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Post by Kenneth Van on Sept 5, 2016 17:34:14 GMT
My name is Kenneth Van and I'm a certified physical therapist with 9 years of experience in sports rehabilitation on multiples levels from recreational, high school, collegiate, to professional.
If you're feeling some lingering athletic-related pain, or if you think you might have an injury, drop me a line, and we'll see if we can't figure out the best course of action to take.
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Post by Tony on Sept 6, 2016 22:12:30 GMT
Hi Ken,
I'm 32 and have a lot of rec basketball mileage on my body over the years (1-2x a week) including some miles from Fastbreak! Recently, my left knee always swells up after I play basketball (Right along the knee cap, northwest quadrant if looking at the knee). The swelling goes down after a few days (I always ice both knees after I play), but while it's swollen, it's difficult for me to fully grab my foot behind me in a front quadriceps stretch. Probably just wear and tear over the years, but curious if you have any advice.
I used to suffer this same type of temporary swelling in my right knee after banging knees a long time ago, but it went away and hasn't recurred much since.
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Post by Kenneth Van on Sept 6, 2016 22:30:06 GMT
Hey Tony, this is Ren Hsieh, speaking on behalf of Ken. We're still working out some kinks for this setup, but I'm glad you found it so quickly.
I'll make sure Ken hits you up as soon as we get this all sorted out, hopefully by tomorrow. Stay tuned, thanks. -- R
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Post by Kenneth Van on Sept 7, 2016 1:38:37 GMT
Tony,
thanks for being to first to ask a question.
Sounds like you are experiencing knee pain due to cartilage degeneration, or as you say, wear and tear. You sound like you've logged some basketball minutes throughout your recreational bball career so my initial assumption is that you've got some wear and tear in your meniscus. The meniscus is basically fibrous cartilage that acts as a shock absorber between your femur (thigh bone) and tibia (shin bone). Over the years you can wear that down and cause some micro trauma, or small damage to the cartilage. Whenever you play ball or even do something active like running or jumping, you are irritating that area causing an inflammatory process. This is probably why you are getting pain and swelling in the knee afterwards, but goes away in a few days with ice and rest. When the knee is swollen, bending the knee all the way, like when stretching the quads, will definitely cause an increase in pain.
You're too old to have arthritis and if you don't have pain with things like going up/down stairs or squatting down you can make the assumption that its not a tendonosis either. To prevent the knee pain after playing bball, i would suggest getting on a strengthening program. The stronger the leg muscles are the less pressure you'll have on the cartilage in the knee. You'll need to also do a lot of stretching prior to playing and maintenance work such as resting and icing as needed.
if you have any more questions let me know
ken
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Post by Louis Konig on Sept 7, 2016 16:55:26 GMT
Hey Ken! Thanks for taking the time to answer questions! I've developed nagging left knee pain that's been diagnosed as Patellar Tendonitis. Running doesn't bother me much, but any bending gives me some discomfort, which often mostly goes away once I'm warmed up. What are the best exercises for strengthening the muscles and reducing the stress on the tendon? Also, my personal experience is that massaging that area (to the point where I'm pressing and it hurts) actually helps a lot. I do this at least twice a day for about 15 minutes. Am I crazy doing that, or you think that is helpful in treatment?
Thanks for any assistance!
Lou
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Post by Kenneth Van on Sept 8, 2016 3:07:43 GMT
Lou,
Patellar tendonitis can present itself in a lot of ways. Some people have pain running (they call it runners knee), some have it with weight bearing activities such as going up stairs and jumping. Tendonitis is a result of overuse to a tendon causing some micro trauma. Tendonitis doesn't typically happen over night, usually someone is already stressing the tendon prior to you actually feeling the pain.
The fact that it doesn't happen with running is a good thing meaning that one less activity cause pain. When you bend down, like squatting or kneeling down, you do put stress on the knee and potentially stressing the patellar tendon leading to pain. First thing you always do with tendonitis is find out what causes pain. If bending down irritates the patellar tendon then you have to limit that movement. Usually that means not putting stress on your knee with activities such as kneeling, lunging down to tie your shoes, or doing improper movements such as squatting with bad form. Rubbing the patellar tendon is both good and bad. The good is that you're probably warming up the tissue and bring blood to the area making it feel better and less irritate. The rubbing can help break down some of the damaged tissue which might be causing some of the discomfort. The bad is that you could be prolonging the problem. Think about a bug bite. If you continue to scratch it, it will probably get worse. It would be okay to rub the area, just don't rub so hard that it hurts.
With my patents, i find the best treatment is a combination of rest, ice, stretching, and strengthening. Resting and avoiding those activities that cause the tendonitis to get worse is the first thing that you have to do. Limiting the amount of times you irritate it gives your body a better chance at healing the area. Stretching is very important. The patellar tendon is attached the the knee cap which is attached to the quadriceps muscle. If you have tight quads, you're basically pulling the knee cap up towards the hip and stomach causing a tug on the patellar tendon, leading to stress in the area. Strengthening is probably the most improvement thing in the long term. A lot of people know that you need to strengthen the muscle around the knee in order to prevent tendonitis from happening, but they always assume that means doing a lot of quadriceps work. One of the most improvement areas to strengthen are the hips, especially the glute muscles. The stronger the hips are, the less pressure in the knee. Exercises to avoid initially are leg extensions and deep squats. Leg lifts are great, along with hamstring curls, hip abduction and adduction machines. Balance training is also great at building more stability in the knee and hip region. Things like squats and lunges are good, but you need to have good form. If you can't do them right, its best to avoid them initially.
i hope that helps.
