Elliptical after knee injury- how to not injure other leg?

[crisw]

A little background first-

I am a 45 year old, significantly overweight woman who is trying valiantly to get into better shape!

A year and a half ago, I had surgery to remove torn cartilage from underneath my left patella; the orthopedist at the time warned that there is still significant cartilage damage left; he just "smoothed things out."

About six weeks ago, I started working out on an ellpitical as well as a home gym. Things were going great- no significant pain, and after a few sessions I was halfway to my goal of 30 min. on the elliptical.

One day, I was simply sitting at my desk when I got up and had significant, severe knee pain on the inner aspect of my left knee. I took it easy, but the pain only got worse over the next two days. A little research showed my symptoms were consistent with a medial collateral ligament injury, so in to the doctor I went. MCL injury was what it was. No real idea what caused it. I was just given the advice of "take it easy for 6 weeks"- I had to figure out on my own to get a knee brace and use it, what kinds of exercises I can do to strengthen the knee, etc! I love Kaiser...

So here I am a month later. I gradually got back to exercising and I am where I was before I left off. I wear a brace on the left knee, and I have no pain or instability in my left knee at all during exercise- as long as I wear the brace.

So the problem is that, on the elliptical, I am having a lot of pain in the muscles of my right leg now. It seems to be primarily in the upper calf, back of the knee, and hamstrings; it starts soon after I begin exercising and continues and gets worse as long as I exercise. It is a dull to slightly sharp, muscular pain. It subsides as soon as I am done. In addition, my right knee does a lot of clicking while I am exercising.

I notice the same pains and clicking going up or down stairs.

I did not have these pains when I first got back on the elliptical; they are getting worse over time.

I am wondering if this could be caused by some imbalance related to my left knee being braced? Should I also brace the right knee? Should I be concerned about the pain, since it seems muscular rather than joint pain? What about the clicking knee?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated- I've been meeting my exercise goals for a month and want to continue!

[nrt4golf]

Hi there...first things first, stop using the elliptical. Pain is literally an alarm telling you that something's not right. Too often people discount pain (as you stated) because it's just muscular and not joint. Do you know that the only things that make that joint work are muscles? It sounds like you have developed a pretty severe MUSCULAR imbalance as a result of compensating (favoring) the bad leg for so long. Now you have a "new" firing pattern.

You need to try and RELEASE your quads, ITB, and hamstrings. Chances are your calf pain is just a byproduct of your upper leg imbalance. Get a foam roller and hammer on your lateral quads and IT band. If you hit the right spots you'll know it and it should do a pretty good job getting you back in action.

Try a recumbent bike instead of the elliptical until you can get some relief. It's still allot of knee us, but a little less weight bearing.

Hope this help!

[crisw]

Thanks for the reply.

The recumbent bike really isn't an option- I don't have one and I am out in the country! I will try the foam roller. Are there any recommendations for advice on exercises I can do on a cable machine? I have a Hoist H210 home gym with leg press; I have been doing leg presses, toe presses, standing calf raises and lying calf raises.

If I am still wearing the left knee brace when things get better, should I brace the right knee as well on the elliptical to avoid unusual strain?

[UConnJulie]

Are you stretching at all?