untying dead knots

I have been having this nagging knee pain for the past few months, mostly right after bowling. One of the worst occasion was right after SCMS'09, where it lasted for days. Each time it occurred, I'd just wait for the pain to go away and carry on with my activities. Sometimes, I would disregard the pain and continue with activities such as bowling.

The assumption was that my knees were battered during my years of volleyball, cos the sport required a lot of landing on the knees. Furthermore, I was stubborn to receive proper diagnosis or treatment. Lately, after using the foam roller that Sharon got for me, I started reading into trigger point therapy and studying a bit more about human anatomy. Through experimentation, I started realising that the source of pain might actually from my thighs, going into the knees. After Colin's review of Wilson's therapy session, I decided to give it a go and it was a life-changing moment.

I can probably write a huge chapter about the experience, so here's the lazy style:

Knots

A “knot” in a muscle is when it contracts (shortens) or spasms. This happens  due to injury, overuse, bad posture, stress or a sedentary lifestyle.A muscle knot is when your muscle remains flexed and refuses to relax, which is the reason why they can be so painful.  The medical term for muscle knots is myofascial trigger points. -  Vicky Taylor

Leg muscles

-our legs are made of 3 major muscle groups: quads, hamstring & calf

-the quads & hamstring are on the thigh. they support 2 major joints: the hips and the knee

  ->when the quads and hamstring are tight (i.e. presence of knots), they pull the knee towards the hip

-calf muscles are on the lower leg. they support 2 major joints: the knee and the ankle

  ->when the calf is tight, it pulls the knee towards the ankle

-when all 3 muscle groups are tight, there will be opposing forces on the knee, causing increased stress on it and resulting in worn cartilage.

-it is not uncommon for one damaged muscle group to start affecting the others, and worse still, cause a change in the body's biomechanics.

My Problem
-the muscles are way too tense and Wilson believes that it is chronic
-i have limited range of movement. all this while, I mistook my inability to fully perform stretches as natural-born inflexibility - that's bullshit apparently!
-the worst set of muscles are probably the quads
-my left leg is in a worse shape than my right
-it has caused my legs to be of different length too. this change in biomechanics has most likely affected my activities such as running.
-my knees are definitely damaged in some way and there is no turning back for that. proper treatment and subsequent maintenance will prevent further deterioration.

Treatment

-the massages from Wilson will bruise the muscles in order to allow it to heal

-it is very painful and the pain persists for days

-Wilson quips that I'm 'cool as a cucumber' cos I seem to endure pain much better than a lot of people. He was checking on me continually on my first visit, I think he was afraid I may have fainted.

-He is a perfectionist - he doesn't stop even though time is up, he stops when he is satisfied with his work.

-The cost of a massage session with him is slightly more than a foot reflexology session at a place like WanYang. But the benefits are many-fold.

-Knots can be felt during massage and it is really a '%&*king shit' moment cos pain from the 'untying' treatment is unimaginable.

Reality

People think that I'm too young to suffer from such problems but it is something that is common. In the group that I (used to) play football with, there are 2 with damaged knee ligaments (still not fixed cos of the costs involved) and a couple more with niggling injuries. Perhaps this is in line with Darwinian theory, to ensure that some animals will become easy prey for feed while some predators will get slower and give the prey a chance to run away. I may not know it all but will try to share this new-found knowledge with close friends/family - if they are not too skeptic about it.

Do's

-Stretch daily. If you are desk-bound, you need to stretch you neck & shoulders regularly. I can show the stretches he taught me & Sharon, you just need a chair as a prop.

-Stretch for minutes, not seconds. I was advised to do each stretch for 5-6mins but can only manage around 3mins for now.

Dont's

-Cross you legs. The weight of one leg resting on one point will restrict the flow of blood.

-Ignore persistent pain. Damages can never be fully repaired.

P.S. When bowling, the sliding leg bears the weight of the body while trying to offset the weight of the ball as well. This is probably why my left leg is more serious than my right.