basic advice / knee pain

[jimd]

hello folks. great forum here last year i quit smoking and vowed to get into better shape. leading up to that point by adjusting my diet i lost about 25 lbs. i was afraid of weight gain associated with quitting smoking, as i gained about 30 lbs in a month last time i tried to quit, so to avoid this, i started working out more often. i did that too abruptly i guess. prior to quitting, was working out about 2-3x/wk, some weights, about 20 mins cardio. i increased this to 5-7x wk of 20 mins cardio, and on some days, mostly upper body basic lifting (curls, military press, triceps, crunches) i learned from a friend of mine.

after only a few weeks, i developed patellofemoral syndrome. tried switching to the arm-bike machine to be able to maintain some kind of aerobic exercise. that led to bicipital tendonitis. went to a rehab doctor, started PT, was recommended to do reclining bike. after that i developed a psoas strain. at that point which was several months ago, i was really only donig about 15 mins and i'd get either the knee or back pain, depending on the exercise.

i did the PT exercises religiously, would get electrical simulation 2x / wk and would stretch for almost an hour every day. not much improvement.

frustrated i took 2 months off from working out. i went back to smoking amidst some personal problems, but did manage to quit again. in spite of not doing anything for 2 months, i can still only tolerate about 10 minutes of any kind of cardio before getting knee pain (or pain in my back related to straining the psoas, spine is ok, had an MRI). i've tried slightly uphill brisk walking, completely flat brisk walking trying to get HR > 100, reclining bike, upright bike, swimming (bothers shoulder), ellipitical. i can never reach a level of exertion where my hr gets above 100 and after about 10 mins, the knee begin to hurt.

question is - any other suggestions for a way of burning calories, maintaining weight, thats not going to exacerbate these problems? should i continue to use one of the methods i've already tried, and just stop when it starts to hurt? right now i'm using a site called coreperformance.com 's core strengthening exercises 5x / wk (takes about 20 mins) with rare attempts at cardio, and i lift 3x / wk for about 15 mins. i am afriad i'm not burning many calories so i'll end up putting on fat. i eat a pretty good diet, follow their nutritional plan reasonably well (5 small meals / day, high protein). maybe i just need to get used to the fact that it'll hurt to do cardio, and just deal with it - if thats the case, i can do that, i'm just worried i'll worsen the ptfs if i di.

right now i'm 5'6" about 135. its been a year since developing pain now. i am going back to PT, but it wasn't all that helpful last time around. the pain is never terrible, but it worries me that it may get worse if i do things that will exacerbate it, and i've definately never had any pain like this before.

thanks for any suggestions you can come up with.

 

[DweamGoiL]

Since Yo Yo-Ing Weight...

from 217 to 160 and then back to 205 to now 172.2 + 2 children, my knees took a big beating. I have Runner's Knee. This condition was greatly exacerbated by my flat feet and all day sitting desk job. By the time I began hitting the gym, I could not walk for more than a few hours without my knee and the base of my quads where the knee is attached throbbing in pain. I began wearing a cho-pat knee brace and easing into aerobic classes, such as cardio-kickboxing. It took me a while to build the endurance and when they jump, I run in place or move from side to side, sometimes I shuffle, but I modify the accommodate my knee. There are ways to modify exercises to get the cardio benefits and not bang up your knees.

In between classes, I did a lot of work with the step. I would climb up and down with a medicine ball to get the knee to be able to bear some weight, squats, lunges (at first the knee was not very flexible at all, but later began loosening up), side lunges, and some plies, horse stance, and finishing off with the bike or elliptical. These exercises are done as a circuit, so I do about 10-15 reps of each and move on to the next exercise, no rest in between so it also offers the cardio benefit. Trust me doing 2 circuits will definitely get your heart pumping.

Don't ever skip or skimp on the stretching. I later discovered I had some issues with a stiff Iliotibial band so I pay special attention to that when stretching. I also found consistency is key. If I skip a week of working on the legs, I feel it the next time I try working out...my mobility diminishes slightly when I get lazy. Before beginning to work on my knee, I had issues with arthritis in that joint and that has now gone away. I am no longer able to tell when it's gonna rain

The first month or so, everytime I would leave one of the cardio classes, I had to head straight for the couch and elevate the knee for an hour or two. I even felt the pain from my glutes through my lower back and in the back of my knee, but as I continued doing it, the pain began to subside as the muscles got stronger and looser, and the tendons thickened. I do believe adequate rest is crucial between activity, but to give up activity entirely is not the answer.

Eventhough I don't really need the brace anymore, I still wear it just in case. The last thing I want to do is not step correctly and be out of commission for weeks on end.

Hope this helps!