[ball dont lie]

Hi. I see the doctor is back! I just want to bump post #260 above.

I feel its too big for me to copy it all again but I think it got lost in the shuffle above. If you have any advice, or also if you think I should immediately get an MRI because it may be seriously damaged, am eager for some advice. I'm a little worried at the moment.

[birdie num num]

(12-06-2014 01:01 AM)Prophylaxis Wrote:  

(12-02-2014 11:31 PM)birdie num num Wrote:  

Thank you for your time and generosity, Prophylaxis. It's greatly appreciated.

Do you have experience dealing with pain in the iliotibial band, or IT band? For around 5-6 months I've been experiencing soreness in my left IT band. The pain is roughly 2/3 the way down from the hip. When standing or walking around, there is virtually no pain or discomfort. It's only painful when I stand up after having been seated at the computer for an hour or so. It hurts when I get out of the chair to stand up and place pressure on the left leg. It goes away after I start walking. There is absolutely no pain in the right IT band.

My leg workout routine involves one day per week of front squats with low weight and high reps (12-15) for 3-4 sets, and trap bar dead lifting, one day per week, with moderate weight for 3 sets of 10 reps. I've been lifting for roughly 30 years and there has never been a problem.

Aside from weights, I ride my bike through hilly terrain 2-3 times per week for roughly one hour each session. I've been doing these rides for close to 15 years and there has never been any resulting pain. Perhaps it is my age (51 y.o.) catching up with me?

I'm disciplined about stretching after each workout and I also foam roll the IT band twice per week. Foam rolling doesn't seem to help.

Do you have any suggestions on how to treat this problem? I Googled the topic, but most articles pertain to runners and many refer to pain where the band connects to the knee. The area around my knee is fine. It's the section near the middle that hurts. Below is an image indicating where the pain exists.

Thanks again and any suggestions are appreciated.

Hey birdie,

Thanks for the detailed info about your regime - helps me a lot.

Just need to work out whether it's coming from your back or hip.

Does it hurt if you sit in a low chair?

Any pain when you sleep on the sore leg? (lying on your side)?

Any tingling or numbness down the leg?

Which of these movements hurt?

Hey Prophylaxis,

Thanks for responding. Here are the answers to your questions.

Does it hurt if you sit in a low chair?

I can feel slight soreness while sitting in a low chair, but it's nothing unbearable. The pain becomes sudden and sharp as I stand up out of the chair. It's the same motion as pressing up during a squat. By low chair I mean that my thighs are parallel to the floor. If I cross my left leg over the right knee while sitting then there will be slight pain.

Any pain when you sleep on the sore leg? (lying on your side)?

No pain today when sleeping in a bed. However, in August I took a 3-day backpacking trip in the mountains and was walking around 5-8 miles per day. At night, while sleeping on an air mattress, the IT band was too sore and painful to sleep on my side.

Any tingling or numbness down the leg?

No tingling or numbness whatsoever.

Which of these movements hurt?

None of those movements in the diagram hurt. It's only when emerging from a seated position. Also, I can feel slight pain while seated. While walking around during the day I can feel occasional soreness, but nothing debilitating and I don't need a cane. This evening I went bike riding and there was no pain while pedaling.

This may be relevant, but 2 years ago I was diagnosed with early degenerative disc disease in the lower back (the L-4 L-5 section). Could that be related to the IT band? It wouldn't seem to be, but perhaps it is?

I understand if the info I gave may not be enough to figure out the problem. It could be age related, but who knows?

Thanks again for any advice!

[Oz.]

Pro,

I had a back injury during high shool while wrestling I got therapy and it stopped bother it's been maybe 6 years since that about two months ago I fell flat on my ass when my foot got stuck and now the pain is back, I have an MRI of the injury but don't know if it's the same thing again, it does hurt in the same spot

[FretDancer]

(12-05-2014 03:02 AM)Prophylaxis Wrote:  

Thanks for being so patient FretDancer.

I would say you most likely had a resolving tricep tendinopathy. This happens commonly when doing regular bench press and overloading the tricep tendon (where it attaches to at the back of the elbow). Over-time as the load increases, the tendon (which connects the muscle to the bone) begins to struggle with transmitting the force. This can lead to slight microtears within the tricep tendon and cause inflammation (typically pain is worse the day after a heavy workout)

Yes this seems to describe pretty well my condition. Can you explain what you mean by "resolving"?

Quote:

I would definitely continue loading (in a controlled manner!) the tricep. This will help the tendon heal and become stronger. Try tricep pushdowns - doing this in a controlled manner and slowly bending back and you complete the rep.

Would you say I should do the tricep pushdowns with very little weight? I have stopped doing tricep pushdows completely since I would go heavy on them and I felt that they were actually the cause of the pain and I wanted to check.

Really thank you for taking the time to go over my condition Prophylaxis, I really appreciate it.

[tarquin]

I've got one for you. I know I'm going to end up getting an MRI, so don't spend too much time, but I just want to know if you think I have a meniscus tear.

Age: 29
Injury: Popped my kneecap out. I have had problems with what I believe is called "patellar instability" before with both knees. I am generally hyper-flexible. This time the kneecap stayed out and I had to jam it back in. This happened about 4 weeks ago. Swelling/effusion is now down, I believe. The kneecap slid to the outside of my knee. I had some dark-purple bruising above the inside of my ankle which I believe was due to stress on tendons/ligaments.

