Topic: Knee Pain

[Andy Dick]

Ok I mentioned this in another post but I want some opinions on possible causes.

Back Story
About 2 months ago I had to stop lifting because I had a great deal of pain in the front of my knee.  I figured I was battling patellar tendonitis and the pain was so great I had to take some time off.  I was also getting some pain and a popping sensation medially in my quad right by my knee cap about the time of the popping started my knee swelled some.  Prior to that, I had been dealing with the pain for so many months that I lost track.  1 week post break my knee was feeling better but my hamstrings were hurting me and were tight.  I had an athletic trainer look at them and he said they were both strained.  He suggested I take another week off to work that problem out.  Following this he cleared me to start squatting and doing RDLs.  I lifted for about 4 weeks and my strength was coming back.  After the 4 weeks I got married and took another 5 days off.  When I started lifting again my strength took a little hit (a little hit from my starting back strength/overall strength took a big hit) but my legs felt better.

Where I Am At Now
Wednesday following the honeymoon because there was no pain in my knees I was cleared to start doing Olympic lifting.  That day I did split jerks and snatch pulls with no problem in my knees.  Friday I did front squats and it was extremely hard and my form suffered some.  Saturday my knee was bothering me in the front again and I was getting a little popping in my quad again.  I did not lift at all on Saturday or Sunday.  This morning the front of my knee was still a little sore.  I did snatches at a light to moderate weigh of 40, 50, 60, 60, 65, 65.  First 3 were triples, second three were doubles.  My knee felt fine.  Following this I did back squats.  I was doing triples but the first set I got -1 the second set I got -2.  At this point I just stopped because at the start of squats my knee was bothering me in the front again.  Following the squats I am getting some popping in my quad again.

What's The Cause?
When I was squatting (during my time coming back from the break) I had a strength coach watch my squats and he said it seemed like at the bottom right before I came up I shifted my weight forward and pushed my knees forward slightly.  He said that this might be the cause of my knee pain.  What do you all think about what is causing me problems?

I never seemed to have problems with pain prior to this.  To fix my squatting at the bottom I try to focus on pushing through my heels; this eliminates the shift but what this does is it seems to straighten my knees faster than my torso causing me to have more of a forward lean.  This makes the lift harder and seems to put more pressure on my back causing some rounding.  It also makes front squatting harder because the lean makes me drop my elbows and screws up my form.  Is this a good thing to be doing and is it I am just struggling because I am just so weak from taking the time off and the form is new to me?

Please get back to me because I am hesitant to keep doing leg/Olympic work if I am going to injure or reinjure myself.  Right now I have decided not to lift any legs again until the pain subsides (hopefully Wed).

[Matt Erdman]

Sounds like rectus femoris issue. Do you know how to test them to see if they are too tight?

Your squat form should look the same going up as going down. Don't try to push your knees further forward or back during the ascent until you are above parallel.

You should looking to myofascial release or ART.

[Tom Sherwood]

maybe you could post an old video of your squat or a new one with some light weight?

[Andy Dick]

I don't have any video.  Next time I squat I will get one and post it on here.

As far as testing tightness goes not sure.  Standing quad stretch I can touch my heel to my butt easily.  Lying stretch with a rope I can get my quad pretty far off the ground.

I do a great deal of foam rolling I roll out my legs quite extensively every time before I do any leg lifts.  Even lately since I took the 2 weeks off I heat every day and do a light warm-up jog before even doing specific warm-ups on the lifts.

[Ryan Clark]

I believe I have the exact same problem. I would post a video if i could. Would love to hear some advice.

[James A. Naples Jr.]

Hey Brother.   I think there could be a few things going on.  I will share what i think. . . well from my experience. I have been lifting off and on for the past ten years.   First thing is first. Olympic Lifting is a very tough sport and takes a good amount of time to get use to the movements and condition the body.  You will see many individuals who are gun hoe and then just fade right out and eventually quit.  Now are you wrapping your knees?  My coach was an old russian olympic lifter who taught us a lot of little tricks.  He would have us wrap right under our knees as a preventative measure.  Plus wrapping the knees help keep them warm and the tendons and ligaments nice and compact.  Then i would say look at some good programing ideas.  If you are just starting out you might want to do some higher reps to get the form down and build a good base strength for yourself.   ANd you then as you progress you can arrange your program so you have ample amount of rest between squatting days.   Are you using lifting shoes?  The shoes will give you stability and balance in the squatting.  Now when you go down in the squat. . You are staying tight, big chest up right position. . . Tight like a coil ready to spring up!  As you are coming up and the weight gets heavy where you feel you might break position or lean forward. . . YOu have to kick your hips and ass inward or forward.   Using your legs!  YOu should feel your thighs and core working.    Another thing might be positioning of your feet.  You want your feet to be slightly pointed out.  I mean there are exceptions to all the rules.   But these are some basic things that i have learned.     Let me know if any of this helped.   Just be patient and don't rush and hurry to squat heavy.  It takes times to build up.      James

[Owen Duguay]

Excellent reply Mr Naples.   Most of the lifters that I see training ,  space their squatting stance the width of their hips.     

[Andy Dick]

Here is video from squatting today.  The first 2 reps are my regular squatting, the seceond 2 reps are squatting trying to push through my heals.  I also included front squats the same 2 and 2 format.  Following is a heavier set of squats and then a heavier set of front squats.  Today during and after lifting my knees did feel better.  Also, I am not brand new to olympic liftings I am maybe about 5 years into it.  I have never had issues with my knees until before I had to take the time off.  As you can see from the video I wear lifting shoes and I also do the toe pointed slightly out stance as recommended.  Oh and my programs are written by John Thrush so they are pretty good.  Recently I have just been doing my own programs but it is just squatting monday/thursday till my knee is better.

Squats.wmv