Question about knee pain

[Sheena]

The strangest thing. Two weekends ago I went for a hike - just from the base to the top of Beaver Mountain near Logan- and only following the green trail up to the top. After I got home, I had this horrible pain in my outside part of my knee, and it was pretty swollen. After a few days it felt better, but when I tried to walk down the fairly steep road back to my apt, my knee hurt so bad I could barely make it down.

By the weekend it felt perfectly normal. Then I had my attempt at hiking for turns, and afterwards went for a easy hike at this area near my place called Tony Grove. midway through, my knee started huritng again. I iced it and took some ibuprofen to reduce the swelling, and so far is fine again.

Out of curiosity, has anyone else ever experienced anything similar?

 

[abc]

IT Band syndrom.

It's that wide band of muscle on the outside of the knee rubbing against the knee itself. As you go down a stair, a hill, the band slide across the knee, irritating it.

I'm not a doctor. But I had that every so often. I found out it's a very common problem with a lot of people. Ice and ibprofun is the right treatment. For prevention, there're some stretch that will help greatly. Best do a search on IT BAND. You'll find a lot more detailed information. Do the stretch religiously for a few weeks. It works wonders.

 

[Pequenita]

Yeah, that's my initial guess, too. But the swelling makes me wonder if it's a torn meniscus or medial collateral ligament sprain. How did the knee feel when you were skiing?

 

[Sheena]

Yeah, that's my initial guess, too. But the swelling makes me wonder if it's a torn meniscus or medial collateral ligament sprain. How did the knee feel when you were skiing?

When I was skiing, it was fine. It was not until after when I was in the car driving home that it started to hurt. Then it started to really hurt mid-way through my hike (mainly going down hill) and not when I was on flat ground.

I will definitely look of those stretches, thanks ABC.

 

[Pequenita]

When I was skiing, it was fine. It was not until after when I was in the car driving home that it started to hurt. Then it started to really hurt mid-way through my hike (mainly going down hill) and not when I was on flat ground.

The timing of when you felt the pain is a little off for what I know about ITB syndrome -- usually what I've heard is it arises in the running or cycling context, after about 15 minutes of activity. That said, it doesn't mean that what you're feeling isn't ITB syndrome, but I also wouldn't be surprised if you had a mild sprain.

 

[SnowFalcon]

I had so much knee pain that I had to sit the ski season out season before last (this was more painful than the knee pain). I was in the process of switching insurances and I didn't want to go to the next carrier with a pre-existing condition so I just dealt with it for a number of months. Then when I did go, I found out that I had chondromalacia where the knee cap and the cartilage were rubbing against each other, and it was also causing a sharper pain in the lateral side of my knee running down my calf. I remember that, like you, it hurt to walk down stairs and down hill. I also have very narrow feet with hardly any arch and have been really active my whole life. Basically, bad biomechanics + highly active life style = body problems at 31. For me, the answer was orthotics. Once I started wearing them, my knee pain and some of my back pain went away. It was unbelievable how much they helped. And to think I sat out a ski season when the answer ended up being so easy. So I recommend that you see a doctor and have your knee examined and also that you have your feet checked out.

 

[abc]

The timing of when you felt the pain is a little off for what I know about ITB syndrome -- usually what I've heard is it arises in the running or cycling context, after about 15 minutes of activity. That said, it doesn't mean that what you're feeling isn't ITB syndrome, but I also wouldn't be surprised if you had a mild sprain.

ITB is mostly at its worst when going DOWN anything, stairs, hills etc.

I'm not a doctor, so take my thoughts with a BIG grain of salt. But the difference between any kind of sprain and an irritation (ITB is an irritation) is, with irritation, it goes away when you don't irritate it but comes right back when you do the same activity again, often worse. With sprain, it gets better with time as long as you don't sprain it again. There's usually none of that stop and re-start thing.

If you don't recall any tramatic injuries, it's either over-use or some sort of irritation. ITB being one of them. Rest is called for in either case. But if it start again, I bet it's more of an irritation type of problem.

Totally (almost totally) unrelated to the real issue, I also found out orthotic does wonders! I guess many of us have some minor bio-mechanic defect. So as SnowFalcon found out, "bad biomechanics + highly active life style = body problems". Orthotic is one of those little "wonder product" that corrects these little bio-machanic defects so it doesn't become a major body problem over time.

 

[Pequenita]

I just tossed out MCL sprain so that it wouldn't be overlooked as a possibility. It's one of the few other things that would cause swelling on the outside part of the knee, esp. since swelling for ITB is not the usual thing that happens, although it does sometimes. Also, the first time the knee hurt wasn't until she was in the car (heavy clutch?) after skiing, which is what I was referring to when I said the timing of the pain is a little off for ITB.

