Squats on a Knee Injury

rlmadrid

The title says it all. I have a knee injury from about 5 years ago. The joint pulled sideways when I slipped in mud during a soccer game. It is still aggravated by running, jumping, and of course, squatting.

Other than the obvious stretching before and after, lifting a little bit lighter, and icing afterwards, does anyone have experience overcoming this? I want to lift heavy and consequently increase the strength of the muscles that support my knee in the hopes that one day it'll function better during everyday activities. Thoughts, tips, advice?

Cindy873

I have a partially torn ACL that I've been dealing with for a few years now. Initially I did physical therapy and then just did the PT exercises on my own to strengthen the muscles that support the knee. I also wear a knee brace when I run or work out. It seems to help - I rarely have any trouble with it. That being said, on the advice of my doctor I also strictly avoid any movements that could contribute to fully tearing the ACL (such as lunging).

dwh77tx

I have a bad knee that I had arthroscopy on- it flares up occasionally if I aggravate it. What about wearing a brace when you are lifting?

Raynne413

I currently have chondromalatia of the patella in my right knee. I'm wearing a brace when I workout. Lunges, forward, are out of the question. Squats, stationary lunges, and rear lunges seem to be better. So I wear my brace, and I ice immediately afterwards. If it's REALLY bothering me, I'll do ball squats. You place an exercise ball behind your back, lean against it, and do your squats that way. It helps keep you in better form.

Hendrix7

The main stabiliser for the knee is actually the hamstring, do plenty of hamstring work. Deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, ham curls, glute ham raise etc. I injured my knee a while back and while I couldn't squat I could still deadlift without any problem.

There are plenty of ways to building a decent set of legs without using the traditional squat. A great exercise yes, essential...no.

rlmadrid

I have a bad knee that I had arthroscopy on- it flares up occasionally if I aggravate it. What about wearing a brace when you are lifting?

I did try that yesterday, I find it really messes up my range of motion. If I have to though, I have to.
I guess the goal is to eventually not need it.

I was told nothing tore, but the cartilage ring was damaged. There are fragments of cartilage floating under the knee cap. To remove them would involve an invasive surgery that MIGHT help. It would cost a fortune, put me out for weeks, and may heal wrong. I'm hoping I can strengthen the knee myself.

wellbert

My knee was completely rebuilt.

Squats with knees coming in/toes pointed forward/not going fully down to parallel = PAIN. This is how I did squats for a long time because I didn't know better. It really aggravated the arthritis in my knee.

Knees out, toes out, femur in line with foot, sit back below parallel? Magic. No pain, ever. In fact, after strengthening my knee, it hardly aches anymore.


I also have a problem with the patella "sticking." My PT showed me a thing where you lock your leg and free your patella. I'm not sure what this is called, but it helps.

rlmadrid

The main stabiliser for the knee is actually the hamstring, do plenty of hamstring work. Deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, ham curls, glute ham raise etc. I injured my knee a while back and while I couldn't squat I could still deadlift without any problem.

There are plenty of ways to building a decent set of legs without using the traditional squat. A great exercise yes, essential...no.

That's true, I find deadlifts perfectly fine, and broke a personal record yesterday
Leg extensions are out of the question, doing them in physiotherapy made the knee worse. The others may work though. It's nice to hear that squats aren't absolutely essential.

jmsteve45

Last year I tore my meniscus and strained my ACL. The ACL healed on its own, but i needed surgery to repair the meniscus in December. The surgery was sucessful, but my knee still bothered me when running and definitely after squatting. Over time the discomfort eased as my leg muscles got stronger from squatting, but was still there. I bought some TK knee braces off of ebay about a month ago. Now I'm able to lift heavier without any discomfort and in the process my leg muscles are getting stronger which will hopefully help to prevent further injury. I said all that to say, TRY KNEE BRACES...

wellbert

The main stabiliser for the knee is actually the hamstring, do plenty of hamstring work. Deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, ham curls, glute ham raise etc. I injured my knee a while back and while I couldn't squat I could still deadlift without any problem.

There are plenty of ways to building a decent set of legs without using the traditional squat. A great exercise yes, essential...no.

That's true, I find deadlifts perfectly fine, and broke a personal record yesterday
Leg extensions are out of the question, doing them in physiotherapy made the knee worse. The others may work though. It's nice to hear that squats aren't absolutely essential.

Leg curls and leg extensions are pretty useless anyway, outside of making your legs look bigger (bodybuilder stuff.)

rlmadrid

Last year I tore my meniscus and strained my ACL. The ACL healed on its own, but i needed surgery to repair the meniscus in December. The surgery was sucessful, but my knee still bothered me when running and definitely after squatting. Over time the discomfort eased as my leg muscles got stronger from squatting, but was still there. I bought some TK knee braces off of ebay about a month ago. Now I'm able to lift heavier without any discomfort and in the process my leg muscles are getting stronger which will hopefully help to prevent further injury. I said all that to say, TRY KNEE BRACES...

What structure are the braces you bought? I find the fabric ones are either too loose or too tight, no middle. I have one with metal joints on the side, but it makes it quite difficult for me to move below 90 degrees.

