[haydn jones]

I'm getting really sorry knees lately has anyone had any luck with knee supports?

[k2ted]

Was advised against this as the patella needs to support itself and they get used to supports. My physio had me doing part one leg squats and step ups/ downs onto a box, chair or something similar. My left knee has a torn meniscus and physio has helped, but not cured it. Being 48 doesn’t help.

Sure somebody more knowledgable will be along shortly.

[SamT]

Very interested in this thread.  Very worried about my knees at the moment.

I blame lots of stupid really high rockovers that seem to be a feature of most of the problems at the Works this winter. 

I've always been very good at them (ahem  ), due to having generally good flexibility, especially in the hip area so tend to try quite hard on them.

Worried about my left knee which is sore a lot of the time and now I cant squat down on that knee (daren't fully commit to a one legged squat in it (fine on the right side).  I used to be able to pistol squat at will a couple of years ago.

Have got physio apt booked, but my sports massage person mentioned meniscus/arthritis,   

At least I'm not booked for a weeks snowboarding in feb.... oh 

[k2ted]

Interesting on the rock overs. I blame years of jumping down, so always climb down now.

[SamT]

I think its definitely (for me anyway) a product of just pulling in really hard, be it a heal hook, or just pulling over with your hamstrings onto a high foothold.

(and being 46 having spent my youth skateboarding, millions of ollies etc, oh and a decade where I went caving twice a week, so lots of crawing about on hard stone).

Never been a runner, but got into a bit of orienteering over the last couple of years (just short 3k stuff), but have had to give that up this year.

Will report back what the physio has advised, but I'm forecasting some knee strengthening exercises, theraband work, stretches etc.

[duncan]

There is some evidence that knee supports or strapping can improve pain and joint position sense in the short term. Evidence is lacking regarding whether knee supports really do cause the supporting muscles to ‘become lazy’ but it’s a commonly belief. I wouldn’t expect knee supports to be have much long-term effect but there is currently no evidence either way so I could very well be wrong.

For skinny legged boulderers, being able to do a single leg squat should be a minimum requirement. If regularly jumping off highballs, you should have some serious leg power work in the bank.

Effective non-surgical treatments for knee osteoarthritis, high-quality evidence of at least some effect:
Exercise ie quads. strengthening.
Weight-loss if overweight
Fish oils
Hyaluronic acid injections


Possibly effective non-surgical treatments for knee osteoarthritis, low quality evidence:
Acupuncture (for pain, does not improve function, likely large placebo effect due to the theatrical nature of acupuncture)
Knee supports
Turmeric
capsaicin gel
S-adenosyl methionin
Vitamin D if you are deficient
Studies are generally small or low quality so it’s not really known if these are any better than placebo. Many ‘natural’ products have unknown side-effect profiles.


Treatments known to be ineffective for knee osteoarthritis:
Glucosamine/Chondroitin/MSM: A number of large-ish clinical trials done by non-industry people have pretty much confirmed as no better than placebo.
Fancy footwear.
Ultrasound

[SA Chris]

I'm getting really sorry knees lately has anyone had any luck with knee supports?

Aren't you a youth?

[Nutty]

I found hip-strengthening exercises (e.g. clamshells with resistance band) helped sort out my runner's knee last year along with one leg squats and hill sprints.

[gollum]

I had tendinitis in my patellar last year and the physio recommended slow eccentric squats with body weight and exercises to engage both the quad and the hamstring. They seemed to do the trick.

[mrjonathanr]

I found hip-strengthening exercises (e.g. clamshells with resistance band) helped sort out my runner's knee last year along with one leg squats and hill sprints.

That might be because your gait was off and needed glutes to pull your knee back into alignment. I had something similar with my knee drifting inwards as I ran, swelled up mightily and clamshells and similar fixed it pronto.

[Dolly]

A few years ago my knees were fucked. I couldn’t squat at all,  literally couldn’t bend down to look in the freezer. I saw 2 physios who said the same thing, it’s your age , degenerative, jumping off, running etc etc. Received wisdom is that because there is no blood supply to cartilage, once it goes you’re knackered
After lots of research I found an ebook written by a non medical bloke who’d gone through the same thing. Long story short (later corroborated by further medical papers) is that he found that gentle (10-15 minutes) running on grass 2 or 3 times a week resulted in full recovery. Something to do with how tissues respond to “stress”. It seems counterintuitive,but worked for me.
I’m wary of jumping off but touch wood, I’ve never had the same thing again.

[Mugabe251]

First of all, this cold weather is really bad for synovial fluid. Warming up outdoors is a pain in the arse at the moment, but it really does help. Very tempted to try knee sleeves honestly, since they're effective at keeping the joint warmer.

Also, I partially-ruptured my PCL, MCL and tore my meniscus 6 years ago and have found massive benefits from squatting and deadlifting, not just in protection of the joint but in promoting blood flow + nutrition to poorly-vascularised tissue (which relies a lot on peripheral blood supply via the cartilage). This is totally anecdotal, but I recovered rapidly when started regular lower body exercise, to the point where heels hooks with my right leg were very painful but now I can heel hook comfortably. I think cycling or as Dolly suggested some low-impact running, would help loads in this regard. But of course this is totally anecdotal and may only be partially-relevant to your injury (whatever its true nature may be  ).

[lagerstarfish]

running on grass

you one of those stoners like Sharma?

saying "dude", "toadally" and "like" all the time?

 

[SA Chris]

Also believe running does more good than harm if done sensibly, i.e. not pounding out massive miles on tarmac, being sensible with niggles etc, doing some conditioning, foam rolling and stretching.

Also

http://blog.arthritis.org/living-with-arthritis/impact-exercises-benefit-arthritis/

accept this may be anecdotal though. And is falling off while bouldering considered impact?