Pain is now a general aching, though I have been wearing a sports brace. For the first two weeks I wore a stiff brace which completely immobilized my leg. A CAT-SCAN showed no broken bones and the doctor believes that there is no ligament or tendon damage. Currently there doesn't seem to be any "water" left on the knee, but it seems rather hard and I cannot bend it past 90 degrees.

I will follow up with an MRI and ortho, but I was wondering what you believe my odds of a torn meniscus are and whether, in your experience, PT is as successful as having scope surgery.

Thanks

[Vienna]

PT student here.

I'm about to start my last semester studying physiotherapy. I've chosen the course Orthopedic Manual Therapy (level 1) as one of the electables. We're supposed to write a systematic review as part of the course's exam; this review can focus on just about anything relating to joints, muscles etc.

Now I want to finish this as effectively as possible since we're also writing our bachelor thesis at the same time, which I really want to excel at (me and a buddy have an interesting subject to write about, with the chance of being published in a journal).

So, any fellow PT's here that might share subjects for a systematic review in OMT which can be written fairly quickly?

Thanks!

[Engineer]

Proph,

Really appreciate this thread - any advice you could offer is very welcome:

Body Chart: Left shoulder
Age: 46
Mechanism of injury: During bench press, I think I had been lowering the bar a little bit high (towards my neck) and also setting up too far away from the rack, so having to pull the bar "down" towards my feet during the initial unrack. I had reviewed technique with Rippetoe's book, so had been contracting shoulder blades underneath and tensing everything up with flat feet, etc. Did not pay attention to elbow position, regretfully.
Aggravating factors: What makes the pain worse? Pulling my elbows back as if I'm lowering a weight onto my chest makes a dull pain in the rear deltoid area. Sleeping on the left side as I usually do wakes me up in pain and sore.
Easing factors: What relieves the pain? Aleve 2 pills morning, 2 pills evening.

X-ray showed nothing. MRI shows some fluid buildup and tendon supraspinatus (I think, will check) 20% detachment off the bone, 30% cross sectional area tear higher up off the bone. I've scheduled surgery for 3/11 and the doc says it is relatively easy, 93% success rate, 6 weeks in a sling, 4.5 months recovery time. I have a second opinion on 3/9 (soonest he was available), but am eager to treat this asap and get recovered properly.

I'm getting copies of the xray and mri today to take to the second doc. Is there any chance I could just live with this, not make it worse and just maintain with some light bench press with proper form? I run several short and several long triathlons a year, and am a weak swimmer. I'm OK with that and tend to focus on the bike and run, and just have fun and not be super competitive. My concern is I'll be stretching (I have large range of motion with all my joints) and pop it right off the bone.

Any experience with HGH improving post-surgical outcomes? I had been thinking of TRT and HGH before the injury occurred.

[Soaked]

Great thread, it's really generous of you.

Body Chart: Left shoulder halfway through dumbell shoulder press of heavy weight
Age: 28
Mechanism of injury: never felt it before 2 weeks ago but I'm pushing heavier weights than I have before
Aggravating factors: From starting position to halfway up is okay but about the point where my elbow is level with my eyes I get a sharp pain like a tendon or a weak strip of muscle on the back of my shoulder near the joint
Easing factors: Having my spotter support my elbows completely eliminated the sensation

[Saladin]

Hey Pro,

Do you have any recommendations for books that give a basic level view of how our bodies work in terms of exercise, injuries, and rehab? The basics of how the major movements function, and the most common injuries. Something that goes over the basics that every physiotherapist knows but is accessible to the general public?

I want to learn more about the subject for future injury prevention.

[Novus]

@Saladin I can recommend "becoming a supple leopard by kelly starrett"
Now to my problem, I'm 24 and I've had issues with my left shoulder for a long time now, went to a doctor but he just told me that you can't fight genetics and I have to accept my fucked up shoulder. bullshit. I don't have pain as i stopped benching and putting to much stress on my shoulders, my left side especially feels kinda loose, instable and boney, you can see and feel the collar bone sticking out on top, also when I train my left arm there are veins popping out everywhere and it sometimes feels like a nerve might be jammed or irritated. I think the problem might be a misplaced shoulder blade and I have been working on strengthening my back muscles but I don't know if that's enough to put my bones back in place. Some input would be much appreciated!

[younggun]

I just injured my lower back at the gym squatting. Here's some background:

I'm 21 and fairly new to lifting. I like to think I know a fair bit but I have trouble committing.

Anyhow, got to the gym for leg day, stretched my legs and then did a warmup set with just the bar. On the third set, I was squatting about 20 lbs shy of my 1 rep max when I felt a pull in my lower back. Didn't drop the weight, got it back up but had to take a seat, and eventually had to go home, could barely get myself in my car.

Only happened an hour ago so it might be nothing, but I'm having a really hard time switching from sitting to standing.

I'm going to get someone more experienced to help correct my form before I try squatting again, but any idea how I can relieve this and prevent injuries in the future?

TL;DR hurt my back squatting, can't stand up or sit down normally