Hi Cathe!
I have been having some discomfort in my right knee for the past couple of weeks. I know that you're not a doctor and may feel uncomfortable giving me advice on this topic, but I went to my doctor about this last week and didn't get much help. I don't know what to do. WARNING: long-winded!!
I'm not really in much pain, which complicates matters. A couple weeks ago, I noticed a soreness and stiffness in my right knee, which was strange because I hadn't worked out that day. The next day, I planned on doing several sections of your DVD, but had to quit early due to little stabs of pain in my right knee when coming into contact with the step during power moves. This had never happened before, so it concerned me. I decided to ease up a bit and only did a couple of workouts on the elliptical trainer at the Y for a lower-impact workout. My knee felt good enough after a few days that I jogged for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I guess this was a mistake, because later on my knee really hurt; it felt like my leg might give out from under me in the shower. Took off a couple more days, but I recently got some new videos that I ordered. Last Monday, I tried a more low impact step tape with kickboxing moves. I felt fine, but my right knee made a cracking noise most of the times when I kicked (but no pain). During the rest of the evening, though, my leg became stiff and I found it impossible to find a comfortable position for my leg.
I had had enough of this, so I made an appt to see my doctor last Tuesday. I explained the feeling in my right knee, a soreness and stiffness under my right knee cap and that I was worried that if I kept working out on it, that I would do real damage. The weird thing is that we couldn't think of any reason that my right knee would hurt, but not my left (worn out shoes, started jogging last May, etc...). In fact, after looking at my knees, the doctor said my LEFT knee was kind of creaky. She asked me if I could remember any trauma or injury to my right knee and I couldn't really remember anything.
So she gave me some information on knee cap pain (Chondromalacia Patella) and some bizarre exercises for the quads and a prescription for Motrin. I think she was just humoring me! I haven't taken the Motrin, because I don't believe in medicating just to medicate, and I am not in enough pain to be taking prescription-strength Motrin. She said to lay off the high impact for awhile (but to do the bike and elliptical trainer, even through discomfort) and if my knee didn't feel better in 2 months, that she'd do an x-ray.
I did the quad exercises for a few days, but they are strange. They both involve sitting with legs straight and squeezing. The exercises bother both of my knees, I think because of keeping the legs straight, this just doesn't feel comfortable. I can't imagine these 2 exercises she gave me would be more effective to strengthen the quads than what I already do (PS Legs and other similar routines at the gym).
Long story short (too late, right?!), I took last week off--completely--did no working out. My knee doesn't really feel any better, but I started back up yesterday, with some upper body strength and an easy ride on the recumbent bike. I am resting today.
Since the doctors visit, I did remember some trauma to my right knee. I don't know if I'm being paranoid or not about this contributing to my discomfort (I desparately want to come up with a SOLVABLE explanation to this!), but here goes: My desk at work has a keyboard tray that can be adjusted high or low. I keep it pretty low so that I can type in an ergonomically-correct position. Unfortunately, on the right underside of the tray, there is a large metal attachment, with a big screw-thing for adjusting the tray's angle. If I'm not careful, I can really whack my right knee pretty well on this thing. I've done it at least 10 times that I can remember and one time was so painful (sort of like hitting your funny bone REALLY hard) that I shed a few tears (not recently). I don't remember doing this terribly recently (the day before this all started or anything), but it happens pretty frequently, so maybe I did it and forgot. Or maybe I've done this enough times that I hurt something in my knee and working out has begun to aggrevate it. I'm starting to think I should've pressed for an x-ray.
So I don't know what my next step is. I took a whole week off and I don't really want to take any more time off. I also am unsure if I can do my normal weight training for legs (like PS) or if I should be laying off or just doing the exercises my doctor gave me.
I don't really want to wait 2 months to figure out what's wrong with me. Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. I find that my doctor(s) aren't terribly good at fitness related health questions and it's very frustrating.
Thanks in advance for any help. I really want to get my knee in good shape for your new videos!
Thanks! Sorry this was so long. Also, how can I change my email address?
Tracy R.
