Hi.

Physio 1 - month 0 to month 12-14
Physio 2 - month 14 for one month.

When it's sore I can stretch it no bother without making it worse. It's not like a torn muscle pain. It's like a warm/burny feel. Never get a sharp shooting pain. No numbness or pins and needles. Even when it is sore I can do weights on it.

1) Physio 2 sessions on the back were about 30-40mins of a chat at the start followed by only working on T10-12, followed by having me running on toes in the hallway to see if there is any change. She said she'd build up the time spent and pressure applied working on the joints over the weeks. (Yeah right I thought, so you can get paid more, more weeks = more money)

2) Physio 1 who I'd been seeing for about 12 months worked on the lumbar region after 8-9months of a sore knee. He worked the area because I'd been getting sore lumbar. He was doing a kinda bouncing/pushing movement on both sides of spin, L2 to L5. Some joints where more tender than others.

3) No Stork test or ASLR test. He did get me to bend from the waist with straight legs while looking at the spine.

4) While starting running/triathlons I did have terrible trouble with shin splints (or at least sore shins). Sorted this by get 2 x gait analysis and changing shoes. Eventually got it under control using a cushioned neutral shoe. I had been using various motion-control shoes. But once under control I had very little bother with it.

5) I think it's no coincidence that being a "big lad" is causing some of the problem. I've always had big shoulders, even when I was a 12stone 1st Cat cyclist 10 years ago. More recently while 15stone I would have been pretty muscular with a bit of fat, while at 17stone it's mostly fat. Having taken up triathlon, swimming would have bulked my shoulders a little. Note: when I did cycle racing people aIways mentioned I sat far back on the saddle. This was from the age of 14-26.

6)


7)
a. aggravating activities: Swimming, Cycling (gym and road), lunchtime power walks of 20-30mins make it pretty sore, everyday strolling/walk make it a little sore but calm down after 3-4hours, sometimes even sitting in work will make it sore.
b. easing activities: Rest.
c. wake up, during the day, and what happens at night: Morning is generally always sore/stiff for the first 10-15mins. During the day I sit at a computer screen, sometimes it's sore with a straight/crossed leg, at night time there is no real pattern.
d: ALL the treatments: Physio 1 seen for 12months approx, treated the knee with friction, laser and ultra sound. then got a knee Wikipedia reference-linkMRI and sent me to a International Rugby Orthopedic (he's at the World Cup now)(I don't wanna mention any names here) who only really looked at the cartilage and ligaments and said no problems. He asked me to get blood tests, which were clear. I then got a Ultrasound Scan and an X-Ray. This was clear.
Next was a Sports Injury Specialist he looked at the body as a whole, posture, alignment, range of motion. He thought maybe a nerve was being compromised. Then I started getting lumbar discomfort (8months after sore knee). Returned to Physio 1 when he treated the lumbar, eventually he fixed that. While then he started looking at the knee again when he only gave it laser and ultrasound. He also mobilized the head of tibia joint which made no difference, thinking behind this was trapped nerve. Then I got a spin MRI (see above for results) and Nerve Conduction Test (all clear).
Then he mentioned going back to Orthopedic to get a camera into the knee, at which point I thought, wow, get a second Physio.
Physio 2 has only ever worked on T10-12. 3 Sessions of about 30-40 mins. She did some range of movement and stretching tests.

e. What do I think is wrong. Oh God.... Sometimes I think it's some kind of scar tissue where a nerve, muscle or tendon is going under the belly of muscle or other structure. But this would not explain why at times it would get sore with very little movement or first thing in the mornig or just sitting in work. Does this sound possible to you? Don't forget there is still a little swelling behind the knee. I kinda feel if a surgeon went in and opened a space to release pressure it would be fine. But I'm not qualified to say. Now, all that said I don't think it's a coincidence I'm getting trouble with my back.