Exercise knee pain, ice or hot compress? Professor: Let's see where it hurts.
According to Japanese medical statistics, iliotibial tract syndrome (also known as ITBS, runner's knee) caused by excessive exercise is one of the most common causes of runner's knee pain. Among the patients, 65,438+02% were injured by running and 65,438+05% by cycling. Professor Nakagawa, a professor of plastic surgery at Dikyo University in Japan, said that people who like track and field sports may suffer from iliotibial tract syndrome if they don't warm up well or force themselves to exercise for too long at a time. Excessive exercise or muscle tension can lead to inflammation of iliotibial tract. Professor Nakagawa said that when many outpatients come to see a doctor because of knee pain, they often say that they don't know whether hot compress or ice compress is good after knee injury. In fact, the pain on the lateral side of the knee is mostly caused by the fascia connecting the pelvis and the lower leg bone below the knee. It will become inflamed due to excessive exercise or tension, and it will press the outer thigh against the tissue filled with blood vessels and nerves. This inflammatory pain should be solved by hot compress and hot water bath. Physiotherapist Zhong Jiaxuan also said that iliotibial tract is actually a bundle of fascia with high tension and density extending from gluteus maximus and tensor fascia lata, which mainly helps to stretch the knee joint and abduct the hip joint. When this fascia tightens or rubs the outside of the femur, the so-called iliotibial tract syndrome will appear. Professor Nakagawa also explained that the two most common causes of knee pain in general outpatient clinics are iliotibial tract syndrome and degenerative arthritis. The former mainly happens to people who exercise regularly. It is a kind of fasciitis, with tingling and burning sensation on the outside of the knee. The main means to relieve the pain is hot compress. The latter mostly happens to people who don't exercise enough and the elderly. It is a joint disease with chronic pain on the medial side of the knee joint. Ice should be used to relieve the pain. Professor Nakagawa also suggested that people should do enough warm-up before starting exercise and stretch the muscles around their knees after exercise to relax. If iliotibial band syndrome really occurs, you should put knee pads in your daily life to control the pain range. Try not to engage in strenuous track and field sports when you are injured. If you want to keep your posture, you can consider swimming with less burden on your legs. After relieving inflammation and pain, slowly start running or cycling, at most once every two days, and then resume your previous exercise habits after the pain completely disappears.