Strained knees?

[Niphredil]

A few days ago, my knees started to feel a bit weird. When I bend and stretch them (like in a plié), and especially when I walk, it feels funny. It doesn't hurt, but it kind of feels like I have overworked them. The strange thing is that I haven't done anything unusual that I can think of. I do a lot of Pilates, almost every day, and some days I take a walk in the nice (but cold!) weather. What could it be? I'm not sure if I should go to a physical therapist, since it doesn't hurt, but at the same time I'm worried. The knees are so sensitive and work so much in dancing, and I have this fear for injuring my knees since they're so exposed to damage. Should I just rest a couple of days, and see how it feels? Are there any good exercises to strengthen the tendons and muscles in and around the knee, so that they don't are so prone to injury?

 

Thank you!

Christina

[Mel Johnson]

Christina, I'd give it about 72 hours of rest, and use contrast applications whenever you feel the tiniest discomfort, as if you have an overuse injury, it's probably out of the acute phase by now. That sounds like an awful lot of Pilates, and even too much of a GOOD thing is too much. I'd cut that in half when you resume your schedule.

[Niphredil]

Thank you for your reply, mr. Johnson! I'll be sure to rest for a couple of days. I just have a little question; what exactly is contrast applications? I tried to translate it, but I'm not sure exactly what its Swedish equivalent would be, so if you perhaps could explain what it is. Thanks again!

[Mel Johnson]

Oh, that's an easy one. A contrast application means a cold pack for 15-20 minutes, followed immediately by a warm pack for an equal amount of time. Use it whenever you feel discomfort coming on.

[Niphredil]

So, I've tried the rest and applications. But it stills feels weird. I will give my physical therapist a call tomorrow and see what she thinks. I've been trying to figure out what I've done that could have caused it. The only thing I can come up with is that I stretch my feet, with my mother's help. She holds my feet down on the floor and I try to straighten my legs as far as I can. I don't feel anything in my knees when doing this, but could it still affect the tendons there?

[Niphredil]

Okay, I went to my physical therapist yesterday, and she discovered that when I walk I turn my feet out, and it's probably that that has been putting stress on the knees. I guess I've been doing that in class too, turning out the feet more than the hips It could perhaps also be that I have rather flat feet and got into the habit of winging the foot a bit, especially in arabesque, and my body has learned to do that always.

 

How should I work on this in class? When standing turned out, should I think of feeling the back side of my foot against the floor at all times? And is it OK to wing the foot slightly when there's no weight on it, like in a tendu or arabesque?

 

I'm going to see my PT tomorrow again, and she will give me some exercises to stabilize my whole leg, hips, knees and ankles. Hopefully this will help!

[Mel Johnson]

Winging is a last-ditch attempt to make a sickled foot look better when it's not bearing weight. Whether the foot is flat or not makes no difference. It's all a matter of sickling. The risk is that the student will continue to wing, or even clench the foot when it IS bearing weight. It takes a careful relationship with your teacher for you to use winging at all. The teacher has to be aware that you're doing it so that s/he can correct for its being used in the wrong place, wrong time.

[Niphredil]

But it IS ok to do it a little bit, only when the leg is in the air? I don't think that I'm overdoing it, but I will talk to my teacher before class today so she can correct me. Thank you for your fast reply!

[Mel Johnson]

Let your teachers know of your concern, and let them be your eyes for this problem, especially when you're trying to pay attention to a lot of different things at the same time.