Knees Have Special Needs, Too Improper Training And Ignorance Can Lead To Injuries, Weaker Muscles

They help you bend, bounce, walk and run, and they are masterpieces made up of ligaments, tendons, muscles and cartilage. We take them for granted until they swell, cause pain or buckle. Then, knees need extra attention - from a doctor and from the owner of the hinged joint.

Like other diseases and injuries, early intervention is one key to dealing successfully with knee injuries and pain, but so is the patient’s willingness to work at getting well, said Dr. Michael Schutte, a sports-medicine and orthopedic specialist who works with athletes in Missoula.

Improper training and rehabilitation - or just as bad, ignoring pain and injuries - can lead to worse problems, weaker muscles (as the body compensates and favors the injured spot), and diminished athletic achievements.

“If there is pain, there is going to be favoring. If there is favoring, there will be muscle weakness,” said Schutte. “Whenever you have a knee problem, your leg, your thigh and your calf are all related” and affected by the injury too.

Schutte gave a talk on treatment and prevention of knee injuries as part of a series organized by the Minerva Society, the educational arm of Community Medical Center’s Foundation. He covered the anatomy of the knee and some of the common procedures to correct tears, strains and problems. But he particularly stressed the need for earlier intervention - and better, more up-to-date training programs - for young athletes.

The summer before high school may be the most important time to reach young athletes, he said, because high school is when injury rates really shoot up. It is the best time to enroll the student in a solid, regular conditioning program set up by an exercise expert who knows about athletic wellness and injury prevention.

Skill and coordination - two areas that get much attention from coaches - are only part of a complex pyramid of wellness that should begin with conditioning, strength, aerobic fitness and flexibility, the cornerstones of the best programs.

“Periodization” is now a buzz word in the most up-to-date fitness regimes, he said. That is, athletes have four seasons in their year, not just the competition season, but the preseason, postseason and off-season, too. Each has a specific regimen of exercises. Success during competition is directly linked to how carefully athletes invest in the other three seasons of fitness, he said.

And here’s another caution: “There is no longer gender equity in injuries,” he said. “The girls are winning.”

He said women cross country runners and basketball players are among the most injury-prone groups in high school, not football players, as most people think. Lack of conditioning may be a big reason. Few high schools help girls train, and even those with programs for boys do little to make weight rooms and workouts female-friendly.

“If you have an appropriate training environment, the girls will train as hard as the boys,” he said.

Schutte, through his Northern Rockies Orthopaedics Specialists practice and sports-injury prevention clinic, has set up a successful training program at Sentinel High School that now attracts hundreds of male and female athletes year round, even during the summer.

“You can’t just play into shape. That is ancient history,” he said.