I have been having some discomfort in my right knee for the past couple of weeks. I know that you're not a doctor and may feel uncomfortable giving me advice on this topic, but I went to my doctor about this last week and didn't get much help. I don't know what to do. WARNING: long-winded!!
I'm not really in much pain, which complicates matters. A couple weeks ago, I noticed a soreness and stiffness in my right knee, which was strange because I hadn't worked out that day. The next day, I planned on doing several sections of your DVD, but had to quit early due to little stabs of pain in my right knee when coming into contact with the step during power moves. This had never happened before, so it concerned me. I decided to ease up a bit and only did a couple of workouts on the elliptical trainer at the Y for a lower-impact workout. My knee felt good enough after a few days that I jogged for 30 minutes on the treadmill. I guess this was a mistake, because later on my knee really hurt; it felt like my leg might give out from under me in the shower. Took off a couple more days, but I recently got some new videos that I ordered. Last Monday, I tried a more low impact step tape with kickboxing moves. I felt fine, but my right knee made a cracking noise most of the times when I kicked (but no pain). During the rest of the evening, though, my leg became stiff and I found it impossible to find a comfortable position for my leg.
I had had enough of this, so I made an appt to see my doctor last Tuesday. I explained the feeling in my right knee, a soreness and stiffness under my right knee cap and that I was worried that if I kept working out on it, that I would do real damage. The weird thing is that we couldn't think of any reason that my right knee would hurt, but not my left (worn out shoes, started jogging last May, etc...). In fact, after looking at my knees, the doctor said my LEFT knee was kind of creaky. She asked me if I could remember any trauma or injury to my right knee and I couldn't really remember anything.
So she gave me some information on knee cap pain (Chondromalacia Patella) and some bizarre exercises for the quads and a prescription for Motrin. I think she was just humoring me! I haven't taken the Motrin, because I don't believe in medicating just to medicate, and I am not in enough pain to be taking prescription-strength Motrin. She said to lay off the high impact for awhile (but to do the bike and elliptical trainer, even through discomfort) and if my knee didn't feel better in 2 months, that she'd do an x-ray.
I did the quad exercises for a few days, but they are strange. They both involve sitting with legs straight and squeezing. The exercises bother both of my knees, I think because of keeping the legs straight, this just doesn't feel comfortable. I can't imagine these 2 exercises she gave me would be more effective to strengthen the quads than what I already do (PS Legs and other similar routines at the gym).
Long story short (too late, right?!), I took last week off--completely--did no working out. My knee doesn't really feel any better, but I started back up yesterday, with some upper body strength and an easy ride on the recumbent bike. I am resting today.
Since the doctors visit, I did remember some trauma to my right knee. I don't know if I'm being paranoid or not about this contributing to my discomfort (I desparately want to come up with a SOLVABLE explanation to this!), but here goes: My desk at work has a keyboard tray that can be adjusted high or low. I keep it pretty low so that I can type in an ergonomically-correct position. Unfortunately, on the right underside of the tray, there is a large metal attachment, with a big screw-thing for adjusting the tray's angle. If I'm not careful, I can really whack my right knee pretty well on this thing. I've done it at least 10 times that I can remember and one time was so painful (sort of like hitting your funny bone REALLY hard) that I shed a few tears (not recently). I don't remember doing this terribly recently (the day before this all started or anything), but it happens pretty frequently, so maybe I did it and forgot. Or maybe I've done this enough times that I hurt something in my knee and working out has begun to aggrevate it. I'm starting to think I should've pressed for an x-ray.
So I don't know what my next step is. I took a whole week off and I don't really want to take any more time off. I also am unsure if I can do my normal weight training for legs (like PS) or if I should be laying off or just doing the exercises my doctor gave me.
I don't really want to wait 2 months to figure out what's wrong with me. Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated. I find that my doctor(s) aren't terribly good at fitness related health questions and it's very frustrating.
Thanks in advance for any help. I really want to get my knee in good shape for your new videos!
Thanks! Sorry this was so long. Also, how can I change my email address?
Tracy R.