Knee soreness

[Mixxster]

I've never had a knee injury but I have been experiencing soreness for a few weeks. I don't have actual pain but both my knees feel sore, although I notice my left knee more when I'm exercising.

When I do split squats, for example, and my left knee is back I have a harder time bending it and going down all the way. I also recently noticed that sometimes when I'm doing freehand squats to warmup that my body seems to shift toward the right rather than going straight down.

Just for the record, I am 53. Does anyone have any suggestions of exercises I can do that will possibly help the situation?

[UConnJulie]

It might help if you answered the questions for us in the sticky at the top of the subforum ...

What's your range of motion non-weightbearing? In other words, can you pull your heel toward your butt on that side?

[Mixxster]

1. When did the pain begin? A few weeks ago or longer.

2. What were you doing at the time? Or did the pain come on gradually over time?
As I mentioned before I did not have a specific injury- it was gradual.

3. Where, anatomically, is the pain? Knee, and it's more soreness and lack of mobility (in the left) than pain.

4. What does the pain feel like? Sharp? Dull? Aching? Stabbing? Shooting? When I do a Split Squat, I notice a very minor dull pain at the top of my left knee and have a hard time getiing that knee down all the way.

5. Is the pain constant, or intermittent, or only on certain motions? The soreness is fairly constant; the dull pain only occurs with the Split Squats or Lunges.

6. What motions make your pain worse? Lunges, Split Squats

7. What, if anything, makes your pain better? Not doing those movements.

8. Does your pain radiate to any other part of your body? No.

9. What things could you do before, that you cannot do now because of your injury?
There is nothing that I am totally unable to do because of my knees.

10. What is your main concern regarding the pain and its consequences? I want to be able to continue doing all the exercises I've always been able to do.

11. Have you ever injured that part of your body before? If so, how? No.

12. Is your pain getting worse over time? And if so, how much worse over what time period? It is not getting any worse.

[Mixxster]

Oops, forgot to answer this:

What's your range of motion non-weightbearing? In other words, can you pull your heel toward your butt on that side?

I can't do real low squats (never could) but I have no problem touching my heel to my butt with either leg. You do mean left hand holding left foot and coming straight up, right?

Maybe I should also add that my knees have crunched for at least 12 years but I've always read that as long as they don't hurt, not to worry about it.

[UConnJulie]

Sounds like you have some inflammation going on ... I would recommend icing after your workouts, and spend some time stretching your quads and hamstrings before and after workouts. Also make sure your glutes are firing well (add bridging and other glute activation exercises into your warm up) as it sounds like they might be slacking and your quads are taking over too much of the work. Make sure your lunge form is good ... read this article by Mike Robertson ...

[Mixxster]

Julie,

Thanks for taking the time to respond. My lunge form is good- my stance is fairly long, I don't lean forward and I always push through the heel.

I concentrate on compound movements; I've done almost no leg isolation work in a long time. In fact, because I am constantly pushing through my heels on squats, lunges, etc., I was wondering if it could be my quads that need strengthening.

I did read the Robertson article (actually, I reread it because I'd seen it before).

[UConnJulie]

It certainly could be ... do you always do back squats or do you do front squats too?
Often the site of pain is not the location of the dysfunction, just where the breakdown is occurring ... I would still bet on glute weakness/poor activation.

[Mixxster]

There is no Olympic bar at my gym (only have a Smith Machine) so I do D.B. Squats.

I'll incorporate more glute work.

Thanks.