Knee Problems?

[leaferguy]

Well, this is more of a preventative sort of question. I've never really hurt my knee before. I've had my share of scrapes, big bruises, and hard bangs and stuff, but never any tears or anything big. Recently, however, I've noticed that the amount of hockey I'm playing is taking a toll every once in a while on me. I sort of feel a tugging pain in my knee (almost like a light ankle sprain feels when you pull it too far) when I go too far in a b-fly. It only happens once in a great while, but when it does, it worries me. So here's my question: Besides proper stretching and just being careful not to be stupid, what can I do/wear to make sure I don't damage my knees forever? Are these just common aches and pains? I don't wanna be a baby going to the doctor when nothing's wrong with me. I'm only 16 and I don't want to have big problems by 30. Any RELEVANT comments are appreciated Again, nothing has happened to me, but I'd really like to make sure nothing does to the best of my ability. Thanks.

[big dog daddy]

Leafer ,

First question is where is the pain and what movement causes it? Second thing is it is never being a crybaby to go seek profesional help if you have a pain that you can't explain. As far as things you can wear to help with it. For the most part as long as everything is intact, there are really no products that do anything if you knees are healthy.

BDD

[daveB]

if you hear or feel grinding along with pain its time to see the doc, also if you lose a certain degree of movement in the joint you might want to see the doc also.


I STILL gotta call the orthopedist and get her to look at my knees, they are starting to grind, and hurt everyday. I am 18 and I probably have a serious problem in my knee.

Moral of the story, if your knee hurts, and the pain doesnt go away, go see a doctor.

dave

[sloth2946]

I got your solutions right here pal!!!!! *Sloth grabs crotch in a defiant manner!*

Just kidding. Knee maintainence, this is a topic I know all too well about.

Background: I have a genetic problem with my knees. All the men in my family were born with weak ligaments in the knees and I happened to show up that day when they were handing out that gene. I have damaged my knee in many ways in many sports from football to hockey and basketball, etc. I probably have a pretty good partial tear of my ACL due to how it acts when I test it.

Anyway, you want to know prevention. Basically if you want to prevent knee injuries, you have to understand that you probably wont be able to. They usually happen in freak accidents or in very harmless looking movements. Basically, sh!t happens. There is no fool proof answer to the threat of a knee problem. Accept it that is the first step.

Things you can do to reduce the likelyhood of a major injury: If memory serves you carry a little too much weight, correct??? If so, lose it. Weight destroys the knees. Most importantly, strengthen the adjoining muscles in that area. What muscles you ask!?!? The quads, hamstrings, groin and calf muscles, all of them. Don't skimp on any of them. Weight training exercises to use: Squats(done properly! See a trainer if you don't know how to do them), leg press, lunges, flexions, extensions, calf raises. Other things to do: Run, yes I said run. Do plyometrics.

Things NOT to do: wear a brace, and pamper your knees.

Sounds a little strange eh?!! Well it goes against all the BS you have heard. The major problems that occurs within the knee joint are ligament damage and cartilage damage. Ligaments are tissues that are not very plyable and it is impossible to strengthen them, all you can do is hope to stabilize the joint through muscular strength in the muscles that surround the ligaments. As far as cartilage, well if you already have torn cartilage, that sucks, get it scoped and fixed, then rehad it. If not run and plyos. You want to work the joint because when you work it, the cartilage produces a fluid that acts as a lubricant that allows the joing to move more freely. The more you use the joint the more lubricated it is. The more you rest it, the dryer the joint is and the more likelyhood of doing damage comes around.

As far as what not to do and why not to do them. Well if you wear a brace it will give you a false sense of security and the joint is not properly stabilized with muscles, rather steel and neoprene. Most braces you will see on the market are actually called wraps, and they give just a touch of extra support and help to keep the joint warm, but do little else. I wear one of these when I play inline because of the extra pounding that goes on during that game. If you want a good brace you are going to have to get one from and orthopedist. I also already mentioned why you don't want to pamper the joint as the lack of fluid to lubricate the joint will cause further damage.

Consider that a good blueprint on how to keep your knees in good shape and relatively injury free.

PS: It also doesn't help to have some added landing gear on your pads so you don't kill the knees when you drop!

[Dr Dave]

I never had knee problems until I started playing goal. Within a few months I had a dull aching pain in both knees almost every day. I added Velocity knee lifts into my 5500's and the pain improved dramatically. Going with the philosophy that if some is good, more must be better I made additional landing gear with a softer foam that really cushions the impact when I go down in a butterfly. With that addition the pain went away and has not returned. 16 was a long time ago for me (even 30 is a pretty vague memory) so your knees will probably take more abuse before they start acting up but preventive measures now may help you avoid chronic problems in the future.

[DaleWill]

leaferguy :

Rule of thumb, any pain in the knee, rest the knee. If it doesn't go away after some time, see a doctor. Sloth was on target about losing weight and strenghtening the areas around the knee.

