Ligamentous laxity&knee problems..is it ok to lift heavy?

himel13

After suffering with knee pain for a few months and therefore not being able to exercise properly, I finally made it to the doctor yesterday.
First of all, my x-rays showed that I have perfect knees (if only I do say so myself..the doctor just said the x-rays are good :P)
Apparently I have signs of osteoarthritis, but the doctor thinks I am too young to have it. He gave me medicine to help reduce friction in my joints and asked me to wear a knee cap.
Anyhoooo, it turns out I also have ligamentous laxity..which explains why I always sprain my ankle if I try to run and also why my legs sometimes give out on me for no apparent reason. It could also be the reason I throw like a child..I thought I was just bad at sport.
I digress..I asked the doctor if I could lift heavy weights. He looked at me in shock and asked why I would even want to do such a thing (women lifting heavy is something you don't see a lot of in Bangladesh..we have yet to beat the stereotype). He said I should avoid squats and stairs and doesn't think that lifting is the best of ideas for me as it will put pressure on already bad knees.

Now my question: How will I achieve the legs, booty and arms of my dreams unless I am allowed to lift heavy weights? I love strength training and hate cardio. He didn't say I CAN'T lift heavy, but he advised against it. Is there anyone out there who has similar knee problems and can still squat and lift? Any advice?

DopeItUp

I would defer to a doctor's advice in this case.

sijomial

Different knee problems - right knee: laxity in medial and lateral ligaments, old patella fracture and meniscus tear. Left knee: unreconstructed posterior cruciate rupture and 90% of lateral meniscus removed.

And that highlights some of the problems with knee injuries and conditions - complex joints with huge variations in conditions, injuries and extent of injuries.

I wouldn't go against a Doctor's advice but would certainly consider getting a second opinion, that your guy reacted with shock shows he hasn't even considered weight training. Telling you to avoid stairs seems very strange to me. I had three orthapaedic surgeons treat me and they all had different experience, skills and ideas for treatment. From bed rest being the answer to everything (right answer if you really want to make muscle wastage even worse), to acceptance of disability and adopting a sedentary lifestyle to the final one who finally told me what I could do, what I could try and what I should probably avoid.

It's really important to maintain leg strength when you have damaged/unstable knees and it can become a viscious circle of weakness making instability worse which leads to more weakness.

Shame you don't like cardio - controlled movement cardio has really helped me build and maintain quad strength (cycling and rowing in particular). Uncontrolled movement (running outdoors and skiing) didn't work at all well.

I found my injuries were very movement specific:
Lunges - absolutely not. (Without a suitable knee brace.)
Squats - just trying some baby squats after a 20 year break but haven't been possible before. (Losing weight plus loads of cycling has got me to a point I didn't think I could attain.)
Leg press - yes but very have to be very careful on angles and range of movement.
Leg extension - yes but hit an upper limit in my knee joints well before hitting a muscle strength limit.
Leg curl - extremely sensitive to angles of movement. I can max out some machines but others feel like they are pulling my knee apart.

Would recommend investigating good quality articulated knee braces (injury specific) not the soft neoprene type.

Would strongly advise against "managing" your injury by overuse of anti-inflamatories and pain killers (been there, done that - you could hear me coming down the ski slope by the rattling of the pills.....).

Work on your balance - incorporate it in your exercise routines. For example when I do a quad stretch I'm standing on one bent leg not holding on to anything for support.

You're young and have to think both short and long term to manage your condition. I realised that although I could (and did) train up to a 5k run if I did too much volume I was pushing my luck.

It's 20+ years since I had my major injuries and I've still got very strong legs and am well past the projected date for needing a knee replacement.

Best of luck in finding a way forward.

cafeaulait7

I have Ehlers-Danlos laxity in all my joints, and I do have to watch my knees. My hypermobile kneecaps have worn down things over the years by tracking so badly, so the pain got pretty bad.

I love ballet but do no plies. No squats. Lunges only if the weight works out, meaning I do low yoga lunges but I'd never go up and down repetitively or add extra weight to those. I hate stairs. No step-ups.

But I find I can certainly get a lot of quad work done with a straight leg! And there are great bent-knee positions that don't have my kneecaps wiggling all over bone. For me, those are kneeling moves, but obviously a person's individual knees will dictate that.

Try building the muscles around the knees with moves that don't require bending, imho. Or at least at first. You'll have to feel it out a bit, I think. The number one thing I look for is a move causing aching knees more than the first couple of times you do it. I'd think you'd get pain as a signal for anything bad, but don't quote me on that It does work for me, but maybe I get a lot of warnings quickly from my particular joints!