So here is first questions/issues (they’ll come as we go):
I tried rolling my IT band (or at least that is what I was aiming for…), and for some reason, after finishing a 1min roll, I’ll get some mild annoyance in the knee (not pain exactly). How is that even happening?
I’m not really touching the knee. Is there any nerve running through that area that might be twitched by the rolling, sending the pain to the knee? Am I putting too much pressure on the leg?
While rolling, is the patient supposed to be flexing the leg to keep the body straight, or does he have to relax and let his body curve on the side?
I tried doing a test, I only rolled the right leg, then went on to do some cardio.
Now I got a new mild annoyance on my right knee, while my left is pretty ok. So I think it actually had a seemingly negative impact to it.
Note that whatever problems I get on my knees usually appear to both knees to the same extent.
I get a tingling sensation in my left knee when foam rolling my IT band, but not in my right. My left quad and IT band is also tighter than my left…so meh
The first few times I foam rolled, my feet twitched and cramped for a half hour, I had a massive endorphin dump, and my IT bands were painful. Those things go away. Stick with it, it’s worth the time and effort IMO. Look on YouTube for videos if you can’t figure out the instructions. I roll before I go to the gym (1st step in my warmup) and I can hear and feel my spine and neck popping and releasing. I have no doubt that foam rolling as Prehab has helped me stay injury free, and allowed me to start squatting again.
Small update on the minitest:
Went to bed with minor annoyance on right knee, woke up with minor annoyance on left knee. Wth is going on in my joints?..
On a similar note, will x-rays help show what the problem is, or are knee issues better recognised through symptoms?
Small update on the minitest:
Went to bed with minor annoyance on right knee, woke up with minor annoyance on left knee. Wth is going on in my joints?..
On a similar note, will x-rays help show what the problem is, or are knee issues better recognised through symptoms?[/quote]
Knees are tricky motherfudgers. Sometimes they can tell without looking inside, but more generally an MRI should be undertaken since an x-ray will miss most of the important stuff that impacts how well the knee joint is working.
I may be wrong so you should wait for someone else’s advice.
Several years ago, before I lifted actually, I was having all kinds of problems with my knees. One got bad enough for me to get an MRI and see a specialist. MRI showed nothing, and the specialist found nothing wrong with the joint and said take Aleve. A couple years later, I stumbled onto myofascial release (foam rolling) and it was just short of a mirracle. It’s especially important for those of us who train hard IMO.
Do as others said, do some research, find out how to do it correctly (not saying you’re not, just saying) and do it OFTEN.
I’m really not sure what I have. Must be a combination of things, mostly stuff that can be fixed with some stretching and rolling I guess. Just one thing that I’m not sure how can be fixed:
Went to a doctor once, and he just pressed my kneecap down, then I flexed my quad, and it made a sound like it was cracking on rocks as it went up. Just by doing that he told me I had chondromalacia patellae.
However, if I try “helping” my patella to track, by putting my finger vertically from the outside, making the patellae track more to the inside of the quad, the same test seems clear.
So I’m still not sure if its a real joint issue or just malfunctioning body. Will get that MRI asap.
If you’re patella is tracking laterally (away from the midline of the body you should be foam rolling your IT bands often. When the IT band is too tight it pulls the patella out of alignment causing the crunching sound in your knee when it pulls. When you’re knee is crunching that’s not a good sign. By rolling the IT bands out you’re making the tissues stretch out to there ideal length. This will help you’re knee track better over time. Of course it should be severely painful if you have really tight IT bands, almost unbearable. I know I can’t last 60 seconds of IT rolling, it’s just extremely uncomfortable. You may try researching trigger point therapy online too. I have a book on it somewhere, but it has helped me with knee problems.
Suggestions: foam roll daily, all the tight musculature, standing cross legged stretch, glute stretches, inchworms, and spider man stretches. Those will help ease your leg pain considerably.
[quote]gremlin1267 wrote:
If you’re patella is tracking laterally (away from the midline of the body you should be foam rolling your IT bands often. When the IT band is too tight it pulls the patella out of alignment causing the crunching sound in your knee when it pulls. When you’re knee is crunching that’s not a good sign. By rolling the IT bands out you’re making the tissues stretch out to there ideal length. This will help you’re knee track better over time. Of course it should be severely painful if you have really tight IT bands, almost unbearable. I know I can’t last 60 seconds of IT rolling, it’s just extremely uncomfortable. You may try researching trigger point therapy online too. I have a book on it somewhere, but it has helped me with knee problems.
Suggestions: foam roll daily, all the tight musculature, standing cross legged stretch, glute stretches, inchworms, and spider man stretches. Those will help ease your leg pain considerably.
v/r
Gremlin[/quote]
Alright, that sounds helpful.
