ALEVE and ice.

[elky McElkerson]

i dont know what i did to myself.

maybe i mentally think i ate too much beef visiting my mom and brother..and had the urge to up my game in the exercise dept. i ran 3 trail miles when i got home. it rained a bit so the trail was wet and slimy with clay. my shoes became huge 5 lb clubs as they clogged up like clown shoes with the slime.

the next day..20 mile mtn bike run. trail drying out nicely. next day. 2.5 mile jog..then a 20 miles bike ride again.

friday, night sleep was difficult. BOTH KNEES HURT!! on top of the kneecap. first time it\'s ever happened to me. walking around for the day helped, but once i sat down for a spell (like at lunch) the pain came back.

we went home ASAP, popped a couple of ALEVE and hours of swapping an ice pack between the knees. way better now! i am gonna let my game cams sit one more week. i dont want to risk injury. i\'m afraid the ALEVE might be hiding the damage still.

anyone ever have pain on top of the kneecap. right up front where you can rub it?

CA fall turkey opened yesterday too!! i was gonna go today as well. i\'ll take it easy instead.

 

[mtnmutt]

anyone ever have pain on top of the kneecap. right up front where you can rub it?

Yes. I have knee pain in multiple places: front, sides and top. After having daily knee pain for the past 13 months, I went to the doctor and started Physical Therapy in October. Until last year, I had never had chronic knee pain. The doctor\'s diagnoses was overuse...seriously, she told me I overused my legs.

To get through September\'s hunting, I stretched my legs 2-3 times a day and used lots of Mortin. Stretching reduced the pain by 80-90%. If I skip a day of stretching, the pain is far worse.

This Summer while hiking through a long stretch of Talus on Mt Princeton, I also discovered my balance had become poor. The PT told me the 2 are related and common for women. For decades, I did balance exercises while brushing my teeth (twice a day). Last year, I stopped the balance exercises when I had carpet in my bathroom. Interesting how this all started when I stopped my balance exercises.

For me, my knee pain is apparently related to weak hip muscles. I spent the year strengthening my legs (quads, calves), however, I did neglect my hip/side muscles. After 3 weeks of PT, my balance is much better. However, I have a little ways to go to eliminate all of the knee pain.

I am a bit ignorant of the muscle groups. This is my 3rd trip to PT in 3 years. I had never done PT before tearing shoulder tendons 3 years ago. PT is very educational. They instruct me in the exercises which make me self sufficient in taking care of myself.

I am 51 years old. I have a little bit more wear and tear on my body than you youngsters. My body does not as easily repair itself as it once did. Therefore, daily, well balanced maintenance is needed to keep it running at top efficiency.

I strongly encourage you to do leg stretches (3 sets) after your exercises. If the knee pain persists, don\'t wait to see a doctor like I did.

I hope you feel better soon.

 

[elky McElkerson]

i\'m two years younger than you..hardly a youngster..heck, we could date!! hahah.

thanks for the encouragement. way better today!!

what stretches? quick and easy ones?

 

[mtnmutt]

i\'m two years younger than you..hardly a youngster..heck, we could date!! hahah.

thanks for the encouragement. way better today!!

what stretches? quick and easy ones?

Your old :wink: and have gotten away without doing good post exercise stretches? No wonder your knees are screaming at you. OK, I am a hypocrite. Obviously, I failed this past year with adequate stretching.

Search for Runner\'s stretches. I am not very good at describing.

Here are my 2 primary ones. I do others. It can take me 20-30 minutes to do them all, so quick and easy are not the norm.

I stand to do my quads and IT band because I can also work on my balance while doing them standing on one leg. I get a better stretch standing than by doing them on the floor. While standing for a right leg stretch, I grab ankle from behind with right hand for quads pull to right butt check and push knee in towards floor for 15-20 seconds. For IT band, I use the opposite hand and pull the foot towards the leg\'s opposite butt check. Set of 3 stretches with increased stretch as I do each in the set.

The PT also has me using a trigger point roller to work my side muscles\' knots which is also significantly helping.

If you don\'t see improvement, go to a doctor. Seriously.

I also avoid working the same muscles groups 2 days in a row unless hunting. Legs and core one day. Arms and shoulders the next day.

Glad you are feeling better.

I put electrolyte drops (Endure) in my water to get more potassium and magnesium to help the muscles recover. I am not a fan of sport\'s drinks. Lack of potassium has caused me issues in the past. Now that I do a daily veges/fruit (bananas) smoothie, I never have leg cramps.

Good luck!

Sent from my Nexus 7

 

[Deertick]

Pain in the front of the knees makes me think of patellar tendinitis ... and sure it is an \"over use\" injury, but generally that means either overuse without the good stretching you\'ve been advised, or overuse of weak muscles.

A good physical therapist would be my first thought (as opposed to taking drugs or seeing a surgeon) ... a good PT will likely tell you to adjust your resistance work to be a larger proportion of your exercise routine, and will assess for other weaknesses that are not known to you ... yet.

When I think \"overuse\", I think of people who do one thing over, and over, and over (like biking, for instance) and they get proportionally more work for certain muscles and ligaments, and less for others. These imbalances then result in pain. Strength gives you a bit more wiggle-room on how much imbalance you can tolerate.

 

[elky McElkerson]

googled all the stretches. piece of cake. thanks.