Knee injury - and anxiously awaiting Intensity DVDs!

shakeubooty

shakeubooty

Cathlete
Cathe -

I've been doing your workouts for a long time and about a week before Christmas I injured my left knee while doing Rhythmic Step. I think I "twisted" it doing the 6 count Mambos. I felt a little discomfort during the move and felt soreness the next day. (My fault - I think I was a little overzealous with the move.) The soreness went away the following day. Of course, like a knuckle-head, since I was still trying to get the choreography down on RS, I did it 2 more times that week. Ever since that week if I try to do any lunges (squats are okay) or any kind of cardio that bends the knee, it hurts - not excruciating but not normal either. Doing a little self-diagnosis via the web, I think my quadriceps muscle above the knee is inflamed so I've been taking Ibuprofen, resting it, wearing a knee brace and applying ice. It feels better - especially after the ice - but I have no idea how long it will take to heal since I've never had an injury like this before.

While I'm healing I've started a new rotation of Pure Strength Chest/Shoulders/Triceps and Back/Biceps/Abs along with walking. I want to make my workouts more intense since the walking is not doing it for me. I also have a Nordic Track but find it boring. I want to be ready when the Intensity DVDs arrive for me in the mail so I'd like my knee to be back to normal again but I want to kick up my cardio a notch as well. I have to exercise at home in the morning since my husband leaves early and we have 2 children so swimming or doing other cardio machines at the gym is not an option for me.

Any ideas?

Sue

P.S. Welcome back!
 
Don't mean to be confusing (but I am!)

I realized after reading my post that it's probably confusing to read that "bending my knee hurts but squats don't". Let me clarify. If I'm balancing my weight and bending JUST MY LEFT KNEE like on a repeater or when making a box around the room in Cardio Kicks and bending the left knee to turn 90 degrees, that hurts. Likewise, walking upstairs or downstairs hurts my knee. If I'm squatting and bending both knees at the same time, I think because my weight is evenly distributed and also because I'm recruiting my hamstring muscles and taking some of the workload off the quads, it doesn't hurt.

Hope that clears it up for you.
 
Take care of that knee!

Run, don't walk, and see your doctor. Get PT or amn MRI or both, but make sure that you take every measure to make sure that you are taking care of that knee. Consider glucosamine and ask your doc about every other med.

I hurt my knee doing a charity walk. It took a year to rehabilitate it and I feel better now. I know that your injury is just a "twist," but knees are something that you should really try not to fool around with. It is ultra frustrating whne you physically "cannot" do things and I don't want to see you get that far. In the interim, I am sure that your doc will let you do upper body and perhaps walking but check with him/her first.

Good luck!
 
RE: Take care of that knee!

Timber99 -

What is PT or amn MRI?

Thanks for the concern and of course I'll go see my doctor if it doesn't get better soon but right now I've only rested it 5 days since I last did cardio on January 1. It IS feeling better so the RICE treatment plus the Ibuprofen is working. I think I'll give it at least another week's rest and then try phasing in some of my easier non-Cathe workouts IF and ONLY IF it is feeling 100% normal. That was the mistake I made before Christmas - it seemed better so I worked out on it and ended up right back where I started. The last thing I want is a permanent knee injury because I was too anxious to get back to my normal routine.

Thanks a lot for the advice!

Sue
 
RE: Take care of that knee!

Hi Sue! First let me answer your question above. A PT is a physical therapist or refers to physical therapy. MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, is a method used to determine tissue and other damage to a particular area. It is like a "big daddy" x-ray machine.

I agree that while your injury is probably minor, get it looked at by a doc. What you are currently doing is very wise but sometimes these aches and pains come back to haunt you when you least expect it during a workout(and now are made worse). Get the ok for piece of mind and then ease back in gradually. Good Luck!
 
