Knee problem

[Friis]

Hey!

I tried my stilts outside for the second time today. First time was yesterday, and I was out jogging and bouncing for about an hour. Felt some minor pain just below my right knee but whatever I was done, and supposed it would be gone today. But when I tried them today I didn't want to risk something break inside my knee because it hurt too much, so I had to stop after a few mins. Scary stuff.

Has anyone had similar problems? I remember I had some knee problems several years ago but it hasn't bothered me until now.

Altough I'm in good physical shape I'm not used to put a lot of presure on my legs. Do you think it will be better if i go easy and build up more strength before I go jumping? Or do you think I need to see a doctor or something? I'll wait a few days and see how's it then, hopefully better.

/Friis

[TraXeH]

Happened to me aswell, I put mine on and went out on them out of the box, knee hurt like hell the next day; turns out I had the knee-bar in the wrong place!

Ill direct you here:
http://www.PoweriserPages.com/forum/setup-t4365.0.html

Some good advice in that thread

[Bill C.]

Some questions...

What type of knee injury did you have in the past? 

Did you have surgery for it? 

Where exactly is the pain you are now experiencing?
   Exactly forward?
   Front left / Front right?
   At the joint line?
   At top of your shin?

Is it in the same spot as your past injury?

Pain only in one knee?

[Zan]

If you couldnt tell, Bill is sort of the knee docter here on poweriserpages....

[Pendragon]

My knees hurt when I first started too.  My back hurt too.  You know what my everything hurt like it never hurt before.  Just give it some time before you get back out there.

[Zan]

Yeah that's true, everything hurts when you first begin anything, especally extreme things like bocking. Give it a bit of time and get back at it. Like the expression says: What dosn't kill you, makes you stronger. (for the most part)

[AndyJohn]

I haven't been at it long, however I am really suffering with my right knee. It hurts to put pressure on it (such as climbing stairs) And I am compensating with my left. I first felt it 7 days a go, however going out yesterday has brought it back worse. The pain is more of a weakness if that makes sense, and a dull continous ache. It seems to me that I have internally rotated my knee some how, as the pain runs down the left inner side of the right knee cap - with slight swelling.

Will rest it from bocking for 7 days and see what happens.

I just hope it is that I am new to bocking and not arthritic lol

[Zan]

May want to see a docter as well. Give you a nice perscription, and probably better advice then any of us can give, perhaps besides Bill  .

[coachgeo]

sore joints, and strains.   Ice is your friend!  10 to 20 mins is all you need. 3x a day.   A gental warming up of the iced area is a good thing to do to.

if its a large area,  a frozen paper cup of ice that you can peel away as it melts can be rubbed on it.

Yes, iceing is uncomfortable!!!!  especially ankles, & writst.  It will go numb though.  If you don't ice thru the pain to numbness, your mostly wasting your time.

[Friis]

I really appriaciate the fast reply, thanks guys!

Some questions...

What type of knee injury did you have in the past? 

Did you have surgery for it? 

Where exactly is the pain you are now experiencing?
   Exactly forward?
   Front left / Front right?
   At the joint line?
   At top of your shin?

Is it in the same spot as your past injury?

Pain only in one knee?

My past problem didn't require any surgery and it wasn't serious, but i remember i had problems. The pain mostly did go away after a few weeks. If i remember right it usually helped if i walked around on soft ground, like in the forest. In school, we had some silly games including bend your knees and lift as much as you can. I dont remember i had pain before that sh**.

The pain is just below the knee, on the hard thing below the round thing that's sligthly movable. It's in the middle, right below, not on any sides. I tried to walk around and see when it hurt, and it seems to be when i walk hard on me heels (put down heel with a mini-stomp, toes not touching ground, slightly bent knee) (just tried it again and yeah it's deffo that).

I only felt pain in my right knee while jumping, but now i feel some in my left too, while doing the knee-stomp thing, but not as much as i feel in the right knee.

I'm not familair with ice and injuries (or injuries at all), but will the ice help it heal or just dampen the pain temporairly, so I later can go see a docter or something?

