Odd Injury from Hang Cleans

Training Injuries
1

Originally posted in the Oly Lifts forums but was told this would be a better place to post this.

So four days ago from today (the 24th) I did some hang cleans.

Always do warm up sets, and was keeping my working weight light, since my it was my press day and was there for over head pressing.

Did just the bar for maybe 3 sets of 10?
Did maybe 10=15 singles with 55kg.
Working weight was 65kg.
Did 3 sets of 5 for my over head pressing along with about 5-8 singles of hang cleans
Proceed to finish the rest of my pressing on benches. About half an hour.

I wanted to do more hang cleans, so I did maybe 10 singles with 65kg. Really to just work on my form, as I’ve only incorporated cleans into my work out less than a month ago.

Later that night I noticed a sharp pain developing in my upper lower leg. The best way to describe this pain is that it’s coming form the outside part of my lower leg. Right below the outside knee. There is no visible bruising and indication of swelling. I’ve never had a previous injury on my left leg. RICING doesn’t seem to do shit. I only feel the pain when I do a squatting motion and on stairs.

This is my first injury within the 2.5 years that I’ve been seriously lifting. I’ve always been extremely critical of my technique, so I don’t think the injury came from squatting or deadlifting earlier in the week.

I am originally from Hawaii, and in school at seattle, and wednesday was the coldest it has been since I’ve been here. Something I’ve been considering is that my knee’s got cold while benching, and when I went back to cleans, something happened there?

I’ve ordered some blue rehband knee sleeves since then and I’m eager to get back to squating. I’m getting frustrated and worried so I figured I’d ask.

UPDATE:

To be a little more specific about the location of the pain, it feels like it is around my medial hamstring tendon/biceps femoris.

My insurance didn’t when I tried to pick up my prescription meds, so I didn’t want to chance seeing a doctor and have to pay way more money than I have. Luckily I go to an awesome university.

Went to one of the anatomy professors who previously worked as an orthopedic surgeon as well as one of my nursing major friends. I got a pretty similar response, rest, ice, etc. He suspects its a ligament related issue, but nothing serious as there is no visible swelling or inflammation. His response was somewhat limited because he didn’t want to be liable if anything happened.

I’ve noticed the injured leg is getting pretty tight. Especially around the knee area. Is it okay to stretch my leg with kind of injury? I forgot y foam roller at home, so I’ll have to improvise without it. Any input is appreciated!

2

Thinking of getting some floss bands and start doing these? My patella femoral isn’t sore, but it is tight all in that area.

3

[quote]MindBodySwole wrote:
Originally posted in the Oly Lifts forums but was told this would be a better place to post this.

So four days ago from today (the 24th) I did some hang cleans.

Always do warm up sets, and was keeping my working weight light, since my it was my press day and was there for over head pressing.

Did just the bar for maybe 3 sets of 10?
Did maybe 10=15 singles with 55kg.
Working weight was 65kg.
Did 3 sets of 5 for my over head pressing along with about 5-8 singles of hang cleans
Proceed to finish the rest of my pressing on benches. About half an hour.

I wanted to do more hang cleans, so I did maybe 10 singles with 65kg. Really to just work on my form, as I’ve only incorporated cleans into my work out less than a month ago.

Later that night I noticed a sharp pain developing in my upper lower leg. The best way to describe this pain is that it’s coming form the outside part of my lower leg. Right below the outside knee. There is no visible bruising and indication of swelling. I’ve never had a previous injury on my left leg. RICING doesn’t seem to do shit. I only feel the pain when I do a squatting motion and on stairs.

This is my first injury within the 2.5 years that I’ve been seriously lifting. I’ve always been extremely critical of my technique, so I don’t think the injury came from squatting or deadlifting earlier in the week.

I am originally from Hawaii, and in school at seattle, and wednesday was the coldest it has been since I’ve been here. Something I’ve been considering is that my knee’s got cold while benching, and when I went back to cleans, something happened there?

I’ve ordered some blue rehband knee sleeves since then and I’m eager to get back to squating. I’m getting frustrated and worried so I figured I’d ask.

UPDATE:

To be a little more specific about the location of the pain, it feels like it is around my medial hamstring tendon/biceps femoris.

My insurance didn’t when I tried to pick up my prescription meds, so I didn’t want to chance seeing a doctor and have to pay way more money than I have. Luckily I go to an awesome university.

Went to one of the anatomy professors who previously worked as an orthopedic surgeon as well as one of my nursing major friends. I got a pretty similar response, rest, ice, etc. He suspects its a ligament related issue, but nothing serious as there is no visible swelling or inflammation. His response was somewhat limited because he didn’t want to be liable if anything happened.

I’ve noticed the injured leg is getting pretty tight. Especially around the knee area. Is it okay to stretch my leg with kind of injury? I forgot y foam roller at home, so I’ll have to improvise without it. Any input is appreciated![/quote]

Highly doubt you sustained a ligamentous injury without trauma. You originally state you had pain on the outside of the leg then state pain on the medial hamstring, these are contradictory in nature. The pain on the outside may be an IT friction syndrome at its distal attachment as hang cleans involve rapid knee extension from a slightly flexed position. Noble’s compression test is a way to test for it. Please do not foam roll the acute injury. I see this so many times its the new flavor of the day. Foam rolling is better for everyday work and subacute/chronic injuries, not acute inflammatory reactions.

Light stretching is OK, aggressive stretching is contraindicated. Blood flow techniques are effective as well as some light compression.

4

I wish I knew more about anatomy, I was only googling anatomy pics of the knee to help with my description, but it may have only made it harder.

Would it be easier if I posted a picture to the injured area?

Thanks for your input. I will try out the compression test.

5

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Doing a full squat (hamstring touching calves) there is A LOT of tension here. I’m not sure if it’s from the injury, or because I’m adjusting the way I walk with this leg.

6

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The LOWER circled region is where I experience pain when my leg is bent 90* and below. Even while sitting down, having my leg in the air at 90* causes pain.

7

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WOW. I totally just uploaded the wrong picture hahaha. Yeah ignore that. The LOWER circled region is where I experience pain when my leg is bent 90* and below. Even while sitting down, having my leg in the air at 90* causes pain.

8

Struggles of posting from a phone…fuck. haha

9

haha nice upload,

The areas in which your complaining of pain are not typical areas associated with ligamentous damage. As far as the front of the knee I have a few hypotheses, one is that you sustained a bone bruise from the hang cleaning. Bone bruises hurt like a son of a gun and take a substantial amount of time to heal. The second theory would be you may have a patellar tracking issue, the area your complaining of would most likely indicate an abnormal lateral track, you can try gliding the patella medially quite a few times a day as well as stretching your IT band. The last one could be a patellar tendon issue, most likely an acute inflammation from overuse.

The posterior pain is a little more tricky, it could simply just be a hamstring issue or it could be a little bit of a posterolateral meniscal tear.