Knee problems.
I used to get knee problems quite a bit. Every summer from 2002 to 2004 my friends and I took trips up to the Northeast hiking for a week. I'd always get a sore left knee. In 2003 it was so bad I could not walk without gimping for weeks. I was afraid I had damage or previous damage that manifested. Being in my early 20's this was scary.
What had happened, in my opinion, was over exertion for my conditioning and more particularity a dominant leg for boulder hopping. that year I bagged the Gothics, Saddleback, and Basin at the start of the trip. On this excursion I trail ran from the Gothics over and back to a shoulder called Pyramid Peak. This round was mostly slow and we took two days. The next day after the Dacks my cousin and I trail ran Mansfield from the visitor center to the summit and back (taking the "subway" detour trail (we didn't have much time on the way to NH). By this time my left knee was getting sore and showing a bit of swelling. Take a day off? Would have been smart. The following day...We took on Washington via the Huntington Ravine. By the time I broke the top of the ravines headwall onto the alpine plateau I knew I was in trouble.
Mind you this is a mix destined for an injury for an at the time "vacation hiker". On the summit of Washington my left knee began swelling and hurt bad. It was here that I discovered ibuprofen is a good idea when your knee is hurting. I was very anti medication in general prior to this. I hobbled...and I mean hobbled back down the Tuckerman to my car with a bum knee like none other. It hurt so bad I made every attempt not to bend it. Until I made it down the Tuckerman I was unsure if I would be able to make it without a makeshift overnighter'.
Heading home on the way to a rest stop that night I realized just how bad it was when I stopped to fill my car with gas. I could not hardly walk I had tendinitis so bad. I figured I'd be better in a few days. My buddy was like "no Dom...thats not gonna go right away". This would last for weeks and then hurt for months. Doc said what was obvious...way to much strain all at once. But there was a bit more too this I would find and it was easy to remedy.
I got this all the time (left knee) prior to about mid 2005 when I spent a solid 5 months hiking mostly in the Whites, some VT, and several ADK trips. I realized that my left leg was very dominant in my stride when climbing over those "Adirondack pebbles" and other rocky terrain. I made an effort to make sure I didn't overuse this knee and after a while the problem went away. Since then I have been generally more active and don't have the knee problems.
It used to scare me quite a bit and I wondered if I had done permanent damage...apparently not!
I have wondered...anyone else have this same problem...dominant leg causing inflammation in the knee?
-Dom
