Unfamiliar knee pain

dlwyatt82

Hey all,

I've tried to do some research on this online, but I'm not sure of the proper terms to narrow the search. Since yesterday I've had some pain in my left knee, and I'm wondering if I should skip doing squats in my workout tonight.

It feels like sort of a pinching sensation that happens only when leg is fully extended (or perhaps hyper-extended), on the front outside part of the knee, just below the kneecap (the sensation shoots from the knee joint down toward the lower leg).

When I keep my quads tight while extending the leg, it doesn't move as far, and there's little or no pain. It's mainly when my leg is just swinging out while walking that it moves far enough to hurt. When I was in the shower this morning, the pain went away for as long as the warm water was on, but came back within an hour or so.

Anyone know what causes this sort of pain, and whether squats are likely to make the problem worse?

Ritzbrit

I'm not sure exactly what it could be but for me, someone with bad knees due to arthritis, I don't do squats or lunges if I'm having a bad day so I'd avoid doing them if I were you or make sure your doing them properly. If it continues, see doc.

dlwyatt82

Bump. Anyone have any idea what causes this type of pain?

I've been doing all sorts of searching today, and still can't quite figure it out. The closest option from what I've read seems to be some sort of inflammation of the iliotibial band, though it seems strange that I would only feel any pain there at full extension, rather than through a range of movement as the band moves from back to front.

dlwyatt82

Just figured I'd pass on my experience with this. I went ahead and did my planned workout (including squats) yesterday, and figured out what caused the pain in the first place. When I hit the bottom of my squat, I could feel something in the front of my left knee stretching out slightly in the exact place where I felt pain while extending the knee. I assume that I went down a little too far and/or too fast during a squat in Wednesday's workout, and stretched some muscle, tendon or ligament there. When it swelled up, it was somehow getting pinched when the knee moved all the way in the opposite direction.

This morning, the pain's just about completely gone, which is a nice surprise. By Monday I should be back to normal.

wellbert

Squats are pretty neutral on your knees, if done right.
It sounds like there could be a couple issues:

1) Improper squat form.
a) Not going low enough
b) Not keeping toes pointed out, heels slightly more than shoulder width.
c) Not pushing from the heels
d) Letting the knees come in at any point (Should track with the foot.)
2) Super tight IT band