Injury Makes Exercising So Difficult!

AshHerch

For about 7 months, I have been dealing with a pretty serious knee injury.. obtained from cheerleading. I completely tore my ACL and have a large meniscus tear as well. As you probably know, this limits my exercise A TON. Pretty much any cardio kills my knee, or my knee is just not strong enough to handle it. I was wondering if anyone could recommend types of exercise they believe I may be able to do? I am doing yoga, but most poses I need to modify.
This topic is a hard one for me to talk about, considering before the injury I worked out 3 times a week and was in competitive cheerleading.. I feel so useless now! Any input is greatly appreciated.

mjbrenner

Have you tried swimming? Swimming can burn tons of calories, and it is a great way of building endurance and improving joint health without any impact.

hbkanumalla

I second the swimming. Also, I did a little search and found some exercises that can be done with an ACL injury.

Hope this helps!

http://www.livestrong.com/acl-exercises/

elainecroft

Upper body cardio? I know there are some boxing type workouts that can give you a good workout with very little use of the lower body

saragato

You could, aside from swimming, try looking up water aerobics or see if a local gym has classes. I dislocated my knee cap back in '10 and went through 2 months of physical therapy that never helped and water aerobics were suggested to me.

reneegee23

I know, it's so hard with leg/foot injuries. I don't have any experience with knee injuries but I did tear my plantar fascia last summer in an aerobics class and I was SO BUMMED. I cried on the way home because I knew I did something pretty bad to my foot. It took right around 12 weeks to heal and during that time I did a lot of mat work, spin and swimming. Again, not sure what you're able to do with your limitations. Sounds like you're already doing yoga so maybe add some more mat work?

missigus

I understand completely, I have arthritis in both knees and wound up with double bursitis (both knees). I went from working out everyday and training for my black belt in karate 2 hours a day, to being a couch potato due to the pain. I give you kudos for still trying to work out...I got to the point that I was just miserable and couldn't stand the pain anymore at all.

I hope you are in some sort of a therapy program. I finally broke down and went to a physical therapist and it did wonders for me. It strengthened the muscles I needed, and taught me better ways to manage my knee pain issues. I am now back to working out- some light jogging even, but I have leaned what NOT to do to save my knees, through therapy. ( I ice everytime after workouts).

The best exercise someone already mentioned. Swimming, also water running ( litterally running in the water in the deep end with a floatation belt) was one they suggested to me since I am not the best of swimmers. I also walk a lot. The elliptical is good because there is little impact, some people have good luck with a bike- although too much pressure/resistance on the pedals bothered me. Much of it is trial and error. Stay clear of anything like lunges and squats. Hope you find what works!