What Cardio w/knee injury/pain?

price0909
price0909 Posts: 50 Member
edited November 13 in Fitness and Exercise
What cardio can I do at the gym with a recovering knee injury that is still painful? Doc says Patellofemoral pain syndrome.
All my muscles are so tight and I jumped back into the gym and now I'm bummed.
What can I do for cardio at the gym while I recover with stretches etc.

Replies

  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    As I understand it, you can do what you can do as long as there is no pain -- provided you are not neglecting your stretching.
    Is that what you were told?
    Have you tried rowing? Or air squats? (Air squats can be pretty cardio if you do a lot of them, but maybe with your knees you should not be doing so many.
  • angelxsss
    angelxsss Posts: 2,402 Member
    You should just look up "chair cardio" on youtube. It won't be at the gym but oh well.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    GiddyupTim wrote: »
    As I understand it, you can do what you can do as long as there is no pain -- provided you are not neglecting your stretching.
    Is that what you were told?
    Have you tried rowing? Or air squats? (Air squats can be pretty cardio if you do a lot of them, but maybe with your knees you should not be doing so many.

    I was going to suggest rowing too. I row for x-training and I find that it really helps me to recover from hard runs.

    If you've not rowed before check out Concept 2's videos on rowing form (good form is insanely important) and try some short slow rows to see how you feel.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    Riding a bike at high cadence will strengthen your knee over time.
  • chocolate_owl
    chocolate_owl Posts: 1,695 Member
    You don't want to do anything that's pounding or jarring to your knees, so no running or high-impact cardio classes. If you have access to a pool, swimming will be lowest impact. An exercise bike where you properly adjust the seat and keep the resistance low may be manageable. You can try the elliptical, but if it hurts, stop - not all ellipticals are created equal, and some will put more stress on your knees than others. Once again, try low resistance.
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    let your knee heal first. did your dr say you can ride the stationary bike?
  • Cbestinme
    Cbestinme Posts: 397 Member
    I heard you mention doc says.... did your doc refer you to physical therapy? If you hadn't yet tried it, that would be where I'd start /go if I were you.

    Besides physical therapy (professional advice personalized to help you with your specific injury), perhaps try swimming?
  • cookma423
    cookma423 Posts: 62 Member
    Definitely check with your doc and/or physical therapist. But when I was recovering from knee surgeries, I'd use the elliptical, the stationary bike, and swim. Those seemed to work well for me.
  • niblue
    niblue Posts: 339 Member
    Personally I'd swim and use the stationary bike at a low resistance level until the knee is better. Not as convinced about rowing although it's probably ok if you took it easy.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Get specific advice regarding your specific injury from a professional.
    I'm the idiot who ignores/accepts pain and tears out their sutures in the gym the day after being released from hospital so do as I say and not as I do. :)

    Even the generic advice "swimming" isn't always suitable - I was specifically banned from doing breaststroke kick for example but could do front crawl kick.
  • natasor1
    natasor1 Posts: 271 Member
    This patela problem is very common, I also had it. My doc told me stop running, play tennis and any airobic exercises.
    First thing you got to buy patela straps, use ebay or Amazon.com. Ware them all day long for beginning and especially during workouts. If pain stops still put those straps to properly aline your knees.
    Swimming is OK, but u can't get benefits of working against gravity, which actually makes you stronger and prompts your body to rebuild your tendons and bones.
    Airobic training u can create yourself out of any body weight or weight lifting exercise. What u have to do is just to make the specific favorite move longer than 1 min, than rest for only 10-15 sec and continue with the same or different move. When u lift weights, get weight at 60% of your max and go for 50-100 moves, them short rest 10-15 sec and go to another move with same proncipal. 50-100 reps.
    If you interested in more advises I can find more for u
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