Hurt my Knee - So Upset

ashaw

ashaw

Cathlete
So, for the past 6 months I've gotten serious about weight training and have been doing various weeks of Cathe rotations. I've done a week of ICE, a week of Strong & Sweaty, a week of Hardcore series, a week of Ripped with HIIT, etc. So my workout yesterday morning was Cardio Slam, my absolute all time favorite and apparently, I did something to my right knee during the slow low impact sprinter move of all things. Periodically when I workout, sometimes during my warm up, I'll feel like there's a "kink" in my right knee, like I need to shake it out, if that makes sense. Well, I had just started doing the low impact sprinter move and I felt that kink sensation, but never a crack, pop, or pain and then when I finish the workout, I feel some tenderness on the inside of my right knee. Way back in 2007 when I was still able to run, my left knee apparently had had enough and I felt this little pop and pull sensation followed by serious pain and swelling. At one point the pain was so bad, just to get out of my car without bending my left knee, I had to practically lay across the front seat and carefully slide out of the seat. I saw an orthopedic dr, had an MRI and was told it was mild medial osteoarthritis. That was before I found Cathe and I was doing Jari Love DVD's 3 days per week, so I'd pretty much omit the lower body segments and a short time later, I got an elliptical for cardio, which I now regret selling. After a while, I slowly increased my activity and began doing lunges and squats again and fast forward 15 years, I'm doing all sorts of workouts, except running.

So right now, I have no pain, no swelling, I can walk and stand normally, my knee joint has full range of motion. I can't say it feels completely normal, but it doesn't hurt. It does make some clicking sounds now and then, but my left knee does the same thing. I'm trying to figure out how to keep working out without doing anything that will possibly aggravate my knee. At this present time, a visit to an orthopedic dr and a MRI are out of the question and our budget. I guess if I was in excruciating pain, we'd try to figure out how to pay for it because while I have insurance, I have a deductible that I haven't met and out of pocket cost for an MRI is ungodly. I know I can always do upper body training workouts but dang, trying to workout with Cathe and not do stuff like lunges and squats is tough. I was supposed to do Cardio Leg Blast tomorrow, but I cringed even looking at the exercise sheet. I'm considering getting a compression sleeve to wear for stabilization. Since I'm not able to see a doc, I'm open to any suggestions and if anyone has been through something similar.
 
Ugh - injuries are such a bummer when you're on a roll with your fitness routine. I hear you.

I'm not clear if your knee is really, really hurting you or if you just felt that weird sensation and it's making you nervous to do anything further. Since it sounds like you have full range of motion without any pain, you're probably "okay" but that sensation was likely your body giving you a warning... maybe you need to be watching your form more, etc.

Sometimes my knee will do that to me, too. It's been fine for weeks and weeks, then all of a sudden it decides to have a problem one day. I just back off the exercises that are bothering it and usually it'll be fine. In the meantime, when I get back to the exercise that was triggering it, I be very mindful of my form.

One thing you could do is ice it for a day - 15 minutes with ice then maybe 30 minutes no ice, and then repeat several times through the day. That would help reduce any swelling that may have started up.

It wouldn't hurt to give yourself a break from weight-bearing lower body workouts. Maybe for a week on your lower body days focus instead on floor work or barre stuff, like "To the Mat", or the other floor work workouts at the end of Butts & Guts, XT Legs, etc.

When you're ready to do a standing leg workout after giving your knee a rest, only try a few body-weight-only squats, lunges, etc. and see how you're feeling.

A knee brace might be helpful, too.

Note that I say all of these things only as suggestion. I'm not a doctor or physical therapist at all. If you're really really concerned about it and you're afraid you might cause more harm, you may have to go in and see the doctor. Or, ask your doctor for a referral to a Physical Therapist who could asses you and provide you with further suggestions.

Our medical and insurance system is an exploitative, greedy mess. It infuriates me that we're told we have to pay money if we want our basic human right of good health. Doctors deserve good pay, however, but insurance companies screw everyone over - doctors and patients alike.
 
I agree with Kellyro77 - ice it for a few days then do cold/hot treatment where you ice for 15 minutes and then put heat on for 15 minutes, 3x/day. Consider a visit to your primary care provider before an ortho, & maybe ask for a referral to PT for recommendations for exercises you can do at home to safely strengthen the muscles around the knee joint. You may not need an ortho or MRI.

