ligament sprain? ITB friction sydrome? Damaged Meniscus?

[Field]

hello

21 year old male
6ft tall, 175lb @ about 10%bodyfat
im not funny looking like having oddly long legs or anything my body structure is fairly well balanced.

i have a knee problem. it is not at the point where i am experiencing tons of pain but its best to figure this kind of thing out and fix it early.

I experience mild swelling in the lateral area in both of my knees, kind of like tightness and a very mild burning sensation. also at the same time when bending or extending my legs such as when walking or performing a squat i can feel something 'popping' or 'flicking' in the same area just on the lateral side of the middle of my kneecap like right where your upper leg and lower leg come together.

both knees do the same thing but the right knee is a little bit worse where sometimes the flicking''popping will put some sort of pressure on the side of my kneecap and cause it to make an audible cracking noise. this will occur most often when i jump out of a chair, perform squats or leg presses or some motion where the leg is being bent and extended. it will not happen continuously but more like something in my knee gets losened up or moved slightly and then it doesnt happen for X amount of time.

I started experiencing these symptoms almost a year ago after i spent about 3-4 sessions a week for maybe a month sprinting out on street pavement outside my house. at first the only thing i noticed was some soreness in my quadriceps tendon very close to where it attached to my right kneecap a few days after my last session. i only experienced the 'flicking' in the following weeks and afterwards.

Symptons DO seem to worsen from increase in activity though im not entirely sure what. I dont beleive it is an allergic reaction because as far as i know my diet has been somewhat the same the whole time while symptoms decreased or increased variably.

this is mostly what i eat:

tuna, eggs, protien powder, oatmeal, tomatoes, spinach, carrots, celery, broccoli

i take multivitamin, glucosamine 3-5 caplets a day, a gram or so of vitamin C, vitamin B, Fish oil im all over that stuff.


I exercise fairly frequently mostly weightlifting, not much running, any type of cardiovascular exercise is either short sprint sessions (on grass or other soft surface) or riding a stationary bike. i train pretty seriously with the weights. in almost the 4 consistent years now of exercising the only other workout related injuries i have had were 2 times i strained my back doing deadlifts. neither time was extremely serious and after a week or so i would feel normal again. but this problem has stayed with me.


so im kind of on the fence as to what the nature of the knee problem actually is. I read a little bit about ITB friction and felt i would be a possible candidate for that but then ive also done alot of sprints, squats and kicking (karate for 3 years) and was wondering if i could have some kind of damage to my meniscus on BOTH knees. or if i possibly strained my lateral ligaments and do to some kind of muscular imbalance or mechanical issue i have it is not able to heal properly. i do notice when inspecting my form on squats generally with a shoulder width stance and straight feet my knees will do this very slight thing where they kind of move apart and come back to original when i return to a standing position not tons of movment but it is there.

i am fairly sure my hamstrings are stronger than my quads i can feel my quads failing first when sprinting the portion of the stride where you pull your leg forward is generally the weak point when my legs get fatigued. i do beleive i have somewhat tight hips i've been told that my butt doesnt move around much when i walk.

im kind of looking for some advice because its hard to know what to do to fix a problem if you dont know exactly what it is. im hoping that the problem can be corrected without surgery or anything serious.

also if your not totally sure what the problem is could you point out some other places i might inquire about this sort of thing?

thank you very much for your time and help

[Heidi]

Hi

I don't think that your problem is either lateral ligaments or cartilage because these types of injuries usually occur as a result of a trauma (i.e. a fall, twisting, tackle, impact etc)

ITB sounds possible. Although can you clarify the area of the pain? Is it actually the knee cap, the side of the knee cap, or the side of the leg at around knee height?

ITB syndrome is often brought on when people start doing more running and is usually caused by a neumber of factors such as overpronating feet, a tight IT band and weak hip abductors.

I would recommend you get your gait analysed
http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/general/gait_analysis.php

this will highlight biomechanical problems which can then be corrected.

[Field]

thanks. beside my kneecap is where most of the swelling is.

[Heidi]

Ok, in that case I think it is most probably ITB syndrome then.
Treatment for this includes stretching the ITB and massage to help release the tight bands of fascia. Ultrasound will probably help at the attachment to the knee to reduce swelling and inflammation.

The most important thing is to find out why it has happened. It could be due to biomechanical problems in the feet, knees or hips. This is usually the cause.

I think the best option for you is to visit a professional who can not only treat the problem but also assess your biomechanics for the cause.