The Rectus Femoris Is Evil And Must Be Punished

Now, this is lengthy, but as I found it hard to source good information, I'm hoping that if I provide enough detail, it might help someone else find the information they're looking for.

For years I have had knee problems. They began when I was about 12 or 13, with shooting random pains from behind my kneecap, and pain after long walks. The doctors had no idea. No real tests were done. My grandmother prescribed Epsom Salts for some reason (suspected adolescent rheumatoid arthritis?), so I took teaspoons of that dissolved in warm water for a few years. It was awful to take, and unfortunately did not improve my knee pain.

I seemed to grow out of it, but the knees have always been a bit problematic. I sprained my right anterior medial ligament badly in a sporting accident. The young physiotherapists at my gym gave the knee ultrasound treatment for about 12 weeks and were happy to keep going until I told them enough was enough, and we were just wasting that cold blue gel they like so much. The pool therapy was good, but recovery was never complete. The knee was always painful and stiff, and any sporting activity required a firm knee brace.

I started shotokan karate, which both strengthened my knee and put it at a bit of risk. It was a two years before I trusted the strength in my knee enough to ditch the knee brace. It was then I noticed in the dojo that my knees hyperextended. I could bend them backwards! And they did not feel good when I did so.

Sick of the pain, I returned to a physiotherapist who was not convenient but who had fixed my neck once, and who took a more active approach to treatment. He said that my medial ligament had probably scarred, and had certainly healed tight. The treatment involved ultrasound treatment and stretching. The stretching involved extending my leg out in line with my hip with the foot facing forward and pressing gently down on the knee. This was excruciating, it was like a hot, thin spike was being driven into my knee. I could stand about 2 seconds of this, but he wanted me to build up to 3 sets of 20 seconds. It took me three months to achieve this and content the physio.

The knee pain stopped.

Slipping on a wet floor about 6 months after this and re-injuring my knee reduced me to tears. The thought of having to go through all that treatment and stretching and pain again was just too much. By now, however, the ligament seemed permanently slack, and I was faced with another problem! This time, rest, ice, ultrasound and strengthening was required for two months.

So, for the past few years I've had a sporadic yoga practice. I like Iyengar yoga for its precision, strict and safe alignment, and practice-for-your-need flexibility. My tight hamstrings have gradually relaxed, my migraines are far less frequent, and I cope better with stress. There are other ways yoga is making life better, but that's a whole other story. Basic asanas are fine, even the occasional backbend. However, Supta Virasana is impossible for me, even with three bolsters to support me. While everyone else in class is breathing smoothly and relaxing, I'm gritting my teeth and squirming with my lower back pinching and my knees screaming. I last about a minute, and come out for sweet relief while others can easily go to sleep like this.

While going through some back-issues of Yoga Journal, I found this article, now available online:
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/2607
The agony they describe is exactly mine! Tight quads? That's it? Tight quads!

So, I'm now determined to stretch my quadruceps out, and my rectus femoris in particular, however unsavoury that sounds :-)

Then, I find this: http://www.round-earth.com/kneepain-rectus-femoris.html

The article describes so much of what I've been going through! Why have no physiotherapists (and there have been several) never picked this up? Why have none of my yoga teachers never noticed this? No-one has ever put two and two together, not even when I did a full 45-minute specific Pilates physio assessment for imbalances and movement problems. I'm pretty sure there's heaps of athletes and others out there who would read this and be screaming out about how obvious my problem is, but it's taken me all this time to find at least one answer. It probably doesn't explain my childhood knee problems, but I think there's a pretty good chance that it described my adult knee problems.

Anyway, I am now placing emphasis on doing extra quad stretches, and not just after hamstring stretches. I'm even trying the trigger-point therapy, and it is painful. This might take some time, but I'm confident I can address some of my knee problems if I sort out my extremely tight quads.

Wish me luck. I'll let you know how it goes.

How Shit Gets Done: A Practical. Part Two: Making Decisions

I bought a range hood last Saturday. I bought it because it had the features Choice sensibly said to look for (and I agree) and because it was floor stock that was available Right Now. I didn't know Right Now meant 45 minutes while the sales fellow did a well-intentioned but stubbornly silly job of dismantling it and packaging it up.

Nevertheless, I walked out of the store with an essential piece of kit for the Shiny New Heaven.

I went to the Kitchen Chap's factory and showroom to drop off the range hood, and pick out doors and colours and cosmetic stuff like that. I've made a preliminary choice, but am likely to change it this week as I have what some believe is an unnatural hatred of round edges on kitchen cabinets (honestly, it's a working surface, not a bloody table), and so I have to choose a different coating.

I have already chosen handles. Neither they nor the laminates nor the vinyl door coatings are pink, the colour of the Current Hell Hole.