Feeling for ya ... please don't let it derail your exercise entirely but be safe & smart about it!
 
I feel you! I hate NOT being able to workout, but like the others said, I would take the time NOW to let it heal a bit rather than have to take A LOT of time later to let it heal if you start up too soon. That is so easy for me to say, but I push myself to get back in also and always regret it. I am amazed when I let myself heal how much faster I end up getting back into my groove (usually less than a week). Have you ever worn a knee band? It is like a "headband" you wear right below your knee. It is velcro so you can make it as tight as needed. It supports your knee, keeps it in place and makes you "aware" of your knee at all times.

I tore my ACL awhile ago and did natural remedies and it healed perfectly. I was told to have surgery....but I don't do surgery! Same with a few other injuries over the decades (ankle sprains, accident causing a mangled foot, knee injury, fractured ribs, broken toe). All of those I was told would take quite awhile to heal, some I was recommended surgery, all I was recommended to basically not do any exercise. From the above injuries, believe it or not, it was the broken toe that took me out the longest. I guess I just couldn't fully rest it since I kept cheating and somewhat stepped on it. That taught me to really rest the injury.

Good luck and us Cathletes understand your frustration!
 
Thank you everyone for your sweet responses. I decided late last night instead of trying to modify things and workout this week, I'm taking this whole week off. In fact, I really haven't had more than a few days off at a time, other than my regular Sunday rest day because I haven't been sick thanks to continued mask wearing, so my body needed the time off anyway. I found a PT on YouTube that had an assessment for a torn meniscus and I was able to bend and straighten my knee, do inward and outward flexion and massage and manipulate the entire knee without any pain. I walked my very active 3 year old black lab and well as went to the grocery store this morning with no discomfort. I've already been icing it and I still have no swelling. I am scared at this point to even try to jump. I found a very good knee sleeve designed for high impact exercise and I plan to buy that and not even do a high impact workout without it. I also have the entire P.volve series which is focused more on functional movement, so I think my tentative plan, after this week of rest is to keep doing my upper body lifting because I love how my arms look, but use the P.volve workouts for lower body because its mainly floor work and not deep lunges and squats.

Back when I had my left knee injury in 2007, I was in far worse pain with swelling, trouble walking and even had trouble getting out of my car and because I didn't have access to all the cardio dvds I have now, i pretty much just walked and did Jari Love for upper body and after a while, I was comfortable enough to ease back into lower body stuff. But I seriously regret selling my elliptical. I could really benefit from it now. I wish I could talk my husband into letting me get an Octane Fitness Zero Runner which has been my dream piece of cardio equipment for years. But, I'm resting this week and will see how I feel on Sunday before making any workout decisions. For the time being, I might lift weights for upper body, walk for cardio and do P.volve for lower body. I'd rather err on the side of caution than do too much too soon and regret it. And btw, when I had the injury doing the low impact sprinters, my right knee wasn't even the weight bearing one and it wasn't like I was slamming it into the floor. Geesh!
 
Good idea to take a rest and recovery week. I do this occasionally when certain joints and muscles start to play up but I add a few stretch and recovery workouts during the week just to make sure I don't stiffen up. Afterwards you may want to start back with Barre and Mat lower body exercises as Kellyro77 suggested.
 
Thank you everyone! In fact, when I was contemplating trying to workout this week, To The Mat was one of the dvd's in my hands. I put it back and thought maybe a week of total rest would be more effective overall. I think right now, my tentative plan is to keep lifting heavy upper body with Cathe, use my Pvolve dvds for lower body, heck, I bought the entire Pvolve kit in August 2020 and haven't ever used it because I kept saying I wanted to lose a few more pounds before I started a program that doesn't really have cardio and then figure out cardio and walk in the meantime. Right now, honestly, even the low impact workouts from Cathe are too high impact for me to consider. I found a great knee compression sleeve from Bauerfrind (spelling) and plan to order it. I've been really serious about my workouts since late last year and have been having so much fun. One thing going forward, even if Cathe says you need to lift heavier when your weight selection no longer challenges you, well, I know the parts of my body where I can't lift heavy (overhead shoulder presses) and I think its more important to train safely and be able to keep training than to try to go heavy and get injured. I'm thankful because I've worked out since I was 15 and now at 45 have been pretty much injury free and able to enjoy staying in shape.
 
