On the topic of Knees

[Nathan_E]

Hey Doctors,

I did “something” to my knee during a soccer game last November. Walked off the field after a sub and attempted one of those standing leg stretches:

It felt like something “clicked” and there was instant knee pain. The pain caused by impact from running was completely non-negotiable immediately after this “click” and I have not played soccer since with variable knee pain since then. The interesting thing was I could still squat, and decided to do a proper run at SSLP and am currently in week 6 of The Bridge and have gone from squatting 180x5 bone on bone to hitting a 290 single @8 since the injury, though general knee pain persists.

I notice sharp pain mostly when walking up steep inclines (lets say, a hill) and walking down flights of stairs, I can tolerate sprinting in a straight line for brief periods of time but have issues with hard stops and pivots. Though it is tolerable and I am trying to “work through it”, I am guessing it is some sort of meniscus issue.

### The question:

Does avoiding surgery and squatting huge work miracles? Or I guess, am I participating in some sort of long term self destructive action by not getting this checked for potential fear of being stonewalled by a surgery?

[Austin_Baraki]

Continued exercise can help many issues, and often helps people avoid surgery. I do not think you are actively doing harm to yourself by training.

With that said, if you’ve had continuous symptoms for 7-8 months that are not improving, it may be wise to get checked out by a sports medicine physician.

[Nathan_E]

Thanks! After finding out all doctors are not made equal I’ve been turned off the idea of just throwing this on the lap of my family doctor. I’ll hunt for a legit sports clinic.