Knee Pain | Golden Skate

Knee Pain

soogar

Record Breaker
Joined
Dec 18, 2003
I'm getting kind of frustrated. I've been working crossovers and I'm trying to get as low into my knees as I can. However I feel sharp pain in my knees. What kind of exercises can I do to strengthen my knees? I know the pain is from all the bending.
 
Soogar do you do any weight training? Strengthing the surrounding leg muscles might help with keeping the knee from pain. Pain is a way for our bodies to tell us that what we are doing is not right and to stop. Perhaps you can only go so low in your crossovers and any lower can be causing damage to your knee. I alway say if you feel pain stop what ever you are doing to cause the pain.
 
If you are doing the crossovers correctly, you should never feel a sharp pain in your knees, no matter how deep you are trying to bend. Have your coach take a look at your technique, and if there's no problem there, then I'd suggest you talk to a doc or a physical therapist or someone like that.
 
Just remember that bending your knees in skating also means bending your ankles. If your are not bending at your ankles (stiff boots, skates tied too tight), you may be feeling some pressure in your knees. Just a thought.
 
Unless there is already knee damage (torn cartilege, or other problems), forward crossovers should never cause knee pain.

Also, unless the knee is seriously damaged (and in some cases even if), some good off-ice training can help immensely. The off-ice training should focus on controlled strengthening of the leg muscles... i.e., quads, hamstrings, shins, calves. And... it's preferable to avoid weight machines such as the leg extension (normally good for quad strengthening) unless the exercise is modified to constrain the range of motion.
 
I'll admit that I'm not the most consistent in weight training. Concerning the leg extension machine, I can't straighten my legs all the way up (even at the lowest weight) without feeling a sharp pain in one of my knees (and the knees seem to take turns).
 
soogar said:
I'll admit that I'm not the most consistent in weight training. Concerning the leg extension machine, I can't straighten my legs all the way up (even at the lowest weight) without feeling a sharp pain in one of my knees (and the knees seem to take turns).

Oooh, are you seeing a doctor for this? I never get sharp pains when using that machine. Muscle aches yes, but sharp pains no.
 
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