Injured knee, what now?

cruzmom123

I hurt my knee doing Cardio Hip Hop Dancing. It's sore and I have a slight limp however I don't think it requires medical attention. I still want to do some type of workout (obsessed with exercise now) but I don't want to put further stress on my knee. Does anyone recommend Pilates or Yoga as an alternative?

dbmata

doesn't require medical attention? Best of luck with that.

Ice it, rest it, take some anti-inflammatories. You'd be wise to let it heal. However, if you're dead set in working out on it, make sure it's something like power pilates, or power yoga. That way, you'll either work through the soreness, or really aggro whatever damage you did and be put down for a long while to rehab.

Or you could you know... just make sure it's healed first.

GaleHawkins

Simple walking can be the best of all. Work out that leave us with real pain are just wrong for us I am learning/reading. The no pain no gain is just a myth from muscle heads in my view and study.

dbmata

I think Gale is a good alter-ego for steve. well done.

katebowen37

I would google exercises for people recovering from knee injuries. Cardio type exercises might be more difficult, but no reason you can't spend this time to get your lift on! Chest, back, arms, core, work on that for a while. You can also spend more time working on your flexibility. You mentioned yoga and pilates. I've done a bit of both and they didn't affect my knees very much.

MeanderingMammal

cruzmom123 wrote: »

... Does anyone recommend Pilates or Yoga as an alternative?

Really depends on the injury, and which poses you use. Essentially, nobody can give you any reliable advice on here. Knees are complex enough that it could be any of a wide range of problems, some serious and requiring intervention, others not.

Lowest impact option would probably be swimming, or subject to the injury cycling or rowing. On the other hand if it's a tendon related injury then either of those could exacerbate it.

Willbenchforcupcakes

dbmata wrote: »

doesn't require medical attention? Best of luck with that.

Ice it, rest it, take some anti-inflammatories. You'd be wise to let it heal. However, if you're dead set in working out on it, make sure it's something like power pilates, or power yoga. That way, you'll either work through the soreness, or really aggro whatever damage you did and be put down for a long while to rehab.

Or you could you know... just make sure it's healed first.

Gotta agree with this

999tigger

+1 for healing, making it safe and avoid making it worse. Its a bad stragey to simply wnat to be looking for more exercise until you know what it is you are dealing with.

cruzmom123

Thanks everyone for the advice. Maybe I can take my 10-month-old son for a slow to moderate walk in the stroller. At first, I thought my blood clot had returned. I developed DVT during my pregnancy. However, my leg/knee is not swollen, red or warm to the touch. I am so happy that's not the case.

SKME2013

Ice, ice and more ice. Rest the leg and I would be very careful with exercise, at least for a couple of days. Doctor would be advisable! Knees are complex parts of the body. I had a knee injury in 2011 and took me over a year to recover.
Best of luck
Stef.

LisaNishka

What others have said about rest and ice. The rule of thumb that I've been told while training for rock climbing competitions is that you can afford to take up to two weeks off to heal from an injury before you start losing noticeable muscle mass and endurance. Most casual or 'light' injuries will heal well before that - usually within 3 days to a week, and then you can get back to your cross training - and usually feel even stronger at first from giving things a break and letting your muscles recover and repair!

If you go two weeks doing normal activity and light, careful exercise and the problem persists, you should really see a doctor. Voice of bad experience here: I pushed too hard, too fast trying to come back from a bad ankle sprain, refused to a see a doctor when I should have, and now I'm starting my third month of physical therapy and I'm screwed up from ankle to hip and it's taking forever to try and fix the soft tissue imbalances I managed to accrue

If you simply MUST work out and can't take a few days off, focus on upper body weight training for a bit - depending on your usual workout, if you want to get some cardio out of it, try lots of repetitions at low weight rather than power lifting. I find I can usually get my heart rate up a bit if I lift high rep/low rest between sets, as long as you focus on form over speed. Ideally you want to lift while standing, but with a knee injury it might be smarter to do lifts that can be performed from a seated position instead for a few days - bicep curls, shoulder presses, etc. or use weight machines at your gym like lat pulldowns, tricep pushdowns, or pec flies.