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Post by gritty24 on Sept 8, 2016 13:31:59 GMT
Hey Ken,
I sprained my thumb last night playing ball. Got it snagged on someones jersey. There is swelling and redness on the thumb bone (an inch north of where the wrist starts) and swelling on the inside of my hand (soft mushy part)in the area b/w the thumb and wrist. I can barely grip my key to turn to open my door lock. I've been icing it but is there anything else I should be doing? Are there any exercises I can do once the swelling goes down? What is the eta before I can start playing again?
Thanks Ken.
EJK
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Post by Kenneth Van on Sept 9, 2016 1:35:51 GMT
EJK,
first off, stop letting guys drive by you so you have to grab their jersey to stop them.
you definitely have a thumb sprain and since you did it 24hrs ago there isn't much that you can do now. The thumb and hand are going to be swollen for 1-2 weeks. The thumb is going to get more stiff and probably hurt if you try to move it around too much. You're going to also get some weakness in the thumb making it hard to grip and hold things. I would just keep icing and avoid using it. Throughout the day you can try to massage the "soft mushy" part of the hand around the thumb joint to get some of the swelling out. Just avoid using the thumb for now. Not really any exercises you can do.
You probably won't feel comfortable playing for at least 2 weeks (but if you have playoff game this weekend please consult your PT). Its going to be hard to palm the ball and shoot. If you play too early, you risk having your thumb get hit and making the sprain worse. If its a bad sprain, you could be looking at over a month before you feel 100%. If the pain doesn't significantly get better by 4 weeks, you'll probably have to go see a doctor.
ken
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Post by Tony on Sept 22, 2016 22:59:17 GMT
Ken and Ren,
Thanks for the advice! Sounds like I need to hit the gym - are the muscles I should emphasize the same muscle groups you highlighted to Lou above? Hips and hamstrings?
Great resource. Thanks for setting this and Fastbreak up for us, Ken and Ren.
TW
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Post by Ken on Oct 20, 2016 22:16:19 GMT
What's up fellas. Just wanted to post a question of my own and see what the opinions are.
With all these new basketball shoes coming out, I wanted to know what players thought were the best ones out now. With the new Kyrie 2, Lebron soldiers, Steph curry"s, etc all coming out, there are more options than ever.
So the question is, which shoes would you recommend players get?
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Post by nlcoolj21 on Oct 21, 2016 14:14:54 GMT
Hey Ken,
I'm 29 and ball and lift a lot. i wake up most mornings with lower back pain, which is a recent problem that seems to be getting slightly worse over time. the pain usually goes away as the day goes on but typically starts again toward the end of the day and each morning. It isn't accute or sharp pain so i'm guessing its muscle related. Do you know of any stretches or things i can start doing to alleviate? Or should i see a chiropractor?
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Post by kenneth van on Oct 24, 2016 1:49:26 GMT
Sounds like you have muscle soreness and fatigue. If you're waking up with pain that means your lower back muscles are tightening up when you're sleeping. Something good to do is spend about 10 minutes stretching your lower back and legs. Some easy stretches would consist of stretching the hamstrings, quads, and glute muscles. This should decrease the amount of lower back pain in the morning. The fact that your lower back hurts at the end of the day means those muscle are probably getting fatigue. To address this you need to increase your core work. Strengthening your abs, glute muscles and lower legs is the way to go. Crunches, planks, leg lifts are good exercises, and squats, leg press, leg extension/curls are really good to. Chiropractic care probably won't address your underlying issue. You could do to one and get treatment, but you'll probably only feel better for a day or 2 and then your pain will come back. The best thing to do is to actually see a PT to help you address these issues. This type of pain is easily addressed, but if you don't, it could be a worse problem in the future.
If you go to perfectfithealth.com and type in the code below you can follow the exercises and stretches which will help. Pick a few to do and see how you feel. If anything hurts just stop and move to another exercise. code: ZSW6471
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Post by Max Ruffin JL on Oct 27, 2016 0:04:54 GMT
After the last game I've been experiencing pain in my upper inner thigh closest to my pelvis , mostly when I walk or try to lift my leg. The muscle seems to hurt and it is uncomfortable for me to stand on one leg or do most things on that leg , what do you think could be the issue
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Post by Kenneth Van on Oct 27, 2016 1:41:09 GMT
Max,
sounds like you have a hip abductor strain or in other words a groin strain. There are 3 abductor muscles that run from the pelvis thru the inner thigh and down to the inside of the knee. You'll need to rest the leg and avoid strenuous exercise and excessive movements. Icing the painful area and taking some over the counter medication should help. If the pain gets worse just reach out to me I can help to reassess issue.
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Post by Kevin on Feb 5, 2017 12:22:01 GMT
Hi Ken, I think I have a strained tricep tendon, most likely from overuse. I use to lift and ball a lot. Now I can't lift as much and the movement of the arm is limited. The elbow locks up time to time when doing a curling motion, mostly when doing a negative. This affects my shooting as well, limits my follow through. What do you recommend to fix the issue as far as rest and excercise?
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