Raynne413

I bought this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B7IHTW/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

And I have the one that my ortho doctor gave me.

If you have a knee injury, I wouldn't advise going below 90 degrees. 90 degrees itself may be pushing it.

Lina4Lina

Osteoarthritis in knee from previous injuries/years of morbid obesity. Start slow, take glucosamine (well that is what I take) and back off if you encounter any pain. Ensure your knee doesn't go over your toes.

rlmadrid

I bought this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001B7IHTW/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

And I have the one that my ortho doctor gave me.

If you have a knee injury, I wouldn't advise going below 90 degrees. 90 degrees itself may be pushing it.

That seems a lot less restrictive than mine. I'll look into it. Thank you so much!

Azdak

The main stabiliser for the knee is actually the hamstring, do plenty of hamstring work. Deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, ham curls, glute ham raise etc. I injured my knee a while back and while I couldn't squat I could still deadlift without any problem.

There are plenty of ways to building a decent set of legs without using the traditional squat. A great exercise yes, essential...no.

That's true, I find deadlifts perfectly fine, and broke a personal record yesterday
Leg extensions are out of the question, doing them in physiotherapy made the knee worse. The others may work though. It's nice to hear that squats aren't absolutely essential.

Leg curls and leg extensions are pretty useless anyway, outside of making your legs look bigger (bodybuilder stuff.)

Properly done leg extensions (limiting range of motion) can be an essential part of knee injury rehabilitation. There is no "one size fits all" rule when it comes to dealing with injuries and the specific conditions will determine whether or not an exercise is "useless".

rlmadrid

The main stabiliser for the knee is actually the hamstring, do plenty of hamstring work. Deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, ham curls, glute ham raise etc. I injured my knee a while back and while I couldn't squat I could still deadlift without any problem.

There are plenty of ways to building a decent set of legs without using the traditional squat. A great exercise yes, essential...no.

That's true, I find deadlifts perfectly fine, and broke a personal record yesterday
Leg extensions are out of the question, doing them in physiotherapy made the knee worse. The others may work though. It's nice to hear that squats aren't absolutely essential.

Leg curls and leg extensions are pretty useless anyway, outside of making your legs look bigger (bodybuilder stuff.)

Properly done leg extensions (limiting range of motion) can be an essential part of knee injury rehabilitation. There is no "one size fits all" rule when it comes to dealing with injuries and the specific conditions will determine whether or not an exercise is "useless".

I actually found them to make my knee worse. The joint wasn't stable and the pressure on the top caused pain. The physiotherapist started me on ball squats instead. I think they just meant that it's useless in the sense that other exercises will also target the same muscles and I don't really need to worry about doing something that hurts me.

wellbert

The main stabiliser for the knee is actually the hamstring, do plenty of hamstring work. Deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, ham curls, glute ham raise etc. I injured my knee a while back and while I couldn't squat I could still deadlift without any problem.

There are plenty of ways to building a decent set of legs without using the traditional squat. A great exercise yes, essential...no.

That's true, I find deadlifts perfectly fine, and broke a personal record yesterday
Leg extensions are out of the question, doing them in physiotherapy made the knee worse. The others may work though. It's nice to hear that squats aren't absolutely essential.

Leg curls and leg extensions are pretty useless anyway, outside of making your legs look bigger (bodybuilder stuff.)

Properly done leg extensions (limiting range of motion) can be an essential part of knee injury rehabilitation. There is no "one size fits all" rule when it comes to dealing with injuries and the specific conditions will determine whether or not an exercise is "useless".

I actually found them to make my knee worse. The joint wasn't stable and the pressure on the top caused pain. The physiotherapist started me on ball squats instead. I think they just meant that it's useless in the sense that other exercises will also target the same muscles and I don't really need to worry about doing something that hurts me.

Yeah. It doesn't train your legs in a functionally useful way... (Outside of rehabilitation as mentioned by the above poster.)

Mayor_West

Squats with knees coming in/toes pointed forward/not going fully down to parallel = PAIN. This is how I did squats for a long time because I didn't know better. It really aggravated the arthritis in my knee.

Knees out, toes out, femur in line with foot, sit back below parallel? Magic. No pain, ever. In fact, after strengthening my knee, it hardly aches anymore.

This was my experience too. Luckily the worst I had to deal with was occassional inflammation and tendonitis, but it was still enough discomfort to tell me that I needed to correct my form before I did any serious damage.

rlmadrid

Your username is awesome.

Maybe these issues are aggravating the knee worse.

wellbert

Keep in mind that any kind of knee wrap or brace will slow down the strengthening of the supported joint. <- My doctor suggested I stay away from them for that reason.

jmsteve45

They're the fabric ones. Suprisingly, they're not too tight and don't move around either. These were made by a former Mr. Olympia for the specific purpose of squatting. They keep the knees warm (you'll notice your kness sweating when you take them off) and promote good circulation. I've had the hindged brace as well but it didn't work not one bit. If you do get the TK braces, just be sure to follow the sizing instructions which are pretty straight forward.