As I’m sure you know, the area which is now not covered by the meniscus is going to be exposed to much greater loading forces. Hopefully, they only removed a small portion.
Some of the studies have shown persisting strength deficits at 8-12 weeks. Unfortunately, sometimes it may not feel normal during strenuous activity for 6-12 months. It usually depends on the degree of injury and any damage to any other structures.
Keep me posted on your progress, I was wondering how your rehab has been going.
Well, if it is only ‘very slight’ pronation, then a custom orthotic is probably not needed. An OTC arch support would most likely do the job.
I would suggest that you do some exercises specifically to help strengthen the muscles in the feet and lower legs.
Doing some barefoot walking/running will help to strengthen the feet and increase proprioception. However, I wouldn’t recommend walking around the city barefoot.
Sometimes, pronation at rest does not carryover to running due to the more dynamic nature resulting in more muscle contraction, etc.
If the pronation is causing a problem, then do the exercises, wear a support with prolonged weight bearing activity and then at home go barefoot.
Dr. Ryan I hope you can help me out. About 6 months agao I began having 2 wierd cardiac symptoms. The first is that every time I have a moderate to large meal my heart starts pounding very heavy in my chest and all the way up into my neck like I’m going to have a heart attack. My chest also feels heavy like someone sitting on it.
The other more scary symptom is that every so often it feels like my heart actually just stops or freezes up for a second, and I get a quick sharp pain in my chest. Panic spreads through me and then it kicks back in. I saw a doctor who gave me a thalium stress test and an ekg and said I was fine.
The symptoms continued and I went and saw a specialist. She gave me an “echo” and discovered I had a slight to moderate thickening of the heart, which she claimed was probably due to years of weight lifting. She told me to stop working out and do more aerobics.
Now I’m waiting for my next appointment with her to evaluate my Holt monitor results. She claimed the thickening has nothing to do with my sypmptoms. I’m totally confused and panicked. What do you make of all this?
Sorry I didn’t see this sooner. Let me know if you have gotten the results from your holter monitor. Also, have they looked for any associated gastroesophageal reflux, hiatal hernia or anxiety.
Let me know of any pertinent history regarding cholesterol or blood pressure.
I was having lowerback pain when sitting for extended periods of time and sometimes when I tightly arched my back. I went to a chiro/ART practioner and they told me that it appeared my SI joint was a little out of whack. They asked me if I squatted often and they said that some people can get their SI joint out of alignment easily when squatting.
First, does he know what he is talking about? Are some people more likely to mess up their SI joint squatting? And secondly if squatting can cause problems is their any specific things form wise that I can do to stop it from happening again.
Perhaps a similar issue has been discussed before, if so I apologize.
I dislocated both my patella about a year apart (4-5 years ago) due in part to a lack of a groove in which it is supposed to track. It didn’t help that I was seriously overweight at the time either. A few years back I got into fitness/nutrition and began cycling to strengthen the knee (simply bc running was too dangerous). Long story short I’ve recently begun to squat deep with weight (front and back squats), in which towards the bottom I feel pain in both knees and my feet begin to rotate outwards. Would it be detrimental to continue?
Whenever I squat past parallel (regardless of the weight Im using) both my knees make a clicking sound. Ive never had any serious knee injuries and there is no pain associated with the clicking. Is this anything I need to be worried about?
When doing Romanian deadlifts today I experienced a popping/snapping feeling in my spinal erectors, especially on my left side. I carefully put the bar back, put my weights away, albeit with great effort and went home. I took 800mg of ibuprofen and then iced the area for aout 10 minutes. I do have some muscle relaxers around (Soma) and was wondering if I should take them in addition to the ibuprofen or just continue with the ice and anti-inflamatories. Is stretching the inflamed area a good idea.
Squatting places a great demand on the lumbar spine and SI joints. There are many muscles, tendons, and ligaments that tie in around the pelvis and SI area. Therefore, these areas are prone to becoming injured if overloaded improperly or for sustained periods. Sometimes these joints can become restricted, which would obviously affect your mechanics.
I would make sure that there is no flexibility or strength imbalance from one side to the other. This could create a situation where one joint would be loaded more than the other.
Other than that, using proper form, which has been described on T-Nation numerous times is important. Make sure that you can maintain the lumbar lordosis throughout the lift and don’t sacrifice form for weight. Too much forward lean will put significant strain on the area.
As long as there is no serious injury I don’t think you would need an intensive treatment protocol. You may just want to get adjusted periodically to make sure the joints aren’t restricted. Regular massage of the low back and glute region would help as well.
