Damaged Knee Miniscus - What are some good leg workouts?

khan2187

So I had my meniscus torn back in Nov. 2012 and to this day I get these occasional "Locking Episodes in my Knee's"

What could be some good leg workouts I could employ in such instances??

jgnatca

Ask a physiotherapist. Seriously. My exercises for sloppy knees might be opposite to what you need to do.

I’d work on core and upper body exercises and do any leg work in the water where gravity isn’t making it worse.

Azdak

khan2187 wrote: »

So I had my meniscus torn back in Nov. 2012 and to this day I get these occasional "Locking Episodes in my Knee's"

What could be some good leg workouts I could employ in such instances??

Exercises that strengthen legs and hips but don’t involve heavy loading at acute knee angles (eg deep squats).

Step up
Box squat or goblet squat no deeper than parallel
End range of motion single leg leg extension
Deadlifts—Romanian, kettlebell.
Hip thrust
Hamstring curls on stability ball

There are others. Start with lighter weights; concentrate on form and knee tracking; let pain be your guide.

gearhead426hemi

Invest in some good knee braces or wraps and get on the bike. Very low impact and you work legs and cardio all at once. If you go mountain biking it will turn into a full body workout with very low impact. Avoid lifting anything heavy and NEVER lower knees past parallel. Start off slow and easy because it will be easier to reinjure it.

jemhh

My husband is doing step ups and Romanian deadlifts and is working on glute bridges right now. He tore his meniscus in January of this year and had surgery in February. (So pretty much what Azdak wrote )

Lean59man

Did you have an operation?

Usually if your knee is locking you need to get it scoped.

The cartilage is jamming up your knee and you could fall.

SummerSkier

I messed my meniscus up on my right knee snow skiing in early 91. I was only able to run for about 2 miles max without it doing the "sort of lock" up thing you are describing. I had it scoped at that time and they unfortunately were not able to repair it. So I accepted it. Before the injury I would usually run about 20 miles a week. After maybe 6 if I was lucky. I learned that no matter what I weighed it was either the distance or the time on it which would cause it to get upset. If I pushed it too far than I had to STOP totally for weeks so I just quit trying.

Fast forward to 2017. I mean 25+ years later. I decided to do the CT5K program and was pretty sure that once I got to the later longer runs I would not be able to continue. I mean it wasn't like I had not tried back in 2012 again to run longer distances unsuccessfully.

Well - surprise surprise - it either gradually healed over time or something about the walk/run program got me over the hump. I am now (knock of wood) able to run 5 and even 6 miles without it locking anymore. SO HAPPY! I know it is still there most of the time of course so it's not perfect.

I have heard that they can do surgical repairs now and they also can do PRP injections with your own plasma to help fill / repair.

There were really no specific exercises that I was ever given although in general strengthening is always going to help. I wish you luck. If I could go back to 91 and if they could have repaired it then I definitely would go that option. It's been something I really missed...

Azdak

jemhh wrote: »

My husband is doing step ups and Romanian deadlifts and is working on glute bridges right now. He tore his meniscus in January of this year and had surgery in February. (So pretty much what Azdak wrote )

3 surgeries worth of practice :-(

flippy1234

I had knee surgery due to a skiing accident. My knee also locked up. Ride the exercise bike and the best thing for me has been walking on the treadmill. I walk at 3.4 mph for 30 minutes and it has helped a ton. Good luck.