Here is the situation.
I built my legs with squats & deads. That’s about all I ever did.
My knees are a wreck & have been for some time. They crack and when I squat they hurt-fel like th epatella will pop off! Most of it is due to being a fat athlete in High School and fluctuating up & down in weight. Now days I’m lean about 220lbs.
My sports doc told me to avoid squats, extensions, & even climbing stairs!
The knees crack but don’t hurt unless I squat. I an athlete so I can’t be too risky. I just can’t see training my legs without he above what’s the point?!
I will have severe arthritus when I am older anyhow do I say "I’m hardcore & train the legs w/ no regard for my future or doI just drop leg training? (I still sprint-haven’t trained legs in about 6 weeks) My legs are naturally decent sized (other than my damn calves) What would you guys do?!
It’s tough because I loved to squat! I want to perform and have a pain free future as much as possible BUT, and it may sound stupid but I almost feel like a phony because I no longe rhit the legs!
ART will fix it in three visits.
personally running hurts my knees way more than any weight training.
you might want to try to eliminate the running for a period of time just to gauge if that may be the problem.
the only other thing i can recommend is try some glucosamine/chondroitin, or some msm.
dude, similar problem. i too was a powerlifter and thrower, did squats, deads and pulls for nearly 20 years, then i ruptured 3 discs in my back. could not do anything! the sciatica even prevented me from doing leg extensions. what savewd me was SLED DRAGGING! heavy-heavy draging twice a week and light 3 times a week. i posted pics of my legs after 6 weeks of nothing but draging, and the were as big as ever!
to goldberg…
no offence big guy, but art is not going to solve his problems, sounds like he has rough knee cart. soft tissue manipulation is not going to fix that. i too have read many posts on the elite fitness website praising ART as a mirical cure… but i found it marginal to ineffective in treating my chronic tendonitis in my elbow and recuring muscle strains in my right thigh. not that it does not work, just did not seem to help me.
Heavythrower, are you going to the same ART practitioner? Without a diagnosis, and especially a guestimate from a general practice MD, saying ART will or won’t work is presumptuous. Avoiding extentions, however, is probably a good idea anyway. Have you tested the strength levels of the VMO? Knees and back…what a flawed design for bipeds.
JW, I’ll leave the rehab for others more knowledgable than myself, but I would strongly recommend that you support your joint health (and healing) nutritionally.
I put together a wound healing protocol of sorts for a friend of mine that blew out the tendons in both knees. Slightly different situation, I know, but you’re still talking connective tissue, cartilage, etc. Send me a PM with your email and I’ll forward on a copy of the stuff I sent him. It’s a bit too voluminous to post here.
What was really fun was that he admitted to me that after starting the protocol, his shoulders felt better than they had in years, an unexpected fringe benefit.
Good luck to you!!!
I would have someone assess your posture while standing and squatting. Chances are that you have a lot of muscular weaknesses and tightness or an anatomic abnormality (e.g. leg length discrepancy) predisposing you to the condition. I hope that your doctor checked you out on the latter, but I doubt he understands enough about the former to give you an accurate assessment.
It sounds like patellofemoral syndrome to me if his knee cap is giving him the problems. I had the same exact problem from doing squats and landing a million back tucks over two years. if you go to a good doc they can literally work miracles.
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You say you’re an athlete. WHat sport do you play and where.
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Your doctor reccommended you DONT do Squats or leg extensions, because obviously working your quads will put a lot of pressure on your knee. Are you gonna trust us over your doctor? When someone damages their ACL, they’re told NOT to do leg extensions, for the same reason you shouldnt.
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Let’s see, be healthy when you’re old, or have huge problems with your knee and several operations to fix it, not to mention hospital bills, bills, bills. You must be stupid.
My dad screwed up his knee cap over a decade ago. Since then he’s had more operations than you can imagine; too much heartache over what could go wrong and the lack of activity resulting from recovering from an operation. After one of his operations his leg was completely deflated - his thigh was thinner than his calf. So much for natural size. He lost much of the range of motion and cannot kneel. He’s due for a permanent knee cap replacement in a few years which will cost a bundle again.
Not to mention his doctors completely screwed up his operation - they were supposed to cut off a part of his femur (lower leg bone), which was unhealthy and weak, and leave the strong part of the bone which was healthy. Turns out the doctors had cut off the HEALTHY part of the bone and left the WEAK part of the bone. THey then had to re-operate him, fix his leg up a bundle of screws and stuff.
Now tell me, which one do you wanna do again?
Some people must have been born with peanut brains.
diesel, I’m not sure I understand your point… are you saying that he shouldn’t trust doctors, or that he should?
Diesel -
Are you accusing JW of having a peanut brain because has questions about what to do in his situation?
I really believe Eric Cressey hit the nail on the head here.