I think I damaged my LCL (Lateral collateral Ligament)

Chaserwilliams

Barefooters
Dec 15, 2010
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While pushing some very heavy stuff at work the other day I felt a sharp twinge on the outside of my left knee. It felt a little funny all that day, but the next day it felt better. Not great, but better. So naturally I went running after getting of work and after running it felt a little stiff and sore, but I was running some tough hills so I didn't think much about it.

The next 2 days I didn't run any, but my knee still felt funny. At this point I was a little worried (I have a 50K coming up and my training volume is starting to increase) that I might have a legit issue.

When I woke up on Sunday (4 days after the incident) it geeky fine, so I went for a 15 mile run. It felt a little stiff in the beginning, but so did everything else, and after about 3 miles everything was all gravy!

After the run it felt fine. We went to the park and had a little picnic and then played a round of disc golf.

This was my guest tune playing disc golf, and on the first throw I tweaked the ever loving mess out of my knee and have pretty much been in pain every since.

After doing some research, it seems that is my LCL that's damaged towards the bottom where it attaches to the Fibula.

I have a Dr appt this evening, but I tend to be a little leary of most Drs (except you guys, which is why I'm posting this here!)

Any ideas?
 
The knee is just a conduit, and the kneecap is a pulley. To injure the knee like this, considering what is involved in the golf swing, my guess based on many cases like this is that the problem is first in your core, and the legs are tightening up, with the lateral side of the left leg being quite stiff.

This can happen because of tight hip capsules, tight fascia surrounding the core and over and under striding which affects all runners, barefoot or shod. Typically with this, we also see secondary changes in the upper back because and over and under stride in the lower back is accompanied by a complementary over and under stride in the upper body.

A good sports chiropractor who understands runners and does fascial release and graston technique should be able to figure it out. What you should avoid is spending all the time looking at the knee, since the calves, the deep muscles behind the knee and tight hip capsules will all cause knee pain.

In my book Cheating Mother Nature, what you need to know to beat chronic pain, it explains how the kinetic chains work and why people hurt. If you want to read it, it is available through Amazon.com.

It can be quite helpful to take a video of yourself on a treadmill running for about a minute at your typical pace. Do a front and then a rear view video. You will likely see what I am suggesting and if you look in the mirror and place your hands on your hips, I am quite sure you will see that your hips are distorted as well.

I hope that helps
 
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