bad knees and squats

[nightshift]

At the age of 43 and 3 knee surgeries, I am no longer able to effectively do squats. I have done multiple sessions of physical therapy over the years but my last MRI showed a pretty serious lack of cartilidge. I have found that doing leg presses seems to be okay. Any suggestions on a rep/set range to replace squats with would be appreciated. Also, does anyone have any experience with Synvisc. It sounds like an injectible "cushion" for damaged joints. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[bodysculpt]

WHat exactly is the problem with your knees? I have a case of bi lateral patellar femoral and have to do warm up pre workout stretching/pre strengthening before i even contemplate squats. and even when doing it i need to take a wider pidgeon toed stance... and beyond 90 degrees is a no go.. leg press is a bit more pain free.

so i guess theyve already given you the advice of "stay away from heavy leg exercises for 6 months"..? allowing hyaline cartiladge to .. rehydrate.. i think.. or is it a deeper cartiladge problem?

 

[nightshift]

Thanks for the reply. When I was 18 I suffered a partial ACL tear and meniscus cartilage damage. The ACL is intact, but over the course of the 3 surgeries, more and more of the torn and floating cartilage has been removed. My Dr. told me that with 1 more "clean up" surgery, I would be looking at a knee replacement by age 50! As you might imagine, I would like to put that off as long as possible. I have tried wider stances for squats, but it really doesn't seem to matter. Presses may be my only recourse at this point.

 

[bodysculpt]

Oh ok, a lot more serious that i thought, sorry to hear that. its a pitty medical science hasnt taken a step further in regards to these matters..

 

[jaydee]

How do you think your knees would go with lunges? Might be a bit dicey, but you can generally do them lifting less than you would need to lift on squats to work your quads and glutes. You could play around with doing them with a barbell, or DB'S and straps. Play around with how far out you step or one foot foward one back and lunge on the spot etc...

I had bad knees for ages - no serious injuries, but just did a lot of twisting with them doing kickboxing and I found that the leg press was just no good. Its just not the same as free weights, so I feel your pain man. I suppose youve tried really strapping your knees etc....?

Weird thing for me is that the leg press most times aggrivated my knees more than squats did.:blink:

 

[amateurfemale]

My scenario is the same as yours except I am only 26 years old. Read post: (sorry they wouldnt let me post a URL)


amateurfemale
Registered User


Join Date: Oct 2008
Age: 26
Posts: 2
Rep Power: 0 I have bad knees but want nice butt....HELP!!!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just had an MRI done on my knee and found out that I have arthritis in my right knee and minimal cartilage (sp?) left over from a knee surgery for a miniscus tear 5 years ago. This really sucks since I am only 26 years old. I have been having pain in the knee for a while so I figured I should get it checked out. I stressed to the doctor that my #1 goal was to get back to doing squats, lunges, leg extensions etc with no pain since I enjoy working out so much. Anyways, after he reviewed the MRI, I was devastated to hear from the doctor that he recommends that I do "NO" more exercises that involve bending the knee like squats, lunges and leg extensions. My question is this, are there any exercises that can still put mass on my butt and thighs without doing exercises that bend the knee? I can bend the knee "slightly" but not anything over 45-50 degrees or so according to the doctor. If you can offer some personal experience that would be great!!! Please help!!!

Also, if there simply is no exercise that can put mass on my legs/butt then what is the next best thing for a firm tight butt?


amateurfemale
View Public Profile
Send a private message to amateurfemale
Send email to amateurfemale
Find More Posts by amateurfemale
Add amateurfemale to Your Buddy List

Yesterday, 06:32 PM #2
dungeonmistress
Registered User




Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Stats: 5'2", 126 lbs
Posts: 32
BodyBlog Entries: 0
BodyPoints: 0
Rep Power: 0
I have a bad knee too from over 25 years of heavy lifting and old age - arthritis and torn meniscus. Dr wanted to try conservative approach before scoping which he said wouldn't really help much. You might wanna look into Synvisc therapy. Anyway I still squat just to parallel though. Hack squats the same. Had to give up lunges. Still do extensions/curls and also leg press. For glutes I do Romanian deadlifts supersetted with weighted hyperextensions holding/squeezing at the top of each rep to a count of 4.
__________________
*PAIN IS WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY*

xxxdungeonmistressxxx


dungeonmistress
View Public Profile
Send a private message to dungeonmistress
Send email to dungeonmistress
Visit dungeonmistress's homepage!
Find More Posts by dungeonmistress
Add dungeonmistress to Your Buddy List

Today, 10:47 AM #3
amateurfemale
Registered User


Join Date: Oct 2008
Age: 26
Posts: 2
Rep Power: 0 Quote:
Originally Posted by dungeonmistress
I have a bad knee too from over 25 years of heavy lifting and old age - arthritis and torn meniscus. Dr wanted to try conservative approach before scoping which he said wouldn't really help much. You might wanna look into Synvisc therapy. Anyway I still squat just to parallel though. Hack squats the same. Had to give up lunges. Still do extensions/curls and also leg press. For glutes I do Romanian deadlifts supersetted with weighted hyperextensions holding/squeezing at the top of each rep to a count of 4.


dungeonmistress, how are you able to do squats etc with bad knees? Wont this speed up the deterioration? (BTW, you look great in your photos!!!)

Can anyone offer feedback on expected results from just doing Romanian deadlifts supersetted with hyperextensions?

I am also looking into heavy resistance low impact exercises like spinning with the resistance turned up high or the elliptical with the same high resistance.