Hello guys, I decided to embark on the knee rehab template back in November when the area below the left kneecap became too painful to lift while on an LP. I had Osgoods as a kid and the lump there is fairly impressive- but after chatting here and being reassured I knew that the template was the way forward and it was tendons that needed strengthening.
The onset of the principle pain that got me on the template was gradual and indeed there has always been some tenderness there since starting lifting a year or two back- I really noticed it when getting stairs fitted at home when I got my loft converted last year as lame as that sounds) so I kind of ignored it until it became too painful to squat heavy.
However, there is also another pain that has been present in the inside of my knee, the MCL/head of the quad/top of the shin area, since around the summer last year- while the original pain that I started the knee template for has abated as expected, this secondary pain has developed, and since around the time I started the rehab I have been aware of a catching sensation that initially eased then returned with a vengeance when increasing intensity to approaching bodyweight during the knee template.
There was an incident during the summer last year when I bollocksed up a pistol squat and felt a nasty painful “squish” sensation in the side of the knee. It hurt, but it didn’t feel like I’d really put the kybosh on my knee at all and I was back squatting normally under the bar within a few days. The knee might have felt a bit loose and jangly afterwards for a few weeks. Possibly “catching”. Sure, it could be a result of that… I’m starting to become skeptical of this though as my right knee is beginning to sound a little snappy too over the last few days although it is not “catching” anything like the left.
I have been doing the template since November, so as you can imagine I have had to go back several times to repeat a week because of this side of the knee pain cropping up. Although I’m getting sick of tempos, that’s life- it’s really the catching knee thing that is doing my head in. Typically, if my knee is bent a little such as driving or sitting at a desk, it also feels like it “slips out of place” when I rotate a little on the leg, and lately even when walking occasionally, I will extend the leg and the knee will snap and it will feel “back on track”. When walking if I don’t perform this manoeuvre when it’s required it gets a bit uncomfortable.
My related activities are, a desk job, and the knee template that’s pretty much it.
I’ve not been short of narratives:
Wearing anti pronation insoles in my 20s and 30s has made the joint out of whack - skeptical
My squat is shit - possible but I’m fairly sure it’s not dangerous and it might even be quite nice
I knackered the knee doing that bloody pistol squat - stranger things have happened
I am getting the RPE wrong on the template, perhaps overloading the bar when progressing from 12s to 10s and so on (I did find that transition difficult) and consequently rushing my tempo squats as I increase the intensity, thereby negating the principle of the rehab
I’d say the smart money is on the final explanation- although I’ve only caught myself rushing a couple of times on the last squat or two of an RPE 9 or 10 and I thought I’d more or less had it locked down. It’s possible I’m getting so thirsty to get out of tempo land I’m stitching myself up subconsciously.
Whaddaya reckon?