preventing muscle loss due to injured knee

[mylo]

so about 2 weeks ago my knee got injured during my one-rep max squat, a week ago i got both knees (and a testicle) injured while playing backyard football, and the day right after i was in a great mood and felt i was capable of squatting, so i did. the session was fine, did my usual max and almost pushed past a personal record WITH a pained knee, however i noticed until the adrenaline rush was gone. anyway it's been exactly a week since my last squat session and my knee is still swollen. it is more or less fully flexible but i want to give it time to rest.

now my question is, does anyone know how to prevent my legs from wasting away? i tend to lose muscle rather quickly (at least in my eyes) and i've heard a knee sprain takes quite a while to heal.

 

[Bigjoe214]

Wasting shouldn't be your big concern, your health should. It's not worth a tear of any kind. Do whatever you can without pain, but other than that take a break. About 4 months ago I was having aching shoulder pain and thought I'd tough it out. Tried to set a PR on bench with 355 and tore my pec. Four months later I struggle doing 135 for 8 reps. Every time I bench it's a reminder of my blind ignorance, pride, and stupidity. Trust me, let it heal.

 

[jamesm11]

hey man i feel your pain. I'm 22 and have two surgeries on my knee in the same week from an injury i sustained with the army earlier this year. well i was laid up in bed from June 20-August 1 and unable to exercise. I cut my calories drastically to combat weight gain and fat gain on my body. Went from 190lbs to 178 lbs in those few weeks. Severe atrophy of the leg muscles.

Now it's almost the end of September and I'm back up to 193 and leaner than ever. I listened to my body and doctor and have busted my ass. Muscle memory comes back quickly and your body gains fairly quickly and recovers muscle its used to having a lot quicker than i ever thought possible.

 

[mylo]

thanks a lot guys, my doc says i need crutches and anti-inflamatories (not gonna go with either one, sounds like a recipe for weight loss). he says i might have torn a lingament, however i'm still able to walk, until then i'm going to do light exercises, such as stretches, i can't even squat my without weight but i know the pain is better than the painkillers (they lower test and cause muscle atrophy, oh and slow down muscle recovery). today i did 20 lb leg extensions to failure (i looked stupid, using that machine for a few minutes non stop lol), some stretching, and 20 lb hamstring flexes (once again, to failure). i felt relief from the stiffness when i was done but now i'm sore. i guess it's time for some food and a massage haha.

 

[truthornothin]

Ursobolic the new E-pharm supplement may help, the medical studies showed that it prevented muscle wasting see the following study

Cell Metabolism, Volume 13, Issue 6, 627-638, 8 June 2011
Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/j.cmet.2011.03.020



Authors

Steven D. Kunkel, Manish Suneja, Scott M. Ebert, Kale S. Bongers, Daniel K. Fox, Sharon E. Malmberg, Fariborz Alipour, Richard K. Shields, Christopher M. AdamsSee Affiliations
Highlights
We determined mRNA expression signatures of skeletal muscle atrophy in humans
Muscle atrophy signatures negatively correlated with the signature of ursolic acid
Ursolic acid reduced muscle atrophy and induced muscle hypertrophy in mice
Although ursolic acid increased skeletal muscle mass, it reduced adiposity
Summary

Skeletal muscle atrophy is a common and debilitating condition that lacks a pharmacologic therapy. To develop a potential therapy, we identified 63 mRNAs that were regulated by fasting in both human and mouse muscle, and 29 mRNAs that were regulated by both fasting and spinal cord injury in human muscle. We used these two unbiased mRNA expression signatures of muscle atrophy to query the Connectivity Map, which singled out ursolic acid as a compound whose signature was opposite to those of atrophy-inducing stresses. A natural compound enriched in apples, ursolic acid reduced muscle atrophy and stimulated muscle hypertrophy in mice. It did so by enhancing skeletal muscle insulin/IGF-I signaling and inhibiting atrophy-associated skeletal muscle mRNA expression. Importantly, ursolic acid's effects on muscle were accompanied by reductions in adiposity, fasting blood glucose, and plasma cholesterol and triglycerides. These findings identify a potential therapy for muscle atrophy and perhaps other metabolic diseases.

 

[mylo]

well i decided to start using prohormones to prevent the catabolism (and of course to increase strength haha). this is my 5th day on methyl masterdrol and to be honest i feel like i healed up a bit quicker. today i did deadlifts for the first time in a month AND went up from 245 for one rep to 295 (huge leap! straight leg by the way). i think taking a break has helped me out? unfortunately i did lose a small amount of knee muscle on my injured knee. still, can't wait to squat again.

maybe it's just psychological but prohormones are some pretty handy supplements o.o

 

[jamesm11]

yeah it's all in your head.

did the dr give you the go ahead to deadlift?

 

[Diabolik]

Do some leg presses. Maybe try some lightweight smith machine squats to see how the knee feels. I tore my meniscus and have had an injured ACL (unknown to me) for years and that's how I got back up to strength.

 

[benmuscle]

continue to take proteins and slow release carbohydrates. HMB and OAKG might also be beneficial