Sue-
It sounds like I am currently having the same problem as you are. A few weeks ago, my knee started bothering me when I would work out, usually more so with strength training rather than cardio. I noticed it the most while doing squats and lunges. I then went snowboarding last Sunday and towards the end of the day, my knee really started to bother me again. I should have listenend to my body and stopped boarding right then, but instead I did another 2 or 3 runs. That night I got home and looked at my knee because it felt pretty sore. I was surprised to see that it had swollen up pretty bad. I decided that I ought to not do anything on it for about a week or two and I figured that I would go to the doctor if the swelling didn't go down. Well, it has been a week and a day and the swelling hasn't receded that much, so I went to the doctor today. He told me that it wasn't that serious an injury yet, but it could get serious if I do too much on it. He told me to take 600 mg ibuprofen 3-4 times a day and to ice it a few times a day if possible. He also said to get lots of rest and stay off of it for 1-2 weeks. Also, he gave me one of those ACE bandage wraps and wrapped it up for me. It has felt a lot better today since I've had it in the wrap. I did work out a few times last week (I had to do it! I just couldn't take it!! :)) All I did was upper body though. I did MIS and just fast-forwarded through the legs section. So anyway, I would stay off of it as much as possible if I were you. If it gets worse, you might have to have it drained (yuck!!), which is what the doctor told me he would have to do with mine if it got worse. Good luck!
 
Marisa -

Thanks for telling me your story. I was getting so depressed reading about everyone enjoying the Intensity series and thinking that when I get my DVDs I probably won't even be able to use them right away! :-( Sorry to hear about your injury, but I do feel slightly better knowing that at least I'm not the only one nursing an injury. Talk about bad timing!

The only difference with my knee is that it is not swollen so I don't think there's anything to drain. Icing it definitely makes it feel better though so I will continue to do that. I've been taking 400 mg ibuprofen about 3 times a day, wrapping it and doing only upper body. I will definitely go see the doc if I'm not 100% back to normal in a week. That will be almost 2 weeks and enough time to heal (you'd think) unless it's something more serious.

Thanks again!

Sue
 
RE: Take care of that knee!

Cathe -

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I'm going to give it another week of rest, icing it, wrapping it and ibuprofen and see how it feels. If it is not feeing 100% normal, I will see the doctor. And I will also definitely ease back into it once given the okay to workout again.

Sue
 
Sue,

I hurt my knee last August doing a step video and still can't do one without re-injuring my knee. I've now got orthotics which you might want to consider. If the reason you hurt your knee in the first place is caused by misalignment of your gait, orthotics can help.

Another thing that has saved me is avoiding any kind of side to side movements common in step videos by going to a gym and using an elliptical trainer and recline bike since the movement with both of these is up and down and there's very little pressure on the knee.

I know how hard it is to find something you can do safely. It was months before I could afford orthotics and a gym membership and I was totally frustrated and fed up sitting around "resting my knee".

Once I got a diagnosis from the sports medicine doctor, I checked online and found a lot of helpful info i.e. stretching and strengthening the muscles surrounding the knee to re-balance the strength in the leg.

Good luck!

Hélène
 
RE: Knee injury - and anxiously awaiting Intensity DVDs...

Hi Sue -

I received my Intensity DVD's today!! WOOHOO! BUT....I can't jump into them right now because a few days ago...I injured my left knee! GRRRR! x( x(

It doesn't hurt (though sometimes it's a little tender) but it creaks like crazy when I go upstairs. As you can guess, I'm not going to do step or lower body excercises for awhile. I've been using ibuprofen and the RICE treatment but the blasted knee is still creaking! LOL Too bad I can't spray some WD-40 on the stupid thing!
:7

Anywho - I'm going to try to make an appointment with a sports med doctor if it doesn't ease up. How is your injury? Better I hope.

Kali :)
 
RE: Knee injury - and anxiously awaiting Intensity DVDs...

Hi!

Get yourself to a doctor. I started having the same kinds of problems several years ago--mostly doing step aerobics. I eased off and it would get better, but eventually it would come back. I ended up with a torn meniscus of the left knee (couldn't walk for a couple of days) plus a diagnosis of osteoarthritis. Don't wait for it to get better on its own. It may, but you also may continue to exacerbate the problem and end up with something worse than what you started with. I had knee surgery a year ago and am still trying to recover even after PT, gluocosamine/chondroitin, 2 rounds of Synvisc shots in my left knee and one round in my right knee. I desperately miss high impact aerobics, step, etc., but I've learned to modify and still do a little only not as often as before. It's not as much fun, but neither are biking and swimming, which they'll tell you to do. Please see a doctor. I wish I'd seen one before my knee collapsed on me.
 
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