Originally Posted by
Justin Smale
I hurt either my IT band or my lateral meniscus about 3 weeks ago and am needing advice on my best course of training action here. The injury was nothing to do with training and I can't even really pinpoint a definite mechanism of injury - either playing flag football or getting too enthusiastic spinning my kids on a thing at the playground (lesson learned, playgrounds aren't for full sized children like myself). I went to a physio who did the IT band release (my god, I saw colours I didn't know existed) and also did the tests for a lateral meniscus injury, of which I failed about half. That said, I'm not really worried that if I did tear the meniscus that it's a serious tear since it's getting better slowly (likely in the "red zone" that gets blood and will hopefully heal and whatnot), if it's not simply an IT band thing.
My range of motion isn't limited at all, but when I do a squatting motion I pass through a very brief moment of pain and what can only be described as instability (possibly due to the pain). Even things like stairs where I'm loading that leg cause the same sensation to a smaller degree. The pain has gone from almost causing collapse (right after injury, whatever it may have been) to being just a dull nagging that flares up when I load that leg. I've rehabbed a few muscle injuries pretty successfully using the resources here, but am in the dark about what to do with joint injuries such as this. I searched the forums but didn't find anything quite like what I'm experiencing so I thought I'd ask (and I apologize if I missed it being addressed already). Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.