Knee arthritis and lifting

Pie319

Hi,
I've had a bad knee forever (2 ACL replacements, 3 meniscus tears, and now rapidly progressing arthritis). My doctor recently brought up knee replacement, but doesn't recommend this for such a young patient (i'm 33) unless we exhaust all other options. This includes weight loss and strengthening. I used to be VERY active - rock climbing, biking, boxing, mountaineering, running - but I'm not able to do most of that now due to my knee. I've started reading about the benefits of lifting for arthritis. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'd love to hear how lifting helped you.

tl;dr: I have arthritis in my knee. tell me how lifting has helped you with your arthritis.

Horndave22

Have arthritis in both knees and feet. Movement is the oil and strength is the gas. It isn't about heavy lifting anymore though. It is all about maintaining and building on the strength you currently have. I find when I do more reps with a lower weight, I hurt way less. Not to mention I can still walk 18 holes of golf. There is one caveat to this though. Stretching afterwards is necessary.

PWRLFTR1

Have arthritis in both knees, but had a torn meniscus and other issues in my right one and had surgery about 6 years ago, but I did not get full mobility back. When I started lifting about 4 years ago I noticed that my mobility improved and no longer needed to wear a compression brace. Now I can squat 300lbs with wraps, anything less than 85% I wear sleeves. Still have stiffness if I sit for too long and can no longer run comfortably, but I can walk my dog with no problems.

alisonkuan

PWRLFTR1 wrote: »

Have arthritis in both knees, but had a torn meniscus and other issues in my right one and had surgery about 6 years ago, but I did not get full mobility back. When I started lifting about 4 years ago I noticed that my mobility improved and no longer needed to wear a compression brace. Now I can squat 300lbs with wraps, anything less than 85% I wear sleeves. Still have stiffness if I sit for too long and can no longer run comfortably, but I can walk my dog with no problems.

Hi previously do u have torn cartilage when u do surgery ? Is it keyhole surgery ? I have torn cartilage n meniscus n doctor recommend keyhole surgery n in future knee replacement. Is that the way to go ?

Dawda01

I have had torn tear in both knees had an op to repair the cartilage ..... just joined the gym a few weeks ago and knee started playing up. I find when i do treadmill worse x I have started using glucosamine gel, and taking COD liver oil and tuneric tablets x

Chieflrg

Pie319 wrote: »

I've started reading about the benefits of lifting for arthritis. Does anyone have any experience with this? I'd love to hear how lifting helped you.

tl;dr: I have arthritis in my knee. tell me how lifting has helped you with your arthritis.

At age 50 I deal with osteoarthritis and also a auto immune disease called rheumatoid arthritis which is pretty nasty at times.

Resistance training has many benefits including reversing osteoarthritis and slowing down the progressive disease of RA. This is well established evidence.

I have my random bad days where I can't walk more than twenty steps without needing a break but for the most part with resistance training I have good days.

A few years ago my doctor who was basically consulting with another doctor(his wife)who was considered a top notch adviser on RA. They advised me to stop training assuming it would be too much for my joints. It took less than two months to end up in a wheel chair. When I went back to training not only did get out of the wheelchair, I was able to run 5-19 miles a day for over a year, play hardball as a catcher, and begin my powerlifting career.

Training is better than not. Always.

LyndaBSS

@Chieflrg Your story is so inspiring. Thank you for sharing it. 🧡

MikePfirrman

Horndave22 wrote: »

Have arthritis in both knees and feet. Movement is the oil and strength is the gas. It isn't about heavy lifting anymore though. It is all about maintaining and building on the strength you currently have. I find when I do more reps with a lower weight, I hurt way less. Not to mention I can still walk 18 holes of golf. There is one caveat to this though. Stretching afterwards is necessary.

I was told I needed a knee replacement 12 years ago. I row daily and do the Assault Bike also. I don't lift heavy either, but rowing is like light lifting. It's helped me immeasurably. Strength training absolutely helps.

You'll find what you can do and what you can't. I ran for 5 years until I couldn't. Then I took up Indoor Rowing and the Assault Bike. I can do the Stairmaster too. I find it's much easier than lunges (which I can only do wide, forward lunges). I can do Goblet Squats, not traditional deep barbell squats. I can't do heavy deadlifts with a barbell, but I can do pendulum deadlifts with heavy KBs and also KB Swings and bridges (to work glutes and hamstrings). I can use the Back extension machine too (if you play around with it, it works your hammies really well).

I can't use the Elliptical machine -- kills my knee, but stationary bikes, spinners are fine.

Like others have said - keep working it as long as you can. Don't do things that cause intense pain. I also take Curcumin, Omega 3s, Astaxanthin and Boswelia for it as well.

I've also known some that have done rich platelet or stem cell therapy with ozone in some cases that have gained years more traction before needing surgery. Just five or ten years ago it was a relatively new procedure. Now it's becoming commonplace.

Azdak

MikePfirrman wrote: »

Horndave22 wrote: »

Have arthritis in both knees and feet. Movement is the oil and strength is the gas. It isn't about heavy lifting anymore though. It is all about maintaining and building on the strength you currently have. I find when I do more reps with a lower weight, I hurt way less. Not to mention I can still walk 18 holes of golf. There is one caveat to this though. Stretching afterwards is necessary.

I was told I needed a knee replacement 12 years ago. I row daily and do the Assault Bike also. I don't lift heavy either, but rowing is like light lifting. It's helped me immeasurably. Strength training absolutely helps.

You'll find what you can do and what you can't. I ran for 5 years until I couldn't. Then I took up Indoor Rowing and the Assault Bike. I can do the Stairmaster too. I find it's much easier than lunges (which I can only do wide, forward lunges). I can do Goblet Squats, not traditional deep barbell squats. I can't do heavy deadlifts with a barbell, but I can do pendulum deadlifts with heavy KBs and also KB Swings and bridges (to work glutes and hamstrings). I can use the Back extension machine too (if you play around with it, it works your hammies really well).

I can't use the Elliptical machine -- kills my knee, but stationary bikes, spinners are fine.

Like others have said - keep working it as long as you can. Don't do things that cause intense pain. I also take Curcumin, Omega 3s, Astaxanthin and Boswelia for it as well.

I've also known some that have done rich platelet or stem cell therapy with ozone in some cases that have gained years more traction before needing surgery. Just five or ten years ago it was a relatively new procedure. Now it's becoming commonplace.

This is a good description of the many varied ways you can incorporate lifting and work around some medical conditions.

This is something I have done with many clients, but it always helps to read first-hand experience (from other commenters as well).

It is often the case that, while one may not be able to fully perform a “standard” exercise, there may be a number of variations that you can do. And sometimes the increased strength from the variation will allow you to expand your repertoire even further.

The key is to find the movement, range of motion, type of resistance, etc that you can tolerate and then work up from there.

mfp4kc

Perhaps you can also ask your doctor about natural supplements such as turmeric/curcumin as mentioned. And, forms that are hydro-soluble will absorb better.