I have never done either of these. IMO, the only warmup effective is the lift you are about to do, especially when the involved joints haven’t been used in that day’s workout.
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Something similar to the warmup @BlueCollarTr8n describes is essential for me at this stage in my lifting career before I move on to the first warmup set of the first exercise in my session. I wish I’d started it when I was in my 30s.
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And I believe you. The question is…are you the exception, or the rule?
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This is a really good video. Thanks for posting.
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I post here only my experiences. IMO, that is all I have to offer. It is up to the reader to consider my successes and my experiences, add them to their knowledge base, and draw conclusions that they feel best.
I am very adamant about how I warmed up and was never open to any other option. I grew to know how my body responded to my warmup method. And did so, minimizing injury.
I should add a little context that people today will not likely be seeing. I began lifting weights in 1968. The gym did not have any cardio equipment and no gym that I was a member had any cardio equipment until the mid 1980’s. In other words, to warmup with a bike you would have had to ride a bicycle to the gym to have a bike warmup. And yes, that was the “rule” in those days. The “exception” was the person who rode their bike to the gym.
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That is something we certainly agree about.
Oh damn, dry needling is illegal in CA! That will make my search a little tougher. I know an incredible manual therapist that worked with me in Chicago but is now practicing north of SD. I’m guessing that might be like a ~4h drive for you, but maybe worth it if you’re visiting the area at least.
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First, I have no experience with American health care and Internet advice is not a substitute for seeing a professional in person.
That said, in Canada a sports medicine physician would be most athlete friendly. Orthopaedic surgeons tend to be more interested in things needing an operation. Physiotherapists would help for rehab and chronic injuries. A general practitioner could easily diagnose your problem as could all of the above.
Knee scans are not usually very helpful for this type of injury. X-rays show broken bones and arthritis. Ultrasounds can show cysts and effusions (fluid around the joint). MRIs are sometimes helpful for complicated problems and planning surgery, not usually for acute (under six weeks) problems. Knee problems tend to be easy to diagnose and imaging is not typically required in the absence of trauma or specific circumstances.
Assuming you frequently bend the knee, are not a Game of Thrones character, regularly weightlift, are otherwise healthy and have had pain for a few weeks or less… it is likely to be a less serious problem.
If the pain is just above your kneecap at the front, worse with deep knee bending, is painful when you push on the tendon… it is likely inflamed. The knee should not give way, suggesting more serious ligament damage, and would often improve with rest and naproxen. Steroids are very strong anti-inflammatories. Do the people who take these have problems with muscle growth? Neither do the people who take Naproxen for a few weeks if they can otherwise take this medicine safely. Tylenol and acetaminophen are not anti inflammatories.
Tendons improve with rest. Weightlifters hate not lifting (speaking from my own experience). If this is the problem, start low, go slow, avoid the exercises which make things worse. Avoid leg exercises almost completely if you have to. Don’t push yourself right now. Try ice and heat, knee sleeves. But rest and naproxen.
There are other possibilities: pain from feet, poor footwear or the hips can show up in the knee. “Patellofemoral syndrome” causes grinding pain behind the kneecap especially on stairs, young people can still get arthritis, infections, meniscal tears, tear ligaments after acute trauma, etc. If you kneel or garden a lot, “housemaid’s knees” are a thing. A GP or physio can diagnose all these things. Nerve pain shooting “all the way down” the leg may have different causes.
But relative (not complete) rest and a long acting inflammatory do the job for most. Inflammation near a joint sucks - tendon injuries can often last six weeks or more because nerves and soft tissue heal slowly. Best of luck. Avoid the things that make it worse. Use a removable bandage, brace or sleeve if this helps. Don’t fear NSAIDs if you have a strong stomach and kidneys and good blood work. Expect this to take longer than you want. See someone if things get worse despite this, there is fever, leg giving way, failure to improve or symptoms which cause you great worry.
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If that’s true in Canada, I’m beyond envious. There’s not a GP here stateside that has a fucking clue when it comes to anything neuromuscular. It seriously takes me a good 2-5 years to find a useful therapist here.
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Illegal for Physical Therapists to perform but not illegal for accupuncturists to perform.
I’d never bother with acupuncture though for a targeted injury. Those pins are way too superficial and won’t address trigger points.
You might need a needle if there is infection, and occasionally with some effusions or tenosynovitis. But needles can also cause infection, and you do not want an infected joint space which is a pretty big deal. Personally, I’d wait six weeks and see unless someone smart and qualified has told you correctly this is what you have and need.
If you have to stop squatting for a short time, you might still be able to do Smith or straight leg deadlifts (at lower weight)??
Since I have no experience with acupuncture it would not be the first thing I would try. Give it a few weeks. But I have seen it work on some people with chronic pain.
My point is that you can get dry needling done in California legally, you just have to go to an accupuncturist to get it instead of a PT. I’ve never had either done but am intrigued by the dry needling.
Yea but acupuncture is very different than dry needling. I don’t think anyone with acupuncture certification is actually qualified to dry needle. They’re completely different techniques and the only thing they have in common is use of a needle.
Guys… dry needling is NOT acupuncture, and you have 0% of infection. 
I don’t think this technique is popular in Canada.
How far north of SD? I am likely moving down there soon and would be interested in this person’s name.
Looks like Solana Beach
@Andrewgen_Receptors
This is the guy. If you’re up for a trip to SD definitely see him, and tell him Jake from Chicago referred you. If not, ask him for referrals around your area and I’m sure he’ll help.
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I used multiple NSAIDs over the years.
A few times I would run a very short course of Butazolidin for two weeks. It was the single best NSAID for removing patella tendon pain. Very dangerous. The knee pain would subside significantly within 4 days.
We knew it was used mostly for race horses, and not for human use. But Equipose was for horses, so why not “Bute”?
I don’t recommend anyone use Bute, but only that I did a very few times and only for a two week period. And the freedom from pain lasted a few weeks after cessation of Bute.
Note: It didn’t seem to help any other joint pain any better than another human NSAID. But for knees it seemed miraculous. But scary.
Some studies suggest most NSAIDs have similar efficacy. I don’t quite agree, but naproxen has the big advantages of being cheap, effective, reasonably safe, widely available over the counter and long lasting for 8-12 hours. This means if you take it an hour before bedtime then twelve hours later (possibly eight and sixteen hours later for serious pain), you better your chance of sleeping through the night. And sleep is a great healer, along with time and rest.
The typical recommended dose of naproxen for adults is between 440-500mg twice a day, which is two 220mg or 250mg tablets. Taking it with water is recommended, it can occasionally annoy the throat or stomach. You could add up to 1g of acetaminophen (usually two extra strength Tylenol) three to four times a day to the naproxen if necessary and there are no liver concerns.
Pain interventions are considered effective if they reduce your subjective pain rating (whatever on a scale of one to ten, with ten for intense pain) by half, that is, your subjective number 30-60 (usually, depends on the medicine) minutes after taking medicine is reduced by fifty percent or more. (“My eight is now a three”). Getting rid of 100% of pain is not always achievable or realistic but it’s a complicated topic.
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