Knee Pain - am I making it worse?

[Geila]

I have an old knee injury that gets painful from time to time. This past weekend it started to bother me so I've been taking it easy and it's slowly gotten better. Last night I went to the gym and did a partial of my usual pool routine: 30 mins of swim, 10 mins of jacuzzi, 20 mins swim. I felt great afterwards but later in the night I felt my knee a bit tender and today it's more uncomfortable than it was yesterday.

Last week and the weeks before that I was doing 30 mins of pool, 10 mins of jacuzzi, 30 mins of pool, 10 mins of jacuzzi. The pool is kept at 82-85 degrees, so it feels on the cool side, and the jacuzzi feels pretty hot (although this past week and last night the warmth felt good). Could this alternating temperature be the cause of my knee inflammation? I had assumed that the combo would be good for it.

I looked the issue online and they recommend ice packs and then later warm therapy, but not simultaneously. I also see hot tubs recommended for knee pain, but again, not as a combo with a much cooler pool.

Anyone else ever encounter this situation? Or been advised by a doctor either way?

[awakenedsoul]

I wonder if it's arthritis; have you had an xray? It sounds like you may have worn away the cartilage to me. I had a lot of inflammation in my hip joints, and once I got an xray, I found out that I had worn away all of the cartilage. They were bone on bone. I hope your knee feels better.

[Yppej]

I know a woman who needed knee replacement surgery and she was cleared for swimming because it was not weightbearing. My guess would be something else aggravated your knees.

[CathyA]

I would only use ice. Also, you'd be surprised how much the knee depends on all the other muscles around it. Find out some of the better strengthening exercises (especially the quads), and start those up. If it gets worse, see a sports medicine doc.
I need a knee replacement, but don't want one. I'm thinking about the hyaluronic knee injections, but some other things have come up and I haven't done it yet. But learn those knee-supporting and strengthening exercises first. Also, stretching muscles helps too. Also, make sure you don't have a foot problem that is causing your knee problem.