18 Tips for Bulletproof Knees. Gotta get past a mildly grisly knee surgery photo to read the whole thing. The timing of #3 and #14 were quite amazing to me, as I just this weekend attended an open house at my NMT friend's practice. She works with a PT who did an injury Q&A, and it was very interesting, especially since I had the guy to myself for part of it, so got some one-on-one attention. We didn't go into great depth (I was only had him to myself for about 20 minutes), but it was very informative nonetheless. We talked about my weak ankles, creaky knees, shin splints, achilles, etc. (basically every lower-leg aliment in the book, it feels like). He was pretty keen on blaming my flexibility. I was kinda skeptical, as I stretch pretty regularly, and have made good strides in my flexibility, but he put me through a few basic tests, and sure enough, I failed. Not miserably, but pretty typically.

Anyway, the first test he had me do was that "modified Thomas Test" in #14! One thing they don't tell you in the article is that you really want to hug both knees as tightly to your chest as you can, and then drop the one knee, keeping the other knee pulled tight. Otherwise it's easier to fudge. Failing this test (as I did) makes some sense with the behind-the-kneecap pain (as I have), as the muscle basically keeps your kneecap "strapped down" too tight (that's my understanding, anyway). Anyway, might be worth trying the test on yourself if you're having similar issues.

(A fun aside: this PT also told a story about a trainer he knew for an NFL team. They'd have open calls, where they'd bring in hundreds of athletes and give them a look. This guy would just go down the line and look at the way guys were put together, and pick a handful out of hundreds to take a closer look at. This was without watching any of them do anything! Like checking the confirmation of a horse. The thing that stuck with me was this line: "Pronators? Forget about it, go home." Dang.)

Damn, the "injuries" section of this site is getting long! I should call it "Limping & Whining Fitness". Anyway, in the interest of sharing every little thing, I am quite prone to pain behind the kneecaps, a condition that worsens the more often and vigorously I exercise. I've generally been able to control it with diligent icing, but lately it's been getting worse. Doing that thing I do, some quick Googling turned up a likely candidate "Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome". I realize this is a fancy way of saying "it hurts behind the kneecap" so wasn't too optimistic about finding a cut-and-dried cure. This review by Mark S. Juhn for the American Academy of Family Physicians was very interesting nonetheless. I'm going to choose to believe it's this rather than chondromalacia ("actual fraying and damage to the underlying patellar cartilage"). Still a bummer though, as it's impossible to get a good lower-body workout without lots of knee flexion.

Ah yes, the vaguely defined condition and treatment. Just like my other bugaboo, shin splints. It's probably the same biomechanical problem (whatever it is) hitting me two different ways.

A teammate of mine recently had knee surgery, and was given a DonJoy Iceman to aid his recovery. He loaned it to me for my sprained ankle, and it's great! Just fill it with ice water, wrap the pad around the body part you want to chill, and relax. You can just leave the thing on for hours (although you can set the dial cold enough to be dangerous at such durations, I think). The unit appears to cost around $200 new, but happily seems to be well-represented on eBay. With some luck you could score one in the $50-70 range. This is very expensive when compared to the normal cost ($0) of icing an injury, but would definitely be worth it for major rehab projects, trainers, or teams. And my ankle is very, very happy to have a loaner unit.