Will squatting with a bad kneecap be beneficial or harmful? I took a week of no lower body weights and it was the same. It got that way from football but I’m sure it wasn’t hit it just feels worn out or overworked. It feels stiff all the time but when I’m doing an activity the stiffness goes away until I stop moving around on it.
I have pains in my knees. Its worse when I used to run but lucky I stoped doing that. I would make sure your warming up alot/correctly. I walk for 5 minutes at a slow pace on the treadmill, then hit the leg extensions and leg curls, and sometimes hit the leg press for a little bit BEFORE i squat. Of course I use very light weight.
O yea and try puting some bengay on your knees too it might help. Usually my knees crack for a few sets with just the bar but after that they stop and I can sqaut no problem. I cant say if this will hurt or make them better but if you want to continue to get stronger and squat I would suggest doing this. If your concerned about your joint health I would see a doctor.
Right now my main goal is to add more leg mass. I’ll put on some Bengay I’m sure its some here in the house. Thanks for your help.
[quote]sed26 wrote:
Will squatting with a bad kneecap be beneficial or harmful? I took a week of no lower body weights and it was the same. It got that way from football but I’m sure it wasn’t hit it just feels worn out or overworked. It feels stiff all the time but when I’m doing an activity the stiffness goes away until I stop moving around on it.[/quote]
If it is above or below the kneecap itself, it could be tendonitis. If so, it won’t go away on its own. Anti-inflamatories and rest is normally prescribed.
So you think I should take a break from squatting? Another thing is that if I sit down with my legs in a sitting position for longer than about an hour, it gets really painful unless I frequently straighten my legs out. I’ll do some research on tendonitis.
OK I just researched tendonitis for a quick 5 minutes and that might be my case. I did after all had football practice for 3 hours and overuse is bouncd to be the cause of mine. Thanks.
It depends on what’s wrong with your knee cap. My experience is that the more you squat, the stronger the muscles around your kneecap become and the less pain you have. However, my friend recently ran a marathon and developed some tendinitis that required her to lay off squatting for a month or so. Do a google search oh IT (Iliotibial) Band.
i heard it can happen from an internally rotated femur too, perhaps more glute activation while standing etc during the day as well as rolling the IT band will help
I had the same issue also played football. I basiclly rested three full days. Then started a new weight lifting cycle which was light on my knee. When I say light I don’t mean light weights but 1 exercise of squats 3-5 sets and leg curls if you feel comfortible with it.
I found doing this slowly fixed up my knee problem but doing more then 1 knee intense exercise a day made it worst. One more thing stay the hell away from leg extensions I don’t think they are a bad exercise but when your knee if messed up they really can make it worst from personal experience. Along with icing it after working out and a dosage of fish oil.
Appreciate you guys’ help. Its hard watching all the squat videos and knowing that an injury is holding me back. But hopefully it’ll get better quickly. I just took a look at illiotibial band. It describes my problems. Like when I sit with my legs bent for more than 20 minutes, it starts to get really painful and increases as time goes by that my legs are bent.
Could someone perhaps reccommend a good anti-inflammatory pill or something that will help based on experience? I really want to get back into squatting and deadlifting.
I’m thinking you should have a professional look at your knee. This could be the start of more serious problems down the road if not taken care of properly. It might be just a simple fix for you and you might be able to prevent further injury.
I had knee problems, went to physio and a podiatrist. It turned out to be foot problems that affected my knees.
listen to nikinine. It could be tendonitis or it could be IT problems, the beginnings of chondromalacia (which you do NOT want–I have it) or any number of things. See an orthopedist. Don’t play games with your knees like