Painful Knees and Calves

Livingdream80 wrote: »

Hi All.

Trust everyone is well and happy.

My biggest problem with trying to become fit / loose weight is I think my body is packing up.

I really enjoy hiking (especially in the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa). My biggest problem after about 3km into a hike, my knees (particularly the right knee), starts giving in, and I then struggle to hike without it being very painful, especially going down hill.

At the gym, trying to run on the treadmill hurts my calves alot. I need to stop running/jogging before I am even out of breath, as there is a sharp burning sinsation coming from my calves.

What could be the cause of these issues. I am only 43, and I have gymed alot over the years.

What would be the better specialist to go and see regarding this? A Biokineticist or a chiropractor?

Any help / suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Orthopedist . . . at least that's what we call that medical specialty where I live (USA). They're doctors - surgeons, typically - who specialize in the musculoskeletal system.
Depending on what's technically wrong, working out until you can't tolerate the pain could be OK (just painful) or you could be making future good outcomes less likely to be achieved without some major intervention (like knee replacement). I'd get it checked out sooner than later, if it were me.

Oh, wait - I did. Mine's a torn meniscus and arthritis. I know what activities I can do without making things worse . . . and since that still includes the ones I enjoy the most (rowing and cycling), I'm deferring surgery as long as I can. (I avoided seeing orthopedic surgeons locally who have a rep for seeing every condition as a trigger for immediate surgery. I had one cortisone shot in my knee, then went to physical therapy to learn how to walk and climb stairs in ways that would put less stress on the joint. That helped. I was overweight, and losing weight helped even more, realistically.)

No idea what your diagnosis is, though.

This is a good one!!!

Toward the end of last year my knees were clicking and crackling like bubble wrap and I found it hard to do any exercise and rode my bike less. I'm a cyclist and martial artist.

There came a point where I couldn't straighten my leg after bending it and it very uber painful. I went to my emergency room and the Doc suspected gout. He gave me cocodamol and another medication which made me look like I had a skinful of spice 😵‍💫

I went and saw my GP a few days later and he said it wasn't gout. My mum had gout and I remember her leg being in a cast and she was on cruches. I wasn't that bad. He also took my blood pressure and it was through the roof. Anyway, he sent me back to the hospital for an X-ray.

It turned out that I have osteo-arthritis in both knees. I did a course of physio which was amazing, then had sports massage which was suuuuper!!!

I went back to my martial arts training and did modified exercises and started cycling again. I began lifting weights which has sped up my recovery. I don't feel the pain so much now and am training to run 5k.

So in summary, I had 6 sessions of physio, a sports massage session and did modified exercises until I had full use of said knees with little to no pain. Some people choose physio, sports massage or osteopathy. I'm actually going to try osteopathy because I've never had it before.

I'd be interested to know what you'll decide to do and how you get on!

Grace of London