I missing 7 months last year with bad knee pain until I got it scoped. Something to think about that I didn't realized. Once you get a knee scoped, be prepared to have it scoped every 3 - 7 years and probably someday a knee replacement! I don't know if that's true or not but that's what the 2 ortho. doctors told me.

Dale Williams

[G-Man]

When you butterfly, the strain on your knees is depends on how flexible your hips are. Working on hip flexibility could help take some of that strain away.

I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV. The following is a collection of stuff I've heard and may or may not be completely correct. But it seems to make sense

Strengthening the muscles around the knees is important to, but so is rest. If you are playing a lot of hockey and working out on top of it those muscles will need some time to recover in order to do their job. When you move in a way that threatens to push a joint too far, The body's first defense mechanism is to tighten the muscles to stop the movement. This is where muscle pulls come from. But that's better than tearing connective tissue. If the muscles are too fatigued, this defense mechanism doesn't work as efficiently and the connective tissue gets tweaked more often.

[streethockeygoalie]

As a 17 year old who has had to deal with constant knee pain since i was 12 I will tell you what has helped me.

1.Wearing neoprene braces made my Ace bandages on both my knees.
2.Making the muscles around the knee stronger.
3.Play alot.....in my case playing doesnt bother my knees as much as not playing does. I am very active, and not doing something bothers my knees..weird huh
4.Ice when it hurts.
5.Stretch, alot. I made myself waaay more flexible then when I started playing hockey, and my knees are grateful for it.
6. Suck it up and play jk

[leaferguy]

Originally posted by sloth2946
Things you can do to reduce the likelyhood of a major injury: If memory serves you carry a little too much weight, correct??? If so, lose it. Weight destroys the knees. Most importantly, strengthen the adjoining muscles in that area. What muscles you ask!?!? The quads, hamstrings, groin and calf muscles, all of them. Don't skimp on any of them. Weight training exercises to use: Squats(done properly! See a trainer if you don't know how to do them), leg press, lunges, flexions, extensions, calf raises. Other things to do: Run, yes I said run. Do plyometrics.

Yeah, the weight thing is an issue. I'm 160, but only 5'9 1/2". Losing that extra ten or so pounds wouldn't hurt.

Funny thing is, I bet this is all due to a lack of knee exercises. I've outright stopped doing my plyometrics, lifting, and other leg exercises The good thing is I am doing around 4 days a week of 5-mile runs. My stretching is also something I REALLY have to pick up again. Boy am I out of shape, I haven't touched the weights since late FEBRUARY....

And I think Street brings up a good point: suck it up

Thanks for the advice everyone, I think I'll use it all

Off to my games...

[sloth2946]

Originally posted by leaferguy


Yeah, the weight thing is an issue. I'm 160, but only 5'9 1/2". Losing that extra ten or so pounds wouldn't hurt.

HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!! That's funny!! 5'9" 160!!! Oh the pain!!! The s;iawev sorry just fell off my chair I was laughing so hard. Why am I laughing you ask?!?!?! Because I am 5'9" and weigh 196 as of today!!! Of course it all depends on the composition of the weight, but 160 is not a lot of weight. Just work on toning it down.

[az]

I hope your legs get so painful that you have to amputate and you're forced to play goal as a torso stump sitting on a plastic toboggan.

[speedbump]

Hey, I just went to the physical therapist about my knees today. After a brief discussion of my pains (which sounds like what you described only a gazzillion times worse) and bending them hither and yon, she said,"I don't know a lot about hockey, but...I don't know how you've been playing goalie on those." Apparently I've stretched out my MCL's so much that they are very weak and also I have a cavity where muscle should be. So, I'm out of the goalie biz for a few months until I can strengthen (build up) my muscles. It sucks, but I can skate out...which'll suck. I had planned to skate out for summer anyway because of my knees, but had delusions of skipping off to drop-in and gettin' gussied up as a goalie every so often. But, alas, I can only be skater-trash. it sucks.

Oh, the therapist told me that I should tape my knees really well in a weaving kind of a way before every game. She also gave me about six exercises to do to strengthen the ole knees.

[streethockeygoalie]

speedbump: all I can say is HOLY $#!%!

Hope you get better soon, and don't let those dumb skaters influence you in any way!
Good luck with the ole' knees

[bedris]

Az, don't diss the Paralympics, man! That's messed up.

[Eddy G]

My orthopidest told me that people can live with the tear I have in my miniscus cartilage BUT I am not one of those people.

I asked if I could attend a hockey clinic in Toronto befor he cuts into me and he said ok if I could live with the pain we could do the surgery right after.


I get scoped on MAY 1st
the 4th is my 39th birthday (hay it isn't 40)
and my farther in-law is comeing up from florida for a 3 week visit on the 7th. I cant wait untill JUNE

Eddy G