Programming with Dislocated Undiagnosed Knee Injury

[Nixxon]

Short and Sweet.

Dislocated my knee during Jiu Jitsu a week ago. Half ROM immediately and 3 days after.

Iced it on and off for 4 days straight taking 800mg Motrins every 8 hrs.

Now I'm limping but having big time shooting pains in the inner (medial?) portion on the side of my knee. Lots of knee instability, any twisting causes pretty much a knife feeling being driven in. Walking up stairs or on uneven surfaces is dicey. Extending my leg all the way out is extremely painful, collapsing my heel to my ass, also extremely painful.

What should my programming look while I get this diagnosed? I've got a doc appointment scheduled tomorrow but I want to continue training. Everything standing is pretty much out. I'm no puss. I've trained through injuries before and this one feels like it would not be a good idea to "push through" that good rehab pain.

Should I just be doing pullups, chins, bench, seated military press until I figure out what the deal is? I want to continue with training.

Thanks,

[Mark Rippetoe]

This may be a complex injury to both ligament and meniscus. Let's wait a day and see what the diagnosis is. This will not mean you're a pussy.

[tmatt]

The "dislocation" aspect sounds a lot like my ACL / Meniscus injury 15 years ago. First happened jumping flights of stairs as a stupid teenager. Nail in the coffin was slipping in a hole on a drop zone at Ft. Bragg. The "dislocation" feels like your leg is broken, just collapses on you. Not a good feeling.

I went to several doctors who all did the Motrin / Ice / Rest perscription without telling me what the problem was. Finally found an orthopedic surgeon who talked to me for 45 seconds, grabbed my leg, popped the knee out, and explained the surgery to me as I was writhing in pain. After a meniscus repair and a repair on my torn ACL I was back in business. Long story short, keep pushing for a good doc and get it fixed.

On the positive side, the knee bothered me almost daily until I found SS and squats. I haven't had knee pain in almost a year and half since I started training. Before squats, it was a daily occurance and, even after the surgery, the knee popped out. I find myself forgetting which knee it was now.

I know I am re-iterating, but get it checked and fixed then recover with SS. I know I was a stubborn bastard and got yelled at by the doc for walking as soon as I was able to (he wanted me on crutches for 30 days, I was off them in a week which I proclaimed to him with much excitement before the lecture). If I had known about squats at that point I may have saved myself 14 years of daily pain.

[jgrube]

The "dislocation" aspect sounds a lot like my ACL / Meniscus injury 15 years ago. First happened jumping flights of stairs as a stupid teenager. Nail in the coffin was slipping in a hole on a drop zone at Ft. Bragg. The "dislocation" feels like your leg is broken, just collapses on you. Not a good feeling.

I went to several doctors who all did the Motrin / Ice / Rest perscription without telling me what the problem was. Finally found an orthopedic surgeon who talked to me for 45 seconds, grabbed my leg, popped the knee out, and explained the surgery to me as I was writhing in pain. After a meniscus repair and a repair on my torn ACL I was back in business. Long story short, keep pushing for a good doc and get it fixed.

On the positive side, the knee bothered me almost daily until I found SS and squats. I haven't had knee pain in almost a year and half since I started training. Before squats, it was a daily occurance and, even after the surgery, the knee popped out. I find myself forgetting which knee it was now.

I know I am re-iterating, but get it checked and fixed then recover with SS. I know I was a stubborn bastard and got yelled at by the doc for walking as soon as I was able to (he wanted me on crutches for 30 days, I was off them in a week which I proclaimed to him with much excitement before the lecture). If I had known about squats at that point I may have saved myself 14 years of daily pain.

that awesome to hear man. i guess squats arent bad for the knees after all.

[Nixxon]

Doc says everything is intact. Although kept insisting that I must have flipped my patella and I can't tell if my knee dislocated or not.

I told her I watched the guy pull it out of the socket and didn't touch my knee.

Anyways, I'm off to physical therapy where the doc there will hopefully give me a little better diagnosis. I can't really exercise on it or do any rehab to it because just pedaling a bike makes it feel like live nerve endings are being lit on fire.

I guess I'll just do bench, seated press style stuff till I figure this out.

Thanks.

[Nixxon]

Coach,

Just got back from the Doc/Phyiscal Therapist.

They said they are guessing its a patellar sublax (sp?). Or a meniscus issue.

They want me to do phyiscal therapy 2 times a week for a month and then if its not improved I'll get an MRI.

My pain for the most part is gone, terrible stiffness and ache when seated and not moving it for a few hours (sleeping/movie theater/driving etc). Sometimes for no reason when walking it feels like somone just rammed a knife under my kneecap into my joint and is sawing away.

Physical therapy is going to involve bike riding, hopping on one leg, balancing on a trampolie leg raises and other circus acts.

Shall I squat and perform the Bill Starr rehab method?

[Mark Rippetoe]

If you feel like subsidizing the administration of the conventional wisdom, be my guest. But you already know what I think.