Well, it sounds like you've already done 2 of the things that I suggested. I was going to see if the state that you live in allows you to seek out P.T. without a doctor's referral. I was also going to suggest walking. :) I was once forced to take a "break" because of an injury (unrelated to working out) caused by falling down my stairs when my dog tripped me. Yeah, I know, not a very glamorous story. To top it off, during the fall, the dirty laundry I was carrying fell out of the basket and ended up all over the place with my dog and myself buried in dirty socks and underwear. The laundry basket that I'd evidently released during the fall managed to land on me in such a way as to cause a black eye (my eye - not my dog's). Anyway, embarrassing story made longer than necessary in the hopes that it will cheer you up... I walked (yes, with my naughty injury causing dog) and did longer than normal stretches each day. I used Cathe's Stretch Max and really enjoyed it, because usually I don't have that much time to dedicate to stretching. I also did some of her extended bonus stretches. I ended up really enjoying my 'recovery' time by simply taking care of my body in ways that I normally neglected. I ended up seeing it as making progress on flexibility and relaxation rather than as a set back on my normal goals. As I slowly and gently began working back into my regular workout routine (using barre and floor for the lower body to start with), I found it didn't take me long to catch up the bit of strength I felt I'd lost in the lower body (I'd continued to work my upper body) as I'd thought it would. I didn't notice any cardio loss, although, like I said, I brought it back gradually. I did, however, notice that when I finally brought kickboxing back, I could kick a little higher! My recovery time and the extra focus on stretching also made my more aware of how my body SHOULD feel when it's at it's best. I still don't have time for a 20 minute stretch after each workout, but I now take the time to do a stretch here and there throughout the day when I'm on hold (on the phone), waiting for water to boil, etc. when my body doesn't feel as "loose" as I know it can. I can definitely empathize with you, it sounds like you have a plan and a positive attitude. You're listening to your body, so I think you're on the right track. :)
 
Glad you're taking a rest week. :) That may be what your knee was telling you you needed if you haven't taken a rest week in quite some time.

I schedule in rest weeks... I do them every 8, 7, and 6 weeks then back again... 6, 7, then 8. Those rest weeks are super important for your body to fully recover and get stronger.
 
Thanks y'all! I haven't had a full week of rest since probably August 2020 after my family and I recovered from covid and I eased back into exercise. Seriously, I haven't quit wearing a mask despite being fully vaccinated for covid because its still in transmission where I live and also my husband is high risk with underlying health conditions and covid put him in the hospital for 9 days. So, I haven't been sick with a cold here and there and missing a week of workouts here and there. I've been wanting a break for a while, but we were supposed to take a trip to South Padre after Memorial Day and my husband came down with shingles the Friday before we were supposed to leave. He still has a rash, but its not hurting anymore although it can take several weeks to fully disappear and there's nothing you can put on it to make it go away any quicker. Anybody here over 50 please think about getting a shingles shot.

Today has been a great day knee wise, no abnormal feeling of any kind, no clicking. I went to HEB, Walgreens and even to Home Depot and did a lot of walking at all those places and I don't even feel anything right now. Now that I'm 72 hours out from the injury, I'll start doing heat intervals, plus I found a wealth of PT exercises on YouTube. Also, I emailed P.volve asking about how to start using their program and when I can find the time, I can have a 15 minute Zoom consultation with one of their trainers to help get started. I think using P.volve for my lower body workouts will be great because I'm just not ready for lunges and squats, even without weights. The P.volve stuff really focuses on functional movement is actually rooted in physical therapy. And, supposedly Victoria's Secret models do their workouts too. But its gonna be a long time before I do Cardio Slam again. I'm actually enjoying the break for working out, its almost like skipping school. Makes me remember when my first husband & I were engaged and I was finishing the spring semester of college and on the way to school, I passed by the mall and exited the freeway and spent the morning at the mall before I went to work at the auto repair shop he owned. It was fun and carefree!

Oh and todays also special because it’s my 2nd anniversary of being sober from alcohol!
 
