Lunges and knee pain

I cant speak for everyone I know in my case, I felt it was better to stop doing something when there was pain or discomfort. There are a lot of alternative ways of doing things as well. You may want to look into an doing it in a way that doesn't cause pain.

I have VERY bad knees (ie. broken kneecap, worn down tibia and femur, and no cartilage) and have always been afraid of lunges because they hurt. But I have now been doing them regularly for almost a month, and I no longer get knee pain or discomfort, during or afterwards. The difference is that this time, I started small. I used to try doing 3 sets of 15 per leg in a row. Um. Yeah. Now that I write that down, it's clear that I was just being dumb. This time around, I started by literally doing 2 per leg. That's it. Two days later, I did three per leg. Two days later, I did four per leg. Etc Etc Etc. I'm up to three sets of 15 per leg now. No pain.

One more piece of advice, as I can definitely relate to the wobblies: I started doing mine using the Smith machine bar for support. I didn't put my weight into it, but just had my fingertips on the bar in case I lost my balance. It let me actually do the lunge with proper form without worrying about toppling over. Now, I have balance, and even use 10lb dumbells.

For years, I was warned against doing all sorts of things. Lunges, squats, running, etc. I acknowledge now that there are things I truly can't do. But if I had listened to those people, I never would have run 9 half marathons and 1 full marathon. Don't let people tell you what you can't do. You need to figure that out for yourself!

Just talked to my trainer about it this morning - she suggested that I not go as deep in the lunge and see if that fixes it.

I'm not sure if I should continue to do lunges or if I should do more to build up my strength. My knees will make crackling noises when I walk upstairs after doing things like lunges and they will be sore too. I'm not sure if by doing lunges I am hurting myself or if I will eventually build up enough strength that it will help my knees in the long run. I feel weak and a little wobbly when I attempt lunges like I just don't have the strength yet. I'm being as careful as I can to have proper form and not let my knee go over my toes. I watch myself in a mirror to make sure.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I see people do lunges and they make it look so effortless. I have long legs and it just feels awkward. My mom just got a full knee replacement and I remember her knees crackling the same way mine does. She did not exercise much.

My knees do not pop, but my back does. My back hasn't done it in a while and I wondered why it had stopped. But yesterday I got super super super tense during our Pilates set (we did strength, toning and Pilates) like super tense, I felt like an over stretched rubber band. Then after a hot shower and some relaxing my back started popping like crazy again.
So I don't really know but I never considered it to be a bad thing cause if it was popping it wasn't hurting but when it doesn't pop is when it hurts. It's mostly just a build up of fluid.

Personally I would suggest taking a supplement. There is glucosamine which helps the joints and cartilage.
Recently my daughter broke her wrist so I bought her Schiff Joint Care Supplement Glucosamine plus MSM with joint Fluid (Hyaluronic Acid). I bought it at walmart for about $13, its 150 pills, supposed to take 3 a day. www.schiffvitamins.com has more information. Glucosamine is one of the more expensive supplements, about $10 for a month supply but since your mom has had knee replacement surgery, then I totally understand your concern and would suggest a supplement regimen. There is also another one claiming to support joints and it starts with a C. And also, personally I would take a lower dose than the recommended. Since there are no FDA guidelines on supplements manufacturers tend to jack up the dosages. If perhaps you're trying to lowest dose and its not helping then increase slowly.

Kudos to you for trying to perfect your form and for exercising!!!