The point is, it could be anything, but given that neither of us are doctors or even physical therapists (at least, I'm not) and haven't examined you, here are a few things that it's more likely to be.

 

[astridhj]

Go to the doctor, and if he/she doesn't take you serious, og to a specialist.

I have been having knee pains for 15 years, and only last year they discovered it was muscle related. If I hike downhill for a time, i will wake up the next morning with a swollen knee, and having problems walking. If I tape up my knee before hiking, i have no problems the next morning. If they had discovered this 15 years ago, I would have been much more active over the years, and not having to skip skiing seasons... in plural....

 

[altagirl]

The timing of when you felt the pain is a little off for what I know about ITB syndrome -- usually what I've heard is it arises in the running or cycling context, after about 15 minutes of activity. That said, it doesn't mean that what you're feeling isn't ITB syndrome, but I also wouldn't be surprised if you had a mild sprain.

My experience with ITB syndrome was that it suddenly appeared at like 3am one day. I had no hint of pain in that area previously. I was convinced something was horribly wrong in my knee - I could barely walk and it was shooting pains on the outside of the knee. I've had 4 knee surgeries - 2 for ACL's, 2 for meniscus work, and I thought I must have somehow torn my lateral meniscus in my sleep (my previous meniscus problems have all been medial). It was excruciating. But in my middle of the night internet research I stumbled on IT band stretches, tried it and it was instant relief.

Bizarre, really. And a pain in the butt to rehab, but if you have the pain, at least it's easy to tell if the ITB stretches offer relief or not.

 

[abc]

I haven't had multiple knee surgery like altagirl. But I've been to knee specialist several times. Every time I was send home for some RISE, Even for the MCL injuries I had, the only course of "treatment" was more specific physical therapy! The rest was taken care of by the body's natural healing process.

On the other hand, ITB doesn't go away. Stretching is neccessary or it will come back.

 

[Sheena]

OK, so I am thinking maybe I should go to see a doctor. But I think I may try stretches to see if that helps.

I still have to find a new doctor. I had all my appointments before I left in July/August. So now it is new town, new insurance, and new docs.

I have not had any pain in my knee since last weekend after icing and the ibuprofen.

Thanks all!

 

[Gloria]

I would try starting at a now care, if it is something simple you saved a ton, if not you might have a good indication of which direction to look for a physician that is more specialized. I would suspect it chondromalacia related which can also cause ITBS (IBS). Generally the knee cap isn't tracking where it should for some reason, ussually a dominant muscle group on either side of the knee pulling it more in that direction than the other. If this is the case and you deal with it now it should not interfere with ski season. My experience was a $7.00 knee brace and excercices for my weaker muscle group and concentrating on getting both muscles groups to fire at the same time.

 

[SnowFalcon]

Yes, I agree with Gloria. I wore a knee brace on my knee when I was running for years before the knee pain kicked in so much on the other knee--the compensating one, that I had to sit a ski season out while I waited for the right time to see a doctor. But as soon as I got my feet examined and got orthotics, amazingly, I didn't need to wear the knee braces anymore. The feet are the foundations of the whole body; if something isn't right with the way they are working, then it translates to everything else. There are a whole bunch of different things that might be off about one's feet and the only way to know is to have a professional look at them. Anyway, good luck in your quest to figure it out and please keep us posted.

 

[tradygirl]

If it is ITBS (I have been dealing with it for years), everybody has pretty much hit it on the head. Ice, ibupropen (take four at a time 3x a day for 3-4 days to really kick the inflammation), stretching, and massage. Massage has really helped me out a lot. Look into getting a foam roller (6" diameter) for home massage.

One thing I just discovered this summer was taping. My PT showed me this really cool method of taping my knees that keeps the IT band from rubbing, therefore preventing the pain and inflammation altogether. It allowed me to keep biking and hiking even while it was irritated.

 

[pinto]

I had ITBS last spring/summer, and when ibuprofen/ice/massage didn't work, my physical therapist "needled" me. It's similar to acupuncture but not quite the same.

Anyway, it worked wonders ... I was healed (with no return of ITBS) after two sessions.

https://istop.org/ims.html It's more prevalent in Canada than the US. It is used for all sorts of chronic pain ...

 

[tradygirl]

https://istop.org/ims.html It's more prevalent in Canada than the US. It is used for all sorts of chronic pain ...

That is extremely interesting. I wonder if I can find any local doctors/PTs that are familiar with this method? I can see it being a godsend for chronic knee and back pain caused by muscular issues.