wats up! Sorry if there is a thread somewhere where this is all addressed. i apologize in advance for being lazy and not searching lol So heres the deal: -Used to play soccer from 5 years old to 17. -Didnt play at all for 8 years (got into skateboarding, snowboarding, DJing, and college). -Joined a soccer (sorry, football....lol im in the US...california) league with friends the last year. So heres the meat of this post: -Twisted my left knee early last december planting for a shot on goal. Heard and felt it 'pop' out of socket, then back in. was swollen for a week, able to walk on it, but waited a month to get back into playing. saw doctor, said might be miniscus tear, but no surgery necessary. -Played all of january no problems. Used a knee brace when playing. Could run fine, but if i tried to squat all the way down, left knee started hurting. -ANYWAY, just last sunday (early feb) I twisted my knee AGAIN blocking a shot on goal. Saw doctor immediately (last monday) and he says its a sprained MCL. not torn, otherwise my knee would just give out. i cant put much weight on the left without some pain in my knee. He says to not play at all for 4 weeks (there goes the league) -Additional info : Pretty much a year ago from last december, i twisted my left knee snowboarding. ALSO, when i was 16, twisted my knee skateboarding. SORRY FOR THE HUGE BACK STORY.... BUT its completely obvious i have issues with my left knee. Never had or needed surgery (or so doctors have said), but its obvious the issue with my left knee is that it has problems with twisting. Any other players out there have had any experience dealing with knee problems? Specifically, TWISTING? Am i basically ********ed and my anatomy in my knee is not meant for soccer? After my 4 weeks of staying off the knee, is there specific exercises that i can do that will strengthen my knee to help it prevent twisting? is there some sort of special knee brace that helps prevent twisting? any and all help is appreciated! thanks -d
actually...not yet, but it was recommended by a doctor to do it, and signed up for it....however they couldnt get me until early next month. that will probably help, just was wondering if other people had any experience with the knee twisting and what they did to get back into playing, and what things they did to prevent the knee from twisting.
Look into plyometric exercises. There's a number of ways to strengthen the knee by working on the legs. If you are working don't work your quads. Running for soccer makes your quads strong enough. Work the muscles that support your knee instead to bring them in balance with your thigh.
There are two different kinds of knee braces. One, helps keep your knee cap in place. The other helps provide support to your knee. You should look into using the second one. They look like this.
thanks! ill look into plyometrics...once my knee is better and im starting physical therapy (starts next week). yah back in december when i hurt my (before i hurt my knee again two weeks ago) i decided to start working out my lower body allot more. went to gym, i guess i shouldnt have focused on the quad so much. apparently the my work outs didnt help, since i still ended up twisting my knee. are there any knee-specific work outs/exercises you recommend?
actually, i have this: AND i was wearing it at the time of my injury two weeks ago....i wear it now just to compress and stabalize my knee while im healing up.... but its obvious to me knee braces wont prevent injuries, considering i still hurt myself even while wearing it. my doctor, who coincidently also plays soccer, AND has had a knee injuries and subsequent operations, says he wears a knee brace when playing, but mostly as a reminder that he has a funked up knee....he says they dont do much when it comes to protection... although....i have a feeling my injury two weeks ago to my knee could have been much worse if i hadnt been wearing the brace....
It's also something you might have to deal with. I tore my meniscus and stretched my other ligaments in my knee my senior year in high school (4 years ago). I didn't get surgery, because none can be done for stretched ligaments and a torn meniscus. But I didn't rest it, because it was my senior season and we were pushing for a state title (ended up 4th). I pay for not resting and rehabilitating it properly almost every time I play most sports. But it's just something I have to deal with, and it's something I would do all over again. My knee will occasionally feel like it has come "un-hinged". It sucks and it's sometimes worrisome, but it's part of the game. I would also recommend that you use the RICE principle to help your knee. It's apparent that you keep injuring it, the best thing you can do is take care of yourself in between practices and games. Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation. It will help significantly with the pain and swelling.
FUNNY. well, maybe ill take those up while im healing, but im still not done playing. maybe the physical therapist will teach me exactly how to strengthen my knee in a way that i wasnt aware of. if i get my knee hurt again, THEN you can find me over at bigdarts.com lol
My advice, some of it may have already been given: - Warm up thoroughly before games - Do some sort of exercises to stregthen your knee (I just googled ankle stregthening exercises and found a rountine that has helped quite a bit.) - If you play on firm to hard surfaces, try a turf shoe instead of a cleated boot. If you play on synthetic turf, try an indoor shoe. With both you might lose some traction, but that will make it easier on your knees. - Ice after games. Use RICE. Icing will speed up the healing process. For the C (compression) in RICE, you could also start wearing a simple elastic sleeve(~$10 at a sporting goods store or walgreens) when you aren't playing soccer. Just make sure you get one that is intended to be worn all day(wearing a heavy duty knee brace all day will actually weaken your knee). It won't do as much in terms of support, but will increase blood flow and prevent swelling.
just curious, this might sound stupid but what consists of a thurough warmup for you? is there some sort of soccer warmup regime that is some gold standard? i ask because sometimes i THINK i warmuped enough, but obviously its possible I am not doing a correct warmup....
