At what point should pain stop me from lifting/exercising?

_lyndseybrooke_

I think I twisted my knee funny this weekend (or perhaps while doing a burpee during my Friday morning warm-up) and it's been bothering me a bit. Not intense pain, but just a nagging twinge when I walk or go up steps. It's on the left side of my right knee cap (so, toward the midline of my body). At rest it feels completely fine. No swelling or redness. No pain if I push down on it.

I didn't really think much of it until last night when I really started to notice it. I lifted today anyway with only mild discomfort. My only lower body move was squats and the discomfort was only when I stood back up from the squat. I took some ibuprofen and it didn't seem to do anything at all. I'm still experiencing the same level of discomfort as before.

I really don't want to have to stop squats or deadlifts in order to get better, but I don't want to do anything that will make it worse either. Like I said, the pain isn't intense, but it is there. I don't lift again until Wednesday morning, but I do a mini-HIIT routine at lunch and cardio on Tuesday evening, so I'm not sure what I should limit, if anything.

I'm not going to see a doctor because I haven't tried any home remedies yet. Would ice or heat be best for this?

SezxyStef

My knee hurts right now too...from something that happened back in Nov along with my biking...mainly mine is just a tight muscle that I need to get rolled out...:sad:

but it doesn't bother me when I am lifting at all...

my feeling is this...if it hurts during the lift stop.

And according to my friend who is a physiotherapist...ice is not good...(per a new paper he just read) so I would suggest heat.

but that being said...your tolerance to pain could be totally different from mine...I lifted with a pulled groin muscle when I shouldn't have and really did myself a dis-service and ended up having to take 4 weeks off...:sad:

dbmata

Depends on the pain, lifting hurts, lifting isn't pleasant. The question is, how much does it hurt, and is the pain from discomfort, or damage?

I'm dealing with some knee instability right now, which has my squats limited to about 180 pounds, if during a lift my knee hurts, I'll give it one more rep, if it hurts again, I'm done for the day.

RICE that ****, and take your anti-inflams. A little rest won't hurt it or you as well.

_lyndseybrooke_

Well, I know why the ibuprofen didn't work. The stuff was expired. Oops! Just took an Aleve and I think I'll apply some heat to it tonight. Hopefully it's nothing that will require extensive rest, because I'm obsessed with lifting at this point.

BlueBombers

I had the same problem but with my elbow. I had to stop lifting for almost 2 weeks just to let it heal...plus the pain was awful, there was no way I could lift....I could barely move my arm without a shooting pain going up and down my arm.

I slowly started lifting again, but started with some body weight exercises, then I started lifting with lighter weights than I was normally doing and I slowly increased the weights as my elbow got better. I also found that icing helped A LOT.

I still have to wear a brace on the one elbow when I lift as it is not 100% cured and I want to prevent any further injury.

Good luck!

No_Finish_Line

i had a forearm problem that went into my elbow then my shoulder. it was a torn muscle in my forearm that i ignored for months and it turned into bigger problems.

I haven't lifted since thanksgiving. I took about a month of of excercise completely and only recently got back to very, very light exercise.

i've been through two rounds of PT.

also wearing a brace currently

learn from my mistakes and see a doctor if the pain doesn't improve in a few days to a week.

Aliciaaah

I'm going through the same thing, but I think my injury is a little more invasive. My hip popped during a squat @185 almost two weeks ago. I went to the doctor, got some NSAIDs and muscle relaxers, but xrays were fine so the real diagnosis was rest.

I'm like you, and rest isn't an option. I did force myself to take five days off. I got back and I'm still not able to do squats, lunges, or wide legged leg press. There's a lot of pain there when I do. Other things with bother it here and there but nothing bad (mostly things that require me to extend my hip back, like lots of ab exercises and hip thrusts).

It's a frustrating thing knowing that it's not a serious life changing injury, so not NEEDING to take the time off, but knowing you probably should anyway. I've been lifting with the hip for a week now and I'm starting to think that while it's not getting any worse from lifting, it probably won't heal enough to be fully recovered and squattable anytime soon if I don't take better care of it.

In your case, if there is some pain during squats, I would not do them. It's killing me, not squatting, but it would kill me more if I could NEVER do them again.