[quote]Cloth wrote:
Modi wrote:
I’ll preface my answer with this : I think it might have been the Bulg. Split Squats that I have been doing, as I noticed my knee was going far over my toes. However I’m still curious to see your advice so here are my answers to your questions -
The pain is primarily in my left knee. The pain is localised on the left hand side of the upper kneecap (not the kneecap itself, but the area to the left.)
It hurts on the day after, but only when I am sitting down and stationary. I experienced the same pain in highschool during volleyball season.
Any activity makes it better, it only hurts when I am stationary. Let me stress though that it does not ALWAYS hurt when I am stationary. I have to be sitting for quite a while, and my legs have to be quite cramped (ie. not stretched out) for that time.
My knees have always clicked in the mornings, as have my ankles. This has never been associated with any pain for me.
As a follow-up question, I have flat feet. What sort of footwear do you think I should wear when doing squats? If you don’t know, please say so and I’ll just ask a podiatrist or a physio.
Thanks alot for your help Modi,
-Cloth
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First and foremost, if the injury seems to be getting worse, or if you develop more severe symptoms, you should get it checked out. Without any more than a description over the internet, at best you are going to get a bunch of semi-uninformed opinions. So here is mine.
Here is my first impression. If the pain is above and to the left of the knee cap, it doesn’t bother you while you are exercising, only the day after, and only when you have had the knee flexed for an extended period of time, and the pain goes away after you get up and move, then it is quite likely that you are developing a bursitis or a tendinitis. If you don’t have any pain on or under the patella, you can probably rule out patella femoral syndrome, chondromalacia, etc. You can also rule out ligament damage since pain would be on the inside or outside of the knee joint at the patella line, or you would have pain deep inside the knee. You can also probably rule out cartilidge (meniscal) damage if you don’t have any pain associated with the clicking in your knee, or if it doesn’t lock on you.
Bursitis/tendinitis injuries respond well to anti-inflammatories, cold treatments, improved flexibility, and not aggravating the injury while it is in the process of healing.
You may indeed have injured it doing bulgarian split squats, but my guess is that it was on the trailing leg in the down position rather than the lead leg which was going over the toe. Biomechanically speaking, if you were to hurt your knee when the knee traveled in front of the toes, you would be most prone to a patella tendinitis which would hurt directly below the knee cap. Conversely, if you put too much of a stretch on the trail leg while in the down position, you would be more prone to a quad tendonitis which is above and to both sides of the patella. You may also have done it on another exercise entirely. Regardless, both injuries would be treated about the same.
As far as shoes go…The best shoes for squats/deadlifting/etc are probably the powerlifting shoes like Otomix, or something like that. They are designed with a low sole which provides a lot of support for the foot as well as the ankle. I personally don’t wear any special shoes for lifting, but many people do, and swear by them.
Hope this longwinded response helps.