One more thing: I’ve never had pain during the training, the pain always comes 3-4 hours later (and some times continues to the next day). I’ve asked a few docs and they’ve told me if it was the training causing it, it would probably annoy me during the training, maybe slightly after it, not 4 hours later. I was advised to take a look at what I was doing directly before the pain started.
Is that true? There is no way that my training has some effect on the knee that appears later on in the day and not at once?
The reason you don’t have pain training is that the tissues are warmed up and it’s training as usual. The issue results when those tissues cool down and return to their tightened state. They’ll be like that for a while until you get that IT band loosened up enough that it doesn’t pull on your patella. You can take a while off from doing heavy leg days for a while, but I would just work through it, keep rolling it, take some vitamin I, ice it after training and drive on.
[quote]gremlin1267 wrote:
The reason you don’t have pain training is that the tissues are warmed up and it’s training as usual. The issue results when those tissues cool down and return to their tightened state. They’ll be like that for a while until you get that IT band loosened up enough that it doesn’t pull on your patella. You can take a while off from doing heavy leg days for a while, but I would just work through it, keep rolling it, take some vitamin I, ice it after training and drive on.
v/r
Gremlin[/quote]
I’m still not sure when is the best time to roll. If you look at each training seperately, then probably rolling before that (so that you train without tightness) seems more appropriate, even with the drawbacks of stretching pre-workout. But if you see it as a whole procedure, rolling after training so you prevent the band from going back to tight so its more ready for the next workout (assuming you’ve spent a few weeks rolling so your band is not as keen on going back to tight), might seem better. I don’t know, just thinking out loud here.
About the ice, I got this cream sort of, called PollarIce (Menthol basically), which I used to apply on my knees after training. Its pretty good (no pain if I apply it), but I’ve talked with a guy and came to the conclusion its probably best to endure the pain instead of hiding it, as pain helps the body realise there is something wrong and repairs it.
It’s realy not the kind of pain that annoys you, just the kind of pain that makes you worried what’s wrong, so I don’t think I need the cream that bad.
[quote]gremlin1267 wrote:
Roll when warmed up to get the most benefit.
Gremlin[/quote]
But then again I’d have to train with tight IT’s, so not sure what’s best.
I went ahead and rolled both before and after training yesterday (probably an overkill).
It was my DE day so it might not be the best day to judge from, but I was pain free post-training, which is a good start I guess .
I foam roll at night before I go to bed. Is it ideal? I’m not sure, but it’s been helping me a lot. I foam roll my IT bands religiously after having knee surgery last year and it has helped tremendously. Sometiems I will foam roll very quickly before I head to the gym as well, but it’s rare. I’ve never tried rolling immediately postworkout so I can’t comment on that.
I actually don’t have a foam roller, I have a 3" PVC pipe.
I’ve had the sensation in my knees, it’s kind of a dull pain and is very annoying. I roll every part of my leg twice a week, I need to roll more often though to avoid the dull pain. I would say make sure to hit everything on the body (lower and upper). My hips get really tight as well as my calves, this in turn causes other issues.
Just keep rolling and see if helps. I’ve also started using a ball for my calves and hips for more precise location.
If you do a mild cardiovascular workout b/f weight training you won’t have to train with tight IT bands. As long as you do enough aerobic exercise to get the tissues warmed up you should be able to go through your workout no problem. Then you can foam roll at the end. I’ve done it both ways, I believe it works better if your muscles are already warmed up to get the most out of it though. Or even during your training session, like inbetween squats sets or whatnot.
So my quad rolling routine consists of IT band rolling, VMO rolling, and I also do mid quad rolling (i just stand facing the ground and roll both quads). Is that last one good to do? Feels just as good as the other 2 parts.
[quote]gremlin1267 wrote:
If you’re patella is tracking laterally (away from the midline of the body you should be foam rolling your IT bands often. When the IT band is too tight it pulls the patella out of alignment causing the crunching sound in your knee when it pulls. When you’re knee is crunching that’s not a good sign. By rolling the IT bands out you’re making the tissues stretch out to there ideal length. This will help you’re knee track better over time. Of course it should be severely painful if you have really tight IT bands, almost unbearable. I know I can’t last 60 seconds of IT rolling, it’s just extremely uncomfortable. You may try researching trigger point therapy online too. I have a book on it somewhere, but it has helped me with knee problems.
Suggestions: foam roll daily, all the tight musculature, standing cross legged stretch, glute stretches, inchworms, and spider man stretches. Those will help ease your leg pain considerably.
v/r
Gremlin[/quote]
Another thing you may want to do in addition to the foam rolling is TKEs. Check out this video (and parts 2 and 3) for more info.
Basically if your VMO isn’t firing, that can also lead to tracking issues. Usually these things occur together (VMO not firing and IT band really tight).
