelling, still take advil and ice

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Originally Posted by ScottRay

Im sure you know the whole RICE bit. I'm no doctor so I won't even guess at what it is. But here's some good advice: Treat it as if it were more serious than it is. Always play it safe with injuries especially knees and spine. "You only have one knee, better take care of it". It's a joke, but its also very real, very good advice...

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^^ Don't listen to him, he's crazy!

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i'd rather not go to the doctor unless i have to.

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Do u have health insurance? In my experience (having injured my knee, shoulder, ankle in 2 yrs of each other) at least go to ur primary care physician to make sure they don't think anything is torn or seriously hurt. In the meantime def keep icing it, and also mix in some heat treatment as well (Epsom salts is nice too with it if u do the hot water treatment, although for ur knee u may need to do it in the tub).

If u have to hit the mat try to just drill, and work on things that don't require ur knee too much. Listen to ur body, and slow and steady is better than rushed and reinjured (** not a doctor but stayed at a holiday inn**).

You have a strong chance of having strained it in competition. That would be entirely reasonable. I can’t speak to your knee specifically but sometimes knee pain can be caused by problems elsewhere. Here is some general information:
I have always had good luck with a treatment technique called A.R.T. You can Google active release technique to find a provider local to you. They treat scar tissue that can exists in other places but cause symptoms somewhere else. For instance, I once had patellar tendonitis and the doc treat my quad about ¾ of the way up. The knee pain resolved. Muscle balance and hip mobility also play a strong role in knee health. If hips don’t move well then the knee ends up taking more force. If ALL muscles originating or inserting at the knee are not balanced and well functioning then you can also incur problems. Runners see this a lot when the IT band is super tight and the VMO is too weak to counter. The knee cap doesn’t track right and irritation occurs. Hamstrings are often neglected but you have to make sure that the knee is seeing balanced forces from all 4 directions. Foam rolling quads, hams, glutes, calves adductors and abductors is also a good idea. You might also try alternating ice and heat for about 3-4 rotations. I’ve had good luck doing that with my soccer girls and they are expert at ruining knees.

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Originally Posted by HerbChao

Do u have health insurance? In my experience (having injured my knee, shoulder, ankle in 2 yrs of each other) at least go to ur primary care physician to make sure they don't think anything is torn or seriously hurt. In the meantime def keep icing it, and also mix in some heat treatment as well (Epsom salts is nice too with it if u do the hot water treatment, although for ur knee u may need to do it in the tub).

If u have to hit the mat try to just drill, and work on things that don't require ur knee too much. Listen to ur body, and slow and steady is better than rushed and reinjured (** not a doctor but stayed at a holiday inn**).

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I do have insurance, but I seriously hate going to the doctor. I'm starting to lean towards going, however, since my knee doesn't seem to be getting better. Thanks for all the tips.

If you do go, make sure you get an MRI and not an X-ray. They wont show anything and its a complete waste of time that the doctors do just to make some $$$

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Originally Posted by Tom Carbone

If you do go, make sure you get an MRI and not an X-ray. They wont show anything and its a complete waste of time that the doctors do just to make some $$$

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Thanks for the heads up, man.

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Originally Posted by Daniel D.

Thanks for the heads up, man.

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Also depends on your insurance, most insurances don't let you get an MRI w/out an X-Ray first.

One of my students nursed a similar set of complaints for weeks. She went to a doctor and found out she has arthritis. Not the end of the world but you should see a doctor since you do have insurance. It's your knee - you kind of need that for walking and sh*t. Good luck.

I'd been having similar knee issues and was able to see a sports medicine Dr. at my school. I found out I tore the cartilage in my knee and it won't heal without surgery. I can't get surgery anytime soon for various reasons, so I'm just training on it hurt. Fortunately I do my RG with my left knee, and my right knee is the bad one. I can still lotus, but it hurts to the point I can't no hand lotus anymore. Definitely get it looked at if you can though, to find out if the damage is permanent or not.

finally went to the doctor. dude was such a moron. to make a long story short, he said i've got tendonitis in my hamstring and that i should do strength training, along with working on my flexibility, to help with healing. he said it could take several weeks or several months to heal.

have any of you dealt with this before? the doctor i went to was such an ass, and didn't really provide any suggestions on what kinds of things i could do for strength training or working on flexibility. i tried going back to the gym on monday, but my knee got extremely sore the next day-even after i iced and put a heat pack on it when i got home that night-that i've sat out since.

i'm getting tattooed on sunday and was going to be out of the gym regardless, but any tips on was to speed up the healing process would be really appreciated.

I told you what to do! Call Dr.Tsang!

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Originally Posted by Daniel D.

finally went to the doctor. dude was such a moron. to make a long story short, he said i've got tendonitis in my hamstring and that i should do strength training, along with working on my flexibility, to help with healing. he said it could take several weeks or several months to heal.

have any of you dealt with this before? the doctor i went to was such an ass, and didn't really provide any suggestions on what kinds of things i could do for strength training or working on flexibility. i tried going back to the gym on monday, but my knee got extremely sore the next day-even after i iced and put a heat pack on it when i got home that night-that i've sat out since.

i'm getting tattooed on sunday and was going to be out of the gym regardless, but any tips on was to speed up the healing process would be really appreciated.

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im off at the moment because of my knee. i was given some exercises by my physiotherapist which are really good. ill try my best to explain.

first you have one legged squats, make sure you keep your knee bending forward and not diagonally inward/forward.

when thats too easy, do a one legged squat and then point your toe onthe other leg and touch lightly in front of and bring the leg back in and then go bak down and touch diagonally forward, then to the side etc until you go right around. 8 points.

another is getting a yogaball or swiss ball whatever u call them, put your feet up on itand shoulders on teh ground lifting your bum right off the ground, and then pull your knees up to your chest and down, keeping your butt up and moving stright up and down. 20 of these, 2-3 times

another one is to balance on one foot and stick the other one back and lean forward until you make a tshape. hold it and then squeezing your butt muscles stand back up straight.

when this is easy, go into the t shape and then touch the 8 points like the exercise above. but with your hand. and stand up each time you touch it.

these exercises are good for your balance and the strengthen the (Ignorance here) nerves or neuro recepters in your knees as well as the muscles around it to support it more. the muscles should tone within a week or two or doing it and some bulk comes after about 2 months if done every day.

i do them sometimes during the day and always before i go to bed. im not fully fixed yet but it definitely helps. i hope this helps u out man good luck.

Without a proper diagnosis none of these "suggestions" are worth any value.

As some one said advil and ice I use tiger balm or thai linament to promote blood flow. My knee is always covered so it isnt a problem when I roll but I usually rub in linament or something like that to get blood flow in there and keep it warm. Ive been avoiding rubber guard and have just been working lock down really hard because rubber guard aggrevates an injury I am letting heal up.

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Originally Posted by Chris Herzog

I told you what to do! Call Dr.Tsang!

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Coach, my insurance sucks and Dr. Tsang wasn't in network. Instead I had to go to this guy who is apparently a "sports medicine specialist" yet told me I could find out ways to help heal my hamstring by looking through yoga magazines. That's literally what he told me.