Knee Injury

[Scott Stevenson]

Hey Scott,

So I hurt my knee wrestling yesterday

We were doing wrestling drills during BJJ, wrestled with a really good college wrestler. He tripped me, and my knee twisted and I felt a pop. Pain in the side and back of knee. Can't bend it past 90 degrees, but ok to straighten it. And it buckless to the side, doesn't seem very stable.

It did not have any swelling post injury though, and some very minor swelling at the end of the day after limping on it with crutches.

Do you have any experience dealing with knee injuries? Seems like a lateral meniscus tear, but I pray it's not multiple things (ACL, MCL trio). The lack of swelling is the only positive sign right now.

I'm doing an Xray today at the clinic I work at, and will probably go in for a MRI soon afterwards (doubt anything's fractured).

How should I modify my training? Can probably still do all my loading and muscle round sets for upper body. Is it wise to do unilateral movement on the other leg with intensity? (heard about some studies showing the other side had stimulation from this as well).

In rats, can BPC or GH use aid this type of injury pre-surgery?

Appreciate all your thoughts on this. Thank you!

Hey Bud!

I can't really give you any medical advice, esp,. regarding the use of prescription drugs or research chems, partly b/c I can't (and no one can really) come up with a concrete diagnosis online (nor is it legal to do).

You're definitely on the right track getting it looked at professionally.

As far as training goes, even this is a bit iffy. It's great that there's not swelling - definitely a good sign! - but your injury might require joint fixation or could possibly be exacerbated by trying to get in the gym and go to town doing upper body only or training the contralateral leg. (A cross-training effect does apply, so if you're medically cleared to do so, training the other leg is a great idea.)

So, I'd get a FIRM diagnosis ASAP, see what you're cleared to do and proceed with training as best you can.

As an example, I have a buddy who had a pec tear surgically re-attached and decided against doctors orders to go right into the gym and train the unaffected side. Co-contractions while training the good limb were so strong that he ended up undoing his repair and had to go back in for surgery. The same kind of thing could be possible here...

(Imagine you're doing a lat pulldown and inadvertently use the affected leg to stabilize under the thigh pads and end up making the injury worse... )

If you end up doing very much upper body oriented training, this could bee a good chance to bring up your upper body / weaker muscle groups there, as you'll not be using up recovery resources training legs (as much)...

-S