How to strengthen my knee?

Chassity1987

I found out last year the tendons in my knee don't hold my knee cap in place like they should so I have knee problems. Physical therapy was helping but I lost my insurance. I wear a knee brace when I work out but wondering how to make it stronger. I can only do the elliptical about 8 minutes slow and I worked up to that. Please don't tell me to ask my gym. They aren't real helpful unless u pay for a personal trainer which I can't afford. TIA

k8eekins

What at home self-care measures are you applying to your knee? With your knee brace, which one exactly are you using whilst working on the elliptical?

Rbacchiega

I had/have PFS (Patella Femoral Syndrome) in both knees which sounds alot like what you're describing. My kneecaps would always slide off where they're actually supposed to stay and cause some pretty intense pain. Solution? Strengthen the muscles OPPOSITE the muscles/tendons that are pulling your knee. It sounds funny, but walking backwards helps work on those muscles. So I would walk backwards whenever I could. It helped huge. I'm a former catcher in fast pitch and before I wrecked my shoulder I was playing anywhere between 130 and 150 games a season so I've had my share of knee/leg problems.

ValerieMomof2

The best thing to do since no one hear knows your exact injury/diagnosis is to contact the PT that you were working with and tell them that you would like suggestions for what you can do on your own since you can no longer do PT. Most will send you a list of exercises that you can continue to do on your own as well as the progressions.

DavPul

The best thing to do since no one hear knows your exact injury/diagnosis is to contact the PT that you were working with and tell them that you would like suggestions for what you can do on your own since you can no longer do PT. Most will send you a list of exercises that you can continue to do on your own as well as the progressions.

^^This. And after I had both of my knee surgeries my doc specifically told me to not to use a brace. Said it would slow down the knees progress towards getting stronger.

BinaryPulsar

I had/have PFS (Patella Femoral Syndrome) in both knees which sounds alot like what you're describing. My kneecaps would always slide off where they're actually supposed to stay and cause some pretty intense pain. Solution? Strengthen the muscles OPPOSITE the muscles/tendons that are pulling your knee. It sounds funny, but walking backwards helps work on those muscles. So I would walk backwards whenever I could. It helped huge. I'm a former catcher in fast pitch and before I wrecked my shoulder I was playing anywhere between 130 and 150 games a season so I've had my share of knee/leg problems.

I had/have that also. It was the worst when my legs were growing and I was also a dancer, so I used my body a lot. Then it was better for a long time. It has recently started to bother me again. Mainly just in my left knee, but that leg had more serious genetic issues since birth that needed to be corrected, but that leg is also more flexible (and I injured my right leg another time which had an influence on the flexibility in that leg). Any way, it will never be as bad as it was back when I was a young teen. But, it is something I am very aware of, so that I can maintain my mobility and activity for a very long time. I have to work a lot on my form, for doing weights, and sometimes take a step back on some things, it just needs to be a very thoughtful process. And I do not do high intensity, steady state cardio, for long periods of time (particularly when it involves a lot of knee twisting).

ArroganceInStep

The best thing to do since no one hear knows your exact injury/diagnosis is to contact the PT that you were working with and tell them that you would like suggestions for what you can do on your own since you can no longer do PT. Most will send you a list of exercises that you can continue to do on your own as well as the progressions.

^^This. And after I had both of my knee surgeries my doc specifically told me to not to use a brace. Said it would slow down the knees progress towards getting stronger.

If you look carefully at Dav's ticker, you'll see that there are some 25's on the left side of the bar that aren't on the right side. This is the best way to strengthen your knees: squatting with an unevenly loaded bar!


Seriously though, listen to the man.