Help! Twin City Area

I didn’t really know any other place to put this so I thought I’d post here. My mom started hitting the cardio classes hard September last year, and started including weights this summer. Since she started she’s lost over 65 pounds, and I’m really proud of her.

Me and her made this challenge with each other that we called the “100 pound challenge.” She was going to lose 80 pounds and I was going to gain 20 pounds of muscle. Well I’m pretty close but she still has 15 pounds to go, and she’s putting everything she’s got into it, she hasn’t cheated on a meal for over 6 months.

Lately though, she’s really been complaining about one of her knees. She’s had light knee pain for the last couple years or so, but she said her knee pain is really starting to flare up.

She went to see an orthopedic guy telling him that she still wanted to lose 15 pounds, he basically said to her “you’re getting old (she’s 50), you got arthritis, no more squatting/weightlifting, you can walk around the park if you want though!”

I literally said to him, “how the fuck is she supposed to lose 15 pounds with a stroll around the park? I can see it’s really working for you (he was fat).”

Basically I was wondering if anybody knows of some GOOD physical therapists/orthopedics/knee specialists around the twin cities area?

Also I was wondering if maybe she should drop the squats for a bit, and just stick to deadlifts for lowerbody training.

i get some knee pain now and then from running/lifting. ive come a long way in my cardio, so its hard (frustrating) to take time off but i do. the alternative is to make the injury worse and longer downtime.

generally i take a week off from intensive exercises for whatever area i get “bad” pain in. after that week ill come back with a light exercise and see how it goes. if i am pain free ill ramp up, if not, more down time.

maybe she needs to stretch more or lower the frequency/intensity of her current routine or diversify it so she isnt pounding the same area day to day week to week. maybe she needs a week off. rest = recovery.

swimming is a good alternative lower impact cardio option. id definitely try the p/t route first if its gonna require more than rest. 65 pounds - thats awesome. im sure u r proud, i would be.

Thanks for the advice, but this knee pain thing has been going for a while, and the main reason she started this fat loss regiment was to make her knees better, not worse. She says it’s not the type of thing that just goes away with rest.

Since it’s just one knee I don’t think it’s a general arthritis thing, I think something needs to be corrected down there, and if anybody knows a pt in the area that’d be great.

i haven’t got the answer. just wanted to congrat your mom on the hard work.