The stiffness in my left knee has been getting gradually worse on my longer hikes. My internet self-diagnosis so far is that it’s one of the outer knee varieties of runner’s knee, but I felt the need for some kind of consultation on this. I was reluctant to go to an orthopedic doctor, mostly because I still hope that some kind of self treatment will allow me to avoid the expensive medical establishment. So instead I made an appointment with a sports-oriented physical therapist to see what I could learn. I feel fortunate that I landed in Christine’s hands. She took a lot of extra time with me and I became aware of a few new things that lead me to refine my self-diagnosis to iliotibial band syndrome.
She observed my stride carefully and felt the movement of some muscles and tendons when I lift my legs. After a quick bridge to align my hips, she noted that my left leg extended further than my right while sitting with my legs extended straight in front of me. She did some range of motion tests, and noted my extremely tight hamstring, piriformis, and quadriceps. The iliotibial band on the left was tighter, and my lower back was tighter on the right, probably compensating. After some gentle stretching and adjusting my legs evened out in the sitting position. She prescribed a number of stretches and massage of my IT bands with a foam roller.
Obviously this problem could have a huge influence on my lifestyle. I’m going try everything I can to reverse the trend over the next couple of months with self treatment.
6 responses to “Knee Evaluation”
Woo Dylan, sounds like you did good! You’re so lucky you met up with somebody who can show you how all of the parts of your body work together and not just declare “It’s your IT Bands.”
Good luck with the recovery and bueno por tu for catching it early. I just read this article earlier this morning – yikes!
http://blog.mountainhardwear.com/2009/02/technology_is_on_my_side.html
Ooo, yes, that article is exactly what I’m afraid of. She seems happy with the western Drugs and Surgery approach, but I’m praying I’m in time to treat the actual cause of the problem instead…
You stopped climbing. Because your climbing partner stopped climbing. Because she damaged her ankle. That’s my causal analysis. Prescription: Resume climbing.
I like it.
As Mr. and Mrs. Cyberhobo’s summer hiking partner, I’m relieved to hear of your (what I’m diagnosing as “age onset” ) Joint problems.
I had been growing steadily worried about my random right ankle seizures, sore left hip, and weak right knee keeping me lagging behind across Wyoming. Now I’m comfortably anticipating the three of us limping through the Red Desert!
Teenage skateboarding — so fun at the time! So painful now!
Yes, I’m starting think not in terms of the three of us hiking across Wyoming, but as kind of a middle-aged vacation “trail trial” to see how far each of us can make it before bodily failure!
That’s three diagnoses so far here. Sean was quite confident while chatting that it’s my hamstrings. Any more takers (givers)?