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Thank you everyone who's responded, I really appreciate your compassion, concern, advice and stories. My knee feels pretty much normal and I've really enjoyed the week of rest. I know I needed it even despite taking one regular rest day each week on Sunday. I've pretty much decided that when I start back on Monday, I'm going to use my Pvolve 21 Day Butt Lift dvd because I can still do thorough lower body work without heavy weights, lunges and squats and maybe even slim some of my upper hip area. The one cardio workout I think that I can do is Cardio Axe from the Brazil Butt Lift workout set. Its kinda cheesy, but its all low impact, no lunges, no squats, no plyo, no jumping. I'm not sure if its authentic Brazilian dance moves, but its around 30 minutes and I work up a good sweat. One crazy thing I noticed is that I've lost 3 pounds despite NOT working out although I know it has nothing at all to do with diet and exercise. But with that being said, I was over the moon to see 130 pounds on the scale. I'm also using this week to try to reprogram my eating habits. Because the Pvolve workouts appear to be around 30 - 35 minutes start to finish, I think I'll use the LITE Pyramid Pumps and the ICE Muscle Meltdowns for my upper body training. I'm happy with the definition in my arms and don't want to back down on heavy lifting for the upper body. So that's the plan!
 
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I'm on day 4 of my new workout routine. Today was an off day from P.Volve, but I decided to try a short low impact Cathe cardio workout. I did the Low Impact Cardio workout from Fit Split followed by the Muscle Meltdown Back from ICE. I'm getting ready to do Muscle Meltdown Chest since my husband left for a poker game and I have extra time tonight. Since doing the P.Volve lower body workouts, I haven't had any issues with my knee. When I did Low Impact Cardio, I was overly careful concerning my knee. I was able to do the whole workout without any problems, but I did feel a few things in my knee, not pain, but just random sensations, some even below the kneecap right near the shin. Saturday will be 2 weeks since my injury and I'm thankful that I'm able to keep moving. I'm going to keep being careful and not rush back into any high impact cardio right away. I've had the P.Volve equipment and DVDs for almost 2 years and am thankful that I have an alternative to traditional lower body workouts.
 
Thank you! I'm officially two weeks out from my knee injury and one week into my 21 Day Butt Lift program from P.volve. This morning was around 68 minutes of very slow, very focused training using the P ball, gliders and a light ankle band. I've activated parts of my butt that I didn't know existed and I also feel like the slow controlled movements and all the balance training might help with my knee stability. While I miss high intensity, high impact cardio, I'm extremely thankful that I've still been able to work my lower body without strain or impact and maintain my upper body training. I found a knee compression sleeve that I want to buy and use when I start back doing higher impact cardio. Next week I'm going to mix things up using the Push & Pull workouts from Fit Split for my upper body training on the 2 off days on the 21 Day Butt Lift Calendar. I don't know when I'll attempt to do a higher impact workout. I want to give my knee at least a full month with no jumping or high impact moves. But I'm dying to try the oldie but goodie High Step Training!
 
Starting week # 3 of my P.volve and Cathe mash up. I'm really enjoying the P.volve workouts, its totally different than any lower body workout I've ever done before. Instead of squats, you do a "sit" move, which is a very shallow squat and instead of lunges, its a step back move with the heel up. The light and heavy ankle weights, light and heavy ankle bands, mat work, standing work and glider work all come together to basically work the butt from every possible angle. Years back I did the old Brazil Butt Lift from Beachbody and this takes some of those same concepts and adds in a lot more variety. I can definitely feel core and glute engagement and I tried on a pair of jeans that used to be snug and now I can button and zip them without pulling and tugging. This week for my upper body, I'm doing STS mesocycle 2, week 1 workouts for chest, shoulders and triceps and back and biceps. No cardio this week because there's just not room in the schedule for it. A week from today, July 11, will already be a month since my knee injury and once I finish 21 Day Butt Lift, which should be sometime next week, I think my new workouts will look like P.volve for lower body training, Cathe for heavy upper body training, a Cathe Circuit workout, a Cathe cardio workout and a P.volve circuit workout. The only Cathe cardio I've done since hurting my knee is Low Impact Cardio from Fit Split and that worked nicely for me. When and if I incorporate step, I'll use the step platform only. I'll modify high impact moves and make things work for me. At this point, I'd rather err on the side of caution and still be able to train then do something stupid and make things worse. I'm thankful because I feel I dodged a bullet on the injury because I was really afraid it was meniscus the day it happened.
 
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