Again, thanks for taking time !

[Bill C.]

I'm not a doctor, just personal knee experience.  At best it is just a guess as to whether something is serious or not. 

To AndyJohn:
I doubt if it is arthritis - unless you have had prior injuries or surgeries to that knee. 

To Friis:
It sounds like your Patella Ligament has been strained.  (The ligament that attaches your knee cap to your shin.)  This can happen if you had your knee loop against that soft spot right below your knee cap.  (I assume you are using a knee loop model).  Let it heal for a week or two and then try it again -- but position your knee loops at the top of your shin so it is against the bone.

JUST SOME ADVICE TO ALL...
IMO it is far better to spend a little extra money on a pair of good "hinged" knee braces rather than a pair of knee pads.  The time to wear them is before you need them.

[Kender]

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. (for the most part)

If this were the case, I'd have completely impenetrable skin on my knees/elbows.   I swear I trip and scrape them every 2 weeks... maybe I should get new pads :p

Sorry for the derailing.  I assume you've made sure your kneebar is at the proper height?

[rubberglover]

Ice will help reduce swelling, which in the knee is a really common cause of pain. I have problems with mine also. Cartilage is often the cause of nagging aches and pains, and that could be due to a simple swelling, bruising, or a slight tear. However, you can't actually feel pain through your cartilage itself; it's the tendons (tissue that connects muscles to bones) and ligaments (tissue that connects bones to other bones), and any swelling that will be causing you discomfort. Often, if you've had a knee injury in the past, you'll have come to rely on the other leg somewhat without even realising it. Also, once you've injured your knee you tend to be quite careful with it, and whilst this is good, it also means that you are nursing it somewhat. This can cause tendons and ligaments to become slack, which causes aches and pains.

Also, they can just become weak after injury and require some careful resistance excersise to help strengthen them up - your body only generates new tendon and ligament tissue when the tendon or ligament becomes enflamed, and that happens when they're under stress. Building up strength in an injured knee is therefore all about careful excersise. So, if you try and carefully build up the strength in your knee, and keep at it but in moderation, you'll eventually (and hopefully!) be able to bock for hours without any pain. I dramatically increased the strength in my right knee after a cartilage injury using only a flight of stairs... everytime I went up some stairs I'd only step with my right leg, and try to take two stairs at a time as slowly as I could. I noticed a significant difference in a month or so. Later I needed a simple keyhole operation and I had physio after that which fixed it up a treat!

It might be worth getting it checked at the docs just to make sure you dont have any cartilage probs but I'm sure that if you listen to your body and let your knee feel a little better before you bock again, and try to build up the strength in your knee in any other way you can, you'll be fine. It takes a while for your body to learn to cope with the new stresses that bocking puts on you, and knees and backs are very common causes of complaint when you first start. Just be careful and take it one step and a time, and if you dont see any improvement or if gets any worse then go see a doc just to put your mind at rest

[Friis]

I use knee pads (cheap ones) in the space between the knee bar and my knee. The pads are slightly angled..umm wait ill draw a picture with chars... lol
                       /        
Kneebar->   D \      
                        |  

                       /\
                        |
                      Pads

This means the knee bar tries to push the pads up when I strap everything tightly. Is this bad somehow?
The bar is against bone when im not wearing pads. What is this "hinged knee braces"? Can you link me a picture or something?
You don't think it's something to do with too much preasure or something like that?

Once again, thanks

Edit: That was a lot of good info Rubberglover! Nice

[coachgeo]

...What is this "hinged knee braces"? Can you link me a picture or something?...

here is a showing of some of the medium to upper upper medium range spendy ones.  There are ones little less expensive... not as good..... and others.... way more expensive.  IMHEO (In My Humble EDUCATED Opinioun) If one is going to spend money on such braces what your also looking for is ones that you can set to LOCK at your full extension thus not allowing the knee to hyperextend.  For Bocking I'm beginning to think you might as well lock it at a slight knee bend.