Blew out my knee... now what?

InstantKarma24

I've been training for a basketball tournament that happens next weekend for a good year now, and after changing my diet, I've lost nearly 37 lbs from my heaviest because of it. Yesterday, while playing at my school gym, I suffered a severe knee sprain. I might have blown a ligament, but due to lack of insurance until at least next month, I'm not 100% sure that I did.
I was pretty pissed yesterday, kind of just laid on the couch and ate fairly badly. Today though, I'm trying to figure out how to move forward.
My questions for you, awesome folk, are...
1) anyone suffered a knee sprain/ligament tear, and how long for non-surgical recovery?
2) I plan on swimming, and continuing my upper body lifts (pull-ups, bench, seated overhead press), but what should I do with lower body? I wouldn't mind single leg squats/romanian deads, but I'm not sure if those would be safe at all (or the machine equivalent...)

thanks guys!

bugtaylor

keep eating well. don't give up!

InstantKarma24

Yeah, eating will have to be an even higher priority...

jaokiray

I've had 5 knee surgeries...last two happened last year and didn't really get back into any real type of "leg" activity until around January this year. I'm sure you are doing the ice on/off, elevation, take it easy thing. If you haven't tried a cane yet, I highly encourage it's use, it takes pressure of injured knee and the strain on the rest of the body to compensate. I went crazy on food details to avoid gaining during my down time. Glycemic indexes and whatnot to try to avoid insulin spikes and putting on the extra lbs with decrease activity--I actually managed to drop an inch in the waist but maintain weight lol. Swimming is a fantastic option and has heaps of benefits. If you can get the range of motion down for a bike, I would try that as well, another option with limited weight. I would personally avoid any 1-legged exercises, but might try leg extensions to max elevation if possible without pain (primarily for keepin range of motion).

I would encourage relaxing, taking it easy, use of the cane (plus you look BA) and time or the body to do what it needs to. A friend recently tweaked his knee real good and was on crutches for 4 weeks, no rehab, just rest.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

J

Dead_Darling

I used to injure my knees a bit when I was dancing back in my young days. The only thing that helped was resting and swimming. When my knee was getting better, I added walking and yoga for flexibility and gaining strength. Even acupuncture helped!

Have plenty of rest and wishing you a speedy recovery!

pinkraynedropjacki

Try this.

InstantKarma24

Thanks for the advice guys...
Yoga, Swimming, Cane... all being put into (or planned) use...