Saw My Ortho Today...

I have two problems. I get intermittent shoulder pain at night and I have pain in my knee when I walk. I’ve had these problems for about a month. He took an X-Ray of my shoulder and all was well according to him even though I experienced a bit of pain during the examination (he did a bunch of tests). Anywho I asked him about treatment options. He said manual techniques (ART and Cross-Friction Massage) were quote 'worthless". He asked if I wanted to go to a Physical Therapist so he/she could teach me essentially to do external rotations. I declined. No official diagnosis was given on the shoulder. Initial injury would likely be a)Swimming and b) Bench Press

My knee was diagnosed as something I couldn’t remember. But he explained it to me as an inflammation of a little peice of tissue below the VMO (it gets inflamed by knee joing usage supposedly?). Treatment options were rest. Now, I don’t understand how more rest could help (I saw him a month ago about it and rest was also prescribed without a diagnosis given… the pain gradually went away but one day I walked a whopping 2 miles with friends and now it is back with a vengeance). My growth plates have not closed in my shoulder or knee and he speculated that perhaps some cartilage in my shoulder has not ossified. I am in my first year of College and am a male. He also said that the little peice of tissue in my knee could become inflamed because the bones could grow too quickly for it to adapt. My knee joint also is very prone to making a lot of popping sounds currently. This has never happened before.

What do you guys reccommend? If I see a manual therapist I may have to pay out of pocket. Is EMS a good option?

[edit]I remember what he said. It’s called Plica Syndrome. He said they used to diagnose it a lot 10-20 years ago. Here’s some info. http://www.knee1.com/care/condition20.cfm/99. I 've done a bunch of searching and it looks like most people return to 100% after this even if they get surgery. 20 days from surgery to full on weight training in many cases.

I’d talk to another doctor and avoid surgery. The doctor I talked to claimed to be sports medicine, but didn’t know what he was talking about. Told me to do leg extensions over squats, that my joints are just “loose” and I can’t do anything about it, and never told me specifically what was wrong. It got better in time, so hopefully the same happens for you.

Yeah… I think I should just go get some ART on my shoulder anyways.