Dr. Luckey

Since August I've been complaining about pain from my left knee.  It was lateral knee pain that occurred either during a ride and or within a few hours after my ride was over.

Google helped me diagnosis it as iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS).  Stretching the IT band helped releive some of the pain, but I couldn't get rid of it.

After posting about it on the Tryon Bike forum, I got some advice to go to Pittsford Performance Care to see Dr. Luckey.

Dr. Luckey

I saw him first at the beginning of November.  The building he’s in looks like it was once a distribution center that has now been retrofitted for small businesses.  It's not fancy like many medical buildings, but the office itself was pretty nice.
He's a chiropractor, but with a different approach to solving injuries.  He called it In-Balance.  If I understand correctly, he concept goes as follows.  Our muscles absorb the physical shock we experience, such as in sports.  When the muscles aren't responding fast enough, the shock is then absorbed through other parts of our bodies, causing injury and pain.  By analyzing the responsiveness of your muscles from one side of your body to the other, you can determine if there is asymmetry, and how to make corrections.

I figured he’d use some kind of electronic or mechanical devices to detect my muscle responsiveness, but he just held my leg as I pushed when he told me.  Compared to my right leg, my left was shakey in areas.  I was a bit skeptical because I already told him my problem, and since he was holding my leg it seemed he had the ability to make it appear shakey.

In-Balance Evaluation

Once he completed his muscle response analysis, he made a few adjustments like a typical chiropractor.  Although, unlike the other chiropractor I had seen, Dr. Luckey only adjusted one side.  He also pulled hard on my left leg to adjust that. 

I was surprised when he was done, because it only took a few minutes and I expected more analysis or exercises.  Shouldn't I be working on strengthening at home?  He assured me that the adjustments he made were enough.  It seemed like I should be doing a lot more to solve a problem that I've had for months.

He suggested I come back in a few days and did not discourage me from riding.  But that was when my friend Roland was going to be visiting and I didn't want to be injured, so I did no riding.  I made another appointment for the morning before my ride with Roland.  That appointment was similar to the first, but without the consultation at the beginning.

Dr. Luckey brought up that a past injury may have caused me to be using my muscles in an unbalanced way.  It then occurred to me that last year I fell very hard on my left glute!  Maybe that was the root of this problem!

After my adjustment I rode with Roland at Bay Park West and did not have any knee pain!  It had been months since I rode without at least some pain on my left knee, so this was huge!
But prior to riding I had stretched my IT band way more than usual, and I had taken ibuprofen for days.  So I still wasn't sure Dr. Luckey's treatment was the key.

I emailed Dr. Luckey and he suggested the stretching and ibuprofen were a bad idea, and that it would be better to create the problem again and then go see him, so he could more accurately diagnosis the problem.

So I stopped trying to treat it myself and just rode as usual.  Since then I've ridden at BPW again, OCP, and at WRNP twice.  I haven’t had any knee pain!  I let Dr. Luckey know and he said as long as the pain doesn't return, I'm good to go.  So in two visits he apparently fixed me up!

I am really convinced that Dr. Luckey’s treatment solved my problem.  It's great not to have to worry about my knee anymore!  Thanks Dr. Luckey!