Need help with some minor joint "pain"

[Tredoslop]

Hi guys, I'm new here, so I'm hoping to get some feedback. I'm interested in doing military service, so I'll need to be in shape. And this was posted in another forum, but I've had no replies, so here's hoping for some responses here.

*oh and I hope this is the right place to post this, I figured its the professional athletes who usually get all the injuries and whatnot, and I'm trying to be more of a general athlete than weightlifter.
Now, I put "pain" in quotations in the title because I'm not actually sure if it's really "pain". It's really hard to tell, very slight.

In Fall of last year, I've been overdoing my training for my legs (doing tuck jumps when I wasn't ready yet and some sprinting, although the sprinting might not have been a factor).
And so, my left knee had a sort of "discomfort". However, a co-worker suggested that I properly warmup and stretch before I trained and I found some stretches online that helped. However, there was still a slight discomfort, although improved since. In addition, my left knee made these creaking, or clicking or snapping sounds whenever I bent my legs and got up (for example, doing squats) - and they still do.

Also, my left elbow also seems to have a sort of discomfort, but it's really small and something that I would not consider an injury - that's for sure. It also makes a sort of creaking/cracking/snapping sound whenever I bent it and extend it at a normal pace (my knee and elbow joints when make those sounds if I go really slowly).

And for my left shoulder, whenever I did the reverse butterfly for the rear delts, it made a sort of similar snapping, creaking sensation, although it was more felt than it was heard. Again, none of this amounted to any serious pain and in this case, no pain at all.

However, for my left wrist, I noticed that if I position my hand to make it a little over 90 degrees to my forearms (both ways)*like, kinda of what you hand if you did pushups on your palms plus the other way, I feel a bit more tension and even slightly a bit more pain compared to my right. However, if I stretch first and then press it up, it won't hurt for a while, but I definitely notice a difference in the strength of my left wrist versus my right. If I, without the use of hands, hold my right wrist back as far as possible, I can feel tension, but not the kind that says you're straining yourself. If I hold my left wrist in the same way, I definitely feel more tension.

Again, my right side is pretty much fine.

Now, I have seen a doctor and he said that I'm fine since I'm young. I have no limited range or motion in my movements, and there's a chance I might be a bit oversensitive, but I figure its the small things that add up when you get older, right?

Also, my left knee has definitely been improving and can jog a little more than a few weeks ago.

And so, I wanted to get your feedback, like what is going on, and what I should do and how I can slowly strengthen my left side if I can to get it on par with my right side.

Any help would greatly be appreciated,

-Thank you

[Boss Man]

Correct the technique on some of your lifting if there are things that are not right.

Make sure you keep your back straight on things, don't rotate on things like Shrugs, straight up and down), avoid wrist curls, it's unneccessary joint risk, don't do behind the neck stuff, as it's forcing unnatural movement on the body.

Keep volume equal on opposing muscles, I.E. Don't do more on Biceps than Triceps or more on Quads than Hamstrings, or more on Rear delts than Anterior delts.

Think about how many pressing and rowing movements for Triceps and Biceps you add in and don't do more press movements than row, or vice versa.

Make sure you're warming up properly as well.

Hopefully some of these things to watch out for will make a difference perhaps.

[Tredoslop]

Alright, thanks for the reply, I'll definitely try these things out.

Should I try to strengthen my joints on the left side through weight lifting? If so, how much and what should I do? Hopefully, I'll be able to strengthen it so that my body can handle more intense exercise.

[Boss Man]

It depends. I would suggeswt another possible reason for some of your issues is doing two handed stuff.

Sometimes people who do two handed stuff like Olympic Bar Bench pressing, can cause an issue where one side gets a bit dependant on the other side and gets lazy, but if the person uses a dumbell version, both sides are forced to try and work equally

So perhaps consider more one handed cable stuff and dumbell cersions of any exercises, currently done using a two handed variant.

There is however a couple of ways to overcome a lopsided area.

Let's take the chest for example.

1. You use a slightly smaller dumbbell on the stronger side to stunt it's growth, I.E. on Bench Presses, allowing the weaker side to catch up.

2. You do something like Chest presses, using half the usual weight and work it one handed.

If you did for example 3 sets of two handed stuff, you could do the one handed alternative, starting with the weaker side and then the stronger one, so you end up working the weaker side 3 times and the stronger one 2 times, doing multiple reps on one side at a time.

The 2 sets on the strong side would help ot preserve condition, with little added growth, but the weak side should then still max out on growth potential, versus the strong side that can't, permitting catchup.

This also means, that if you struggle a it with a one handed varient, you can use the free hand to spot the other one, to prevent an accident on the rep you're struggling on and finish the set there and then more safely.

You should also be mindful that this one handed way will take more time, but as one side rests while the other works, you will need less rest break duration after a set, compared to a two handed varient of an exercise, so this will help claw some of that time back.

[Tredoslop]

Definitely will give that a try; again, thanks very much!

By the way, I did a bit of sleuthing and I think I might have crepitus in my joints, wrist and knee. However, it isn't painful, so I think I'm going to see the doctor about that.

But in the meanwhile, is it generally safe if I work on the side of my body that has crepitus? I want to not waste time, but at the same time, it's better to play it safe than to hurt myself when I get older.

[Boss Man]

I woudln't be overly concerend. If the doctor has told you that there is no associated range of motion limitations and you're not feeling pain, then don't be too concerned.