My warm up rountine consists of: some short passing, jogging mixing in some high knees, some dynamic and static strechting, then more more passing, shooting, light jogging. I've only recently(last 2-3 months) started warming up w/ dynamic movements after reading a post of here. It referenced a NY Times article, 'Strechting: The Truth'. The article gives a few examples of dynamic movements, but really any movement that mimics a soccer movement will help. I have noticed that my muscles and joints are not as sore the next day.
im definitely going to be doing dynamic instead of static stretches before games from now on! anywho, a long winded update, only in hopes of benefiting anybody else plagued with injured knees: saw my physical therapist for first time, he says i def. stretched my MCL and possibly tore my miniscus a little, but not severely enough to merit any surgery. Basically, he says ill be able to play soccer again, but not until the beginning of summer, and only if i stick to my physical therapy exercises EVERYDAY, and only after i feel no pain in the knee whatsoever. BUT he says if i stick to the exercises everyday then my legs and knee will be rock solid, so thats what im doing! it consists of: 1. KNEE EXTENSION MOBILIZATION: basically, he says my knee is sore and stiff, and cant straighten completely, and cant be bent completely. he says getting the stiffness out and getting 100 percent ability to straighten and bend my knee is most important. What i do is: -lay down, put a ball under my ankle, and push down with my hands to stretch the knee back into the straight position, and holding it for a count of 30. doing this 5 times a day, with 30 secs. rest in between. -then, get on all fours, and move hips/trunk backwards to stretch and bend completely the knee and holding it for the same count and reps as the straightening stretch. 2. "PETER PAN" BALANCE EXERCISE: sounds fruity, and looks kind of stupid, but helps in stability. in a minor squat, arms out like an airplane, leg of bad knee way behind you, then slowly bring it forward in a sort of front kung fu kick position, thats "one". do this ten times, 2 sets. 3. HEEL RAISE: stand on one foot (the bad knee side) and raise on ball of foot, 3 sets of 10 to 20. strengthens calf, gain in overall stability THEN AT GYM, 3 TIMES A WEEK: 1. BICYCLE MACHINE: he says its the BEST for strengthening the knee and legs, without any harmful stress or pounding from running. 20 minutes, a good resistance, keep at 80-90 RPMs. 2. KNEE EXTENSION MACHINE: 3 sets of 10 to 20. helpful note: in order to make specific area of knee really work, TAP on it a few times with fingers during first couple of reps. this somehow makes it fully contract. 3. HAMSTRING CURL MACHINE same sets/reps 4. HIP ABDUCTION RAISES: same sets/reps and most importantly.... ICE THAT KNEE EVERYDAY, EVEN IF ITS NOT SWOLLEN ANYMORE. do this until pain is completely gone (ie, can be up to 6 weeks!) this icing for about 20 minutes with cold pack or 6 minutes rubbing actual ice on it draws blood into the knee, and the more blood pumping thru it the better it is for healing. THAT was the longest post ive ever done lol BUT i just hope this combination of exercises and stretches, specifically for rehabilitating the knee, is helpful to another soccer player out there dealing with the same thing. thats all! peace....
Hi everyone, I went to the doctor and it turns out I have bursitis in my knee, and he didn't really say that I couldn't play, but said to avoid things that make it hurt. The only thing that hurts is bending down all the way on a squat, so has anyone ever played on it or should I take it easy?
illdthedj is right, the best way to prevent injuries is to do exercises to build up your muscles, quads, hamstrings. I've torn both my ACLs. one 5 years ago and one in dec. I'm going for my second ACL reconstruction in June. THe earlier mentions of the knee brace being ineffective in preventing injuries is true. Those stuff only help to a certain extent, and frankly, it decreases your speed and agility. Training up your leg muscles is your best bet in injury prevention. I implore all of you out there to faithfully do your gym work even if you are not injured yet. I'm hanging up my boots after this surgery man....... sigh... One more thing, do get enough rest before your gameday. It's important. The night before my second injury, i was up till 4am having quite a lot of wine to drink. I only had 4 hours of sleep. During the game, I felt like crap. Felt out of sorts. You know those days where you just feel like you're not at 100%. If you ever do feel like that, please sit yourself out. It's not worth it.
I agree. The worst injury I've had was during a late evening match (10 PM) on a day that I only had 3 or 4 hrs sleep the night before. I was out of it, fatigued, and just didn't move my feet quick enough to keep up with what my brain was telling my body to do. No contact involved, just got my foot stuck in the turf and snapped the fibula. Sorry to hear you have to hang up the boots.
Yup, mine had no contact too. All I did was run in one direction, plant my foot down in the artificial turf to change direction and then 'pop'! That was it. 10 mins into the game. My theory is that artificial turf is really bad for the knees and legs. There is too much traction; when you plant your studs into the ground it wouldn't budge, not one bit. The thing that gives way is our legs/joints.
Hello illdthedj, hope you are ok. I am new here and reading your post made me feel very much identified... Exactly the same is happening to me now... Every time I play soccer I twist my left knee and, although I can walk, it hurts for like a week. I rest for like two months and then when I go back to playing, the same thing happens again... I am desperate, and starting to think there is no solution but to stop doing physical exercises forever since it seems like my knee can´t cope... I read your post and I wanted to ask you, how are you feeling now? Did the rehab work and the strengthening exercises? Please let me know if anything else also helped you... Thanks a lot. Greetings from South Africa...
Some of the stuff here may help: http://www.thetotalsoccerplayer.com...our-body-move-more-fluidly-and-prevent-injury and here: http://www.thetotalsoccerplayer.com/blog/knee-injuries-in-the-soccer-player?rq=knee