You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Hi, low(ish) level issue for me but just wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar and/or had any tips/solutions...
I have permanent low level knee pain/discomfort. Only in my left knee. Being on-off for many years, but now is approaching permanent.
Feels as if it's swollen (it isn't, nor any sign or redness, nor any swelling after activity). The discomfort is as though I've twisted it, it's then got swollen, and is tender. It's unwilling to move to a kneeling position but I can do (stiffly) and the pain doesn't get worse.
That said, I cycle several times a week and thankfully, that's fine. I dog walk 2-3 times per day and it can be tender, but generally OK. I can not run comfortably on it.
History wise - I'm late 50's, skinny, reasonably healthy, active (standing job), do a stretching session each day altho some stretches now prompt discomfort in the knee, but as a youngster, had chrondomalacia patella in that knee, and also had a bad knock in football that put me out of playing for a season. I am also, much to Mrs A's amusement, bandy legged!
I've gone through a major recovery with an artificial shoulder so can be pretty focused on physio approaches if there's an option there.
Am game to try approaches, and sort of keen to avoid being a hassle to NHS. Any pointers?
Sorry to hear, check my thread from a few weeks back. Might not help, but some useful posts & responses.
In my case I was largely "misdiagnosed" until I saw a surgeon..
I had long term pain, very unpleasant and believed to have been a tear. I then found out about piriformis release exercises and it stopped it immediately. It's a muscle connector from spine to him across the top of the buttock. It causes alignment problems
Def worth exploring,
See your GP and take it from there? That is what they're there for after all.
I've had similar going on with my.keft knee, and the pain the last few months has stopped me sleeping and hurts to some degree with any weight bearing, walking any distance kills to varying degrees, but I've just cycled 40km with mild discomfort.
In my case GP checked for ligaments and meniscus tear, and suggested what I'd suspected , medial osteoarthritis, confirmed by later x-ray. On paracetamol and naproxen just now to help, but getting a steroid injection next week. Been referred to physiotherapy and orthopaedic...
My legs have gone 'bandy', right one was corrected when I had a knee replacement, I suspect the left one will be too. Due to collapse of cartilage etc on the inside,so it appears to bend out.
Just my experience, but see your GP for assessment, meds and hopefully physio.
I had bloody horrible knee pain for ages, to the point of thinking I would have to give up cycling. All sorts of scans didn't confirm anything, went to see a physio who specialised in bike related issues and turned out my quads were too dominant/arse too lazy and pulling my knee cap out of alignment when cycling. Lots of physio and weights to work on my posterior thigh muscles and it all pulled into the correct place.
The physio with a scary metal banana thingy to get some of the deep muscles to actually release the kneecap was was worse than getting my ribs tattooed
can't edit my post, but this was the thread that may have some nuggets of info: https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/osteoarthritis-of-the-knees-any-tips/
My wife is a private physio
She occasionally sees people who have been through the NHS and other physios over years and fixes them.
I'd suggest going through the NHS.
If that doesn't work, find a private physio.
If they don't work, find another and keep going.
You've got one set of knees and life is going to be tough when they go. Just because one medical professional can't help, doesn't mean someone else can't you to get back to mostly better.
I have similar to OP, I am in my middish 50s, all fine til I overdid it in September on my bike. Eventually, I saw a physio (in Jan), who has given me various hamstring 'bridge' type exercises to do and said it's tendinopathy in my case--it's a nagging tightness behind my left knee, sometimes with a burning sensation but no swelling or redness.
It doesn't stop me from getting out on the bike but I am relectant to put too much strain on my left leg for the time being. It's still not right though, after all this time, and so I am going to make another physio appointment.
I cycled LEJOG in 2018, managed to injure my knee on day one, and then cycled the following 1,800km over 11 days standing out of the saddle with a painful melon-sized knee. In hindsight, probably unwise, but I had a fantastic time. My knee has (unsurprisingly) not been quite right since. Getting some insoles fitted made a huge difference, it transpired a large part of the problem was a weak foot arch "collapsing" and causing my knee to work overtime to stabilise lateral movement. It took a long time to establish that mine was a foot problem, not exclusively a knee problem. Good luck finding a solution to your issue.
I have that, or very similar, which I put up with for quite some time, after my bike dumped me onto the path on my way into town. My utterly useless doctor, when I finally asked for help, waggled my knee about a bit, said well, I’d obviously done something, but I was getting older, so what do I expect. He said the same thing about my shoulder after I came off riding down The Herepath from the Ridgeway into Avebury, when in fact I’d broken my collarbone. *rollseyes*.
Anyway, after a few years of it getting worse, I went and asked for another doctor to examine it, he spent some time manipulating it then said he was concerned and was booking me in for an X-Ray. Which showed osteoarthritis in two places under the kneecap.
A few more years on, and I’m living with the discomfort, I take Naproxen twice a day, to help with the inflammation and discomfort, I also have Zapain tablets which I also take if it gets worse.
I’m also suffering from arthritis in both my thumb joints, which is a result of work-related issues, and that’s more of an issue than my knee, which I can live with, the pain in my hands, which is relatively recent, means x-rays in a couple of weeks, followed by cortisone injections in the main joints, which I’m really not looking forward to.
I’m now in the process of getting a 3D-printed support brace for my right hand, for long-term relief, and I know I’ll need the same for the other hand as well.
@god1406 - it’s possible to have a 3D-printed support for most parts of the body, produced from a scan taken by a clinician, which is how mine’s being produced.
Mine’s a bit more complicated, in that I’m a member of an archery club, and I need the orthotic support to fit the bow grip as well, which they’ve been able to do, although it’s not completed yet, I’ll see when it’s finished and I get to try it on!
It’s costing quite a lot of money, but it’s worth it if it gives me long-term support and relief from discomfort.
This is a prototype, the finished version will extend two or three inches up my arm above my wrist with a slightly different way of closing it up, not using Velcro which this one has. This type of technology will become more commonplace as time passes, the ability to have someone sit, or stand or assume a position appropriate to a given activity, like me holding my bow, scan my hand and arm and produce a custom-fit support would have been very much more difficult even five years ago, and the costs extortionate.
I found my powerful jigsaw massager useful for helping with my knee pain - firstly because I could run it over my good leg and then over my bad leg and look for any differences in how the muscles felt in response to the powerful vibrations.
For me I found that I had a painful area on the back of the leg behind the knee - when I went to the physio I was able to point this out - although he bloody mindedly avoided looking at it for a couple of sessions (because he hadn't found it?) but insisted on going through a fairly standard set of stretches, etc to address my inflexibility, until I insisted he investigate that area, which he then admitted it was a problem and he started work on it. Niggly knee pain then went.