Knees, please.

TravelsWithHuckleberry

QUESTION: The tendons / ligaments (?) in the back of my knee bother me some. Not pain, but mild discomfort. Anyone have suggestions on accessories to help strengthen?

Everything I'm reading online talks about doing partials -- quarter squats, rack pulls, etc. (So *that's* what all those folks I like to make fun of are doing. Uh-huh. Suuuuure they are!)

I'd love some first hand knowledge / advice too. Thanks in advance.

(And yes, this was also my status, but there are folks here who aren't on my FL, so I'm posting here too.)

krokador

Funny story: the back and side of my knee gets incredibly tight and uncomfortable around 7pm every night, but especially so on days after deadlifts and squats. I actually had a slight meniscus tear about a year ago and that's still a bit sensitive, and gets inflamed really easily.

What I found out was that both my ankles and calves get SUPER tights after lower body work. Having any sort of jumping exercises thrown in makes it like a dozen times worse. It doesn't hurt on the spot because, it's kinda like DOMS, it takes a while to set in.

So my tip is: foam roll your calves, if you have a lacrosse ball, use it there too (note: it'll hurt). Do some ankle mobility work. If you can massage it and break up the adhesions there (lax ball, again) it also helps. Aaaand tight quads also sometimes will pull on your knees. Especially that area on the inner part over your knee. If you can dig in there with a ball (I love my lax balls, lol) or with your knuckles for a bit... Or just the good ol' foam roller on your quads/inner thigh. (Hamstrings could also be pulling on your knees, but I tend to not have *too* much trouble back there personally so i can't speak from experience). The relief will not be *instant*, but once you walk around with looser muscles for a bit, the knee might also feel better.

If it's inflammation, reducing dairy and/or gluten and/or sugar and simple carbs might help as well

Llamapants86

I second the calf work, I never realized how tight my calves were until I rolled them and wow what a difference it made in my ankles and my knees.

canadianlbs

Llamapants86 wrote: »

I second the calf work, I never realized how tight my calves were until I rolled them

oy, the last deep-tissue massage that i had, calves were the one place. everywhere else she was pretty much free to scrub like someone getting a stain out of a shirt, but the calf-work i pretty near couldn't stand.

roll your feet too. seriously. i bet you'll find out you had no idea how tight the soft tissues in your arches could get.