Hey guys,
I’ve had a nagging injury for the past 8 weeks or so. I thought given rest, ice, time, and some NSAIDs that it’d clear itself up, but it has persisted, and at times even feels worse. I am currently living in a third world country with awful healthcare so I don’t have access to a proper orthopedist, so I thought I’d come here to get some input. I’ve been out of lifting for about three and a half months now due to two fractures (both upper body, one to bad luck, other to trauma), but I’ll be starting up again soon and wanted to see if I can’t sort this problem out first.
Background: I’ve always had clicking in my knees upon flexion/extension, present while doing weight bearing exercises like squats or deadlifts, in addition to simple bodyweight squats. Even when sitting, extending/flexing my leg produces these clicks. This has been happening for years and doesn’t produce pain…it’s merely present. Current issue at hand: I was playing football about 4 times per week eight weeks ago when my first fracture was finally feeling better. I was of course stiff after first starting again much like any other physical activity, but like any other initial soreness it passed, and I was good to go.
One thing that has lingered, however, is a nagging pain in my knee. It’s on the lateral aspect, and radiates from about the middle to the posterior part of the joint; more or less at the insertion of the biceps femoris. It doesn’t hurt throughout the day, doesn’t hurt on exertion such as walking up steps or anything like that. It is a little stiff when I wake up in the morning. The one thing that I do notice, however, is when I lay down in bed after a long day, I start to get this pinching, burning feeling in the area. It does not respond to Advil or topical NSAIDs (diclofenac), and since it’s episodic I don’t take anything in anticipation. The pain comes every night in the same spot, and lasts for a couple of hours.
I have figured out that I can reproduce the pain by doing the following. When standing, if I push my hips back (butt out) with a little bit of trunk flexion (basically, really tightening my hamstrings), if I bend my knees to squat down, it produces that exact same burning pain in about the same intensity, sometimes worse. Obviously this is problematic, because there’s no way I’m going to be deadlifting or squatting properly in the coming weeks with this pain around.
I’m truly stumped. Like I said, it’s been 8 weeks now. I’ve been icing and taking NSAIDs when necessary in the evenings, but it still hasn’t gone away. I have been doing zero exercise, and certainly nothing out of the ordinary that would place stress on the joint. Given the long period of rest it has had to clear up, I am becoming quite concerned about its condition.
If there is anyone here who can provide some input, I’d appreciate it.