Tightness/Pain in Knees

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

This week I have begun experiencing what I would call a tightness or inflammation in my left knee. It doesn’t hurt per se, it feels more like a swelling. When I bend the knee it feels very tight and have a reduced ROM due to the tightness. If I try to bend the knee beyond this narrow ROM then I will experience some pain due to the pressure of the swelling or tightness feeling. I am on week 4 of PB3. There was no incident that I can point to that triggered it. It just sort of begun feeling this way randomly one morning, and has gotten slightly worse over the next few days.

I experienced this EXACT same issue with my right knee about 8 months ago (running S3 at the time). In Dec I did a rehab consult with Dr Miles which included the right knee discomfort and some other issues. So, thanks to the consult & BBM content I have an understanding of how work through the issue.

My question is; I have now experienced this issue in both knees separately within a relatively short period of time (8 months) while running different programs and without a discernible triggering event. I would like for this not to be a recurring problem. But without there being some triggering event I’m not sure how to determine what the cause is to avoid it continually recurring. Is this likely just a case of knee tendinopathy that I’ve developed and will just have to work through when it arises?

2

Hi there,

Sorry for the delay here.

Unfortunately based on this history alone it’s quite difficult to provide an explanation for what you’ve experienced here. There may have been some minor trauma that led to a small effusion (accumulation of fluid in the joint), which can sometimes cause this sensation of tightness and range of motion limitation. Or … this could be completely wrong. The description isn’t “textbook” for tendinopathy, but as you might suspect – the specific diagnosis here probably matters much less than 1) the prognosis, and 2) what we should do about it – which you have already learned. Without clear provoking factors that you can identify, our ability to substantially reduce the risk of something like this happening in the future – outside of the usual things we recommend for managing training load/stress – is limited. The good news is that you have the knowledge, skills, and strategies necessary to handle things like this if/when they arise.