Other than a shallow groove, were there any other factors, and if so, have you corrected them?
Most people don’t have adequate flexibility to squat deep with proper form. It takes some stretching and working with lighter weights to groove the proper motor patterns.
I’ll try to help more when i get yur follow-up answers.
Most docs aren’t as concerned with clicking as long as it isn’t associated with pain/weakness etc.
With that said, I always like to know if it is a new occurrence or a chronic problem. If it is new, getting worse and associated with any kind of change in an exercise program then it could be more of an issue than if it has been like that for years and has not gotten any worse with time.
Let me know how long it has been present, if it has gotten better/worse, and if is started after changing any workout parameters. Also, does it only occur with squatting past parallel or do you get it with stading up from sitting or going up/down stairs?
Ice 15-20 minutes several times/day for the next 72 hours. You can use the ibuprofen and mm relaxant as well.
Avoid any heat for the next couple days and then you can start with some contrast therapy.
Be careful with any bending, lifting and avoid prolonged sitting for the next couple days. Try to get up and move around every 20-30 minutes.
Post tomorrow and let me know how you are doing. Depending on how you are feeling, I can give you some ideas on what types of movements/stretches may help. I would avoid any significant stretching this evening.
Thought I would give this a shot.... I was doing Romanian Deadlifts after I had worked up to a 1RM Sqaut and proceeded to break an old record... afterwards my back started to feel weird. The next day my lower back hurt to arch.
Now, a week and a bit later, plus aggrevating it a few days ago trying light squats, it hurts when I arch my lower back right above my butt crack, also there is a duller pain on my right side just a few inches up. What could it be? If it were something serious such as a bulged disc etc would it be really obvious? I am going to the doctor soon and getting some x-rays etc done but I was just wondering if you could give me some insight on the subject. Thanks a lot!!
I injured tendons in my shoulder and elbow (from this maneuver http://bjj.org/techniques/jen/tech9/15-3.jpg ) back in February and succesfully went through 3 months of PT and slowly returned to lifting. I have yet to return to my former strength levels and the biggest thing holding me back is the ROM of my shoulder. I have tried lots of high rep pressing, lateral raises, and external rotation. I have also tried to use full ROM while benching just the bar, but I still cannot attain the same mobility in the joint (right shoulder) that I previously had. Do you have any suggestions on the matter?
Other than a shallow groove, were there any other factors, and if so, have you corrected them?
Most people don’t have adequate flexibility to squat deep with proper form. It takes some stretching and working with lighter weights to groove the proper motor patterns.
I’ll try to help more when i get yur follow-up answers.
Take care,
Ryan[/quote]
It hurts along the medial side of the patella, but feels more like the bone of the lower leg is the source of pain and not the kneecap itself. The pain increases if I have been bending down a lot, such as when laying tile etc. Both knees making popping noises when bending past parallel (which has happened ever since dislocation).
As for other factors, I was told it was a combination of not being active (atrophy maybe?), shallow grooves, slight knockknee, and my weight. Simply changing directions while running was enough to get them to pull sideways (I guess subluxation would be the term, as they’ve only dislocated once each). Since, my weight issues have been remedied and the major knee instabilities have vanished.
As a side note, im 21 now. Right before my first dislocation I was 15 I believe, and while I wasn’t very active I could leg press well over 500lbs without ever weight training. Even now after seriously training for a year I can barely touch 350.
No diagnostics. Not familiar with rotator cuff exercises - Doctor said it was the bursa so that wasn’t considered. And how did you guess that was my “sleep on” shoulder.
The pain is so that any lifting movement of the right arm causes it. Even lifting a coffee cup hurts; now that’s serious. However, I can’t do any activity where my arm is above shoulder level nor support any weight with that arm.
Most docs aren’t as concerned with clicking as long as it isn’t associated with pain/weakness etc.
With that said, I always like to know if it is a new occurrence or a chronic problem. If it is new, getting worse and associated with any kind of change in an exercise program then it could be more of an issue than if it has been like that for years and has not gotten any worse with time.
Let me know how long it has been present, if it has gotten better/worse, and if is started after changing any workout parameters. Also, does it only occur with squatting past parallel or do you get it with stading up from sitting or going up/down stairs?
Take care,
Ryan[/quote]
Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you…I hope you still have a chance to reply. My knees have been clicking for as long as I can remember and it hasnt gotten any worse (as far as I can tell anyways). They click/ pop whenever I squat down (on the way down, just past parallel). They do not click when standing up or going up/down stairs.
