In few sentences... One day snowboarding I felt on my face and let my board hit my butt. Basically one foot went straight to my butt, but the other, as tight by the board, swung to the side of my hip and sprain my MCL (yeah, I wasn't very flexible). The thing was not recovering for 6 months although I was not doing anything to it (no medicine...). Then I thought about applying heat. I did, for a weekend, and it got totally recovered in just that!
Anyhow, that was a hint, as I said, in case it may help somebody... Now I got my knee hurting. I don't remember doing anything special to it when I felt the pain. Basically went down the car and felt it was hurting. Got a standing meeting with somebody for an hour, and it just got worse and worse.
The only thing I can think of is the following. Since the episode above, I try to stretch the MCL in the knees. Usually I kneel down, separate a bit the fit and then just sit between them. I am at the point where I can sit comfortably... Another stretch I do is squatting, trying to stretch my calfs (remember my issue). I always do these and I am fine (I just bring them in for the record as it still may happen that one day, one of them hurts you and I just don't know). Nevertheless, over the last week I introduced a 3rd one to stretch my gracilis and adductor lungus (and the groin area). Usually I do this by squatting in one leg while stretching the other to the side. But this time, besides that, I did one where in the squatt position you open your knees and place your elbows between them, while your hands are in the floor, in front of you. By pushing with your elbows out, you can feel the groin stretching. To put more force I leaned forward, on my tip toes, while the elbows push open on the knees. Anyhow, while doing all these, I felt a tiny sharp pain inside, behind the knee, a bit centered to the left (on my left knee). See Note 1 below. Very fine but I decided not to run for few days (also because of the calf issue) although I kept stretching this way at the gym. And after about a week, the car incident happen...
The only thing I can think of is the following. Since the episode above, I try to stretch the MCL in the knees. Usually I kneel down, separate a bit the fit and then just sit between them. I am at the point where I can sit comfortably... Another stretch I do is squatting, trying to stretch my calfs (remember my issue). I always do these and I am fine (I just bring them in for the record as it still may happen that one day, one of them hurts you and I just don't know). Nevertheless, over the last week I introduced a 3rd one to stretch my gracilis and adductor lungus (and the groin area). Usually I do this by squatting in one leg while stretching the other to the side. But this time, besides that, I did one where in the squatt position you open your knees and place your elbows between them, while your hands are in the floor, in front of you. By pushing with your elbows out, you can feel the groin stretching. To put more force I leaned forward, on my tip toes, while the elbows push open on the knees. Anyhow, while doing all these, I felt a tiny sharp pain inside, behind the knee, a bit centered to the left (on my left knee). See Note 1 below. Very fine but I decided not to run for few days (also because of the calf issue) although I kept stretching this way at the gym. And after about a week, the car incident happen...
Now, 3 days later, after applying 2 or 3 times ice and taking maybe a total of 600 mg of Ibuprofen (I know, that is little), I still feel I haven't improved much. Haven't been standing a lot but still normal life...
The pain is not behind the leg (where I felt the sharp pain) but feel more on top, under the kneecap. This also reminds me to some pain I used to have if I took off running without warming up. Now, after I regularly run, this does not happen anymore, but this time the pain is similar to that. On those cases, after 3 days I was fine. Doctor said once it may be a tendinitis. But this time, as I said, still not good...
Looking around squatting position type injuries, I found this article which mentions this type of injury may be due to pressure to the patellofemoral. This I guess can be many things. There is a book which seems very complete on a chronic problem, which is not my case (it just happen suddenly and hopefully won't stay long). Unfortunately only a partial intro is displayed and you got to pay for the rest. The references at the bottom of the page may be interesting, though.
Note 1: that is a point close to where the soleus reaches the knee. I wonder if it has anything to do with the calf sprains...
Note 2: reading this, I realized that they have something like that for teenagers. I did suffer a similar pain in both knees when I was a kid. Finally I pinpoint the reason to sliding forward on the seat of my class desk all the way till the knees hit the front legs. They were bearing the pressure and things got worse over time, for weeks till the point I couldn't run. One day I finally realized the cause and stopping that position went away (yeah, tell me about it!).
Note 3: Also, he mentions that running is good for your joints, which is what I have been saying that happened to me...
The pain is not behind the leg (where I felt the sharp pain) but feel more on top, under the kneecap. This also reminds me to some pain I used to have if I took off running without warming up. Now, after I regularly run, this does not happen anymore, but this time the pain is similar to that. On those cases, after 3 days I was fine. Doctor said once it may be a tendinitis. But this time, as I said, still not good...
Looking around squatting position type injuries, I found this article which mentions this type of injury may be due to pressure to the patellofemoral. This I guess can be many things. There is a book which seems very complete on a chronic problem, which is not my case (it just happen suddenly and hopefully won't stay long). Unfortunately only a partial intro is displayed and you got to pay for the rest. The references at the bottom of the page may be interesting, though.
Note 1: that is a point close to where the soleus reaches the knee. I wonder if it has anything to do with the calf sprains...
Note 2: reading this, I realized that they have something like that for teenagers. I did suffer a similar pain in both knees when I was a kid. Finally I pinpoint the reason to sliding forward on the seat of my class desk all the way till the knees hit the front legs. They were bearing the pressure and things got worse over time, for weeks till the point I couldn't run. One day I finally realized the cause and stopping that position went away (yeah, tell me about it!).
Note 3: Also, he mentions that running is good for your joints, which is what I have been saying that happened to me...
Update: By Monday (4 days after the injury), pain seems to be gone. I don't want to squat or test it on any way, so, can't be 100% sure, but the icing worked out pretty well. Tip: I didn't use ice per-se, just put the Sac-Gel bag in the refrigerator (not the freezer) which allows me to "recharge" faster. Used it like 5 times over a Sunday and did the deal. Won't come back to this post unless I get injured again @@
For the next, in case I need it, an old paper which seems pretty complete.
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