Knee Pain

[JoJo]

I have been fencing for a little over three weeks now and I have been having increasingly severe knee pain in my back leg.

Any suggestions or tips?

Thanks!

[sdcox]

Here are a few suggestions.

1. If you haven't already, have someone check your form when fencing. Now's the time to make sure you're not developing bad footwork habits that could cause pain or - even worse - bad fencing.

2. Your back knee is getting lots of new kinds of forces exerted on it. Joints aren't made to handle forces. That's the job of all the little muscles around them. So if your knee is causing you pain, it's letting you know that the muscles around your knee need to be stronger. (Of course, you may be more comfortable talking to a doctor or physical therapist person before taking my advice here. But it was given to me by a doctor to reduce and prevent knee pain caused by fencing.) The classic exercise is to sit on the ground with your legs extended. Tighten the quadricep of your back leg and then lift your leg off the ground making sure to keep your knee straight. You tighten your quad first so you can't use it as much to lift - you have to use all the little knee parts instead. Do 2 or 3 sets of 10 without weights. Later you may want to add ankle weights, and consider working both knees.

3. Ice is your friend.

Hope this helps,
Susan

[Zelda]

JoJo, if its getting worse go see a physiotherapist....sounds like a medial ligament tear. I know, I just had one and a very long and intense discussion with my physio as to how to prevent it happening again. Basically you got to get more movement in your abbductors and less in the actual ligament.

[Lumberg]

Have you ever injured your knee? Where is the pain: in the back of the knee, below the knee cap, behind the knee cap, on the side of the knee, elsewhere? Is the pain prevalent when lunging, retreating, advancing, just standing in the en garde position, after fencing an hour, other situation? Is the pain constant or is it just when lunging, or retreating, or advancing? Are you physically active in other sports? How old are you? I would just like to know more in order for me and others to possibly help. The information you gave wasn't enough.


[This message has been edited by Lumberg (edited 11-10-2000).]

[TKay]

aka JoJo

Sorry about the lack of info before. No previous knee injury. 29 years old. Somewhat physically active. The pain is located more toward the outside or back of the knee and seems to become more pronounced when retreating. By the end of an hour long practice the whole knee feels completely weak, but only actually hurts when moving. Thank you for the help so far.

Tkay aka JoJo

[Lumberg]

Hmmm, going by what you've told me, I find it very odd that you have never injured your knee before. You've only done fencing for three weeks and your knee is in pain from retreating kind of hints that something was damaged previously.
Two options are 1. see an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine or 2. start weight lifting concentrating on building both quad and hamstring strength.
Also, have the instructor (or an experienced fencer) watch your footwork while fencing. You may be positioning your feet incorrectly. But even then, I don't think that would cause major knee pain.

[This message has been edited by Lumberg (edited 11-13-2000).]

[Spruce Branch]

Suggestions: first, see a doctor. Any advice I give is only an adjunct to that.

Second, try this exercise: Kneel down on a soft surface, with one knee up. Keep the foot pointing in EXACTLY the same direction as the knee. Push hips toward knee that us up, causing a squat onto that knee (with most of your weight on knee that is on ground). Do 3 sets of 12-16. Once that becomes easy, try tucking your butt a bit to push the knee ahead. Also, make sure that the foot is placed far enough forward or back; it should be no farther forward than below the midpoint of the thigh during the full squat.

Third, check your stance. Foot pointing in EXACTLY the same direction as the bending knee points is GOOD, anything else can cause knee and ankle problems. Also, is your foot flat on ground, balanced on the ball, or are you on tippy-toes?