training around a knee strain

[NoCalBbEr]

hey guys
I've had a knee strain for about a month now. I've been training though the pain.  I've doing the usual squats,leg presses, hacks and extensions. whick are knee killers.. Its been getting worse were I can't squat to pick thing up or walk for a long time.I saw a doctor and he said that i had some tendinist. I feel that I should address this problem now before it becomes a major  problem..  I've started to use some joint support and my doctor gave me a brace on my keen. it  keeps my knee from moving . so you know how uncomfortable it is to sit down or get up without  bending my knee... I was wondering, can I still train  legs without put a ton of stress on my knees?? or is it a matter of not training legs at all for about a month??  I like to train everything. so, thats why I haven't really paid any attion to my knee issue.

thanks

[Royalty]

I went through that and it took almost a year to get better.

BUT...what I learned will hasten your recovery time...

Im guessing that the knee strain in actually in the vastus medialus muscle (tear drop) area on the quad. Is the tendon that connects the tear drop to the knee.

Or is the strain is below the knee, its still the same tendon (petella femoral tendon)

You must increase blow flow to the tendon. This will speed the recovery time. Tendons heal slowly because they have low blow flow (compared to the muscle bellies).

You need to stretch this tendon. Just lay on you back, grap your shin, and pull your thigh into your torso. Once in postition, try to press your ankle into your hamstring. This will really stretch the tendon. Hold each stretch for 30-60 seconds.

You will be fine.

PS- I would only do leg presses with a high foot position for about a month.

[pumpster]

I've had tendonitis and was able to get around it. At some point if it doesn't go away you have to take a break, IMO. Do nothing for up to a month, let it get better. Of course you'll be thinking you're losing a lot, but a few weeks after resuming training with more energy thanks to the break, it won't make any difference.

The break in training will most important get you back to normal, and secondly if the pain starts returning, should help you determine where it's coming from.

Once healed and back into training, you'll have to change the routine slightly. First of all, the warmups have to be as good as possible, which takes time. Ideally 3-4 minutes of stationary bike, nothing too intense and don't use high resistance, you just want to get the blood flowing.

Then with the weights after some thorough warmup sets you want to keep the reps higher say 10-15, on any of the exercises that have caused the knee problems. Even go to 15-20 reps per set, if that's what's needed to avoided knee strain. And at the same time, keep the rests between sets to a minute. Between those two things there will be less knee stress AND the area will be kept warm.

As a last resort if none of this helps and the pain starts returning, find out which are the problem exercise(s) and discontinue them. Either use other versions that don't hurt, or find good substitutes. For example, while standard squats are great they can be replaced with good substitutes. If pain starts returning, through the process of elimination find out what's causing it by only doing certain exercises for a few workouts each, to isolate where the pain's coming from.

[NoCalBbEr]

I get pain at the lesses part of the knee and it  goes up. I have been doing light  weight on legs day and have to go  a little light on everything b/c my balance is a little off. i.e. i can't lift the DB's with my knees when doing  incline DB press..

do you guys recommend  using the brace i got from my doctor?? the main use is to  take out the  knee uses.

thx guys some go useful posts.

[pumpster]

I get pain at the lesses part of the knee and it  goes up. I have been doing light  weight on legs day and have to go  a little light on everything b/c my balance is a little off. i.e. i can't lift the DB's with my knees when doing  incline DB press..

do you guys recommend  using the brace i got from my doctor?? the main use is to  take out the  knee uses.

thx guys some go useful posts.

The brace isn't going to fix the problem; knee wraps can help but in either case you have to find out what's causing it and modify your program to avoid it in future.

[Princess L]

Now might be the time to get the glutes and hams in order ~ like maybe doing  glute ham raises, SLDLs, etc.  Oh, and work on the calves too.

[NoCalBbEr]

I train my hamstrings and calves year round. is there any exerise that i shouldn't do or should i do light reps and do  20 reps per set??

[pumpster]

I train my hamstrings and calves year round. is there any exerise that i shouldn't do or should i do light reps and do  20 reps per set??

If you mean what to avoid to keep the injuries away, as i mentioned you should do some experimentation with different exercises to find out which ones are causing the problems. Then on those exercises only, you can go with higher reps to avoid further problems, or if that doesn't work, find a different version of same that doesn't cause the pain and substitute it in ie front squats instead of regular squats, if regular squats are causing the problem.

Reps of 15-20 are still going to build leg size, IMO. The best range if the knees can stand it, that will build muscle without hurting the joints as much, is 10-15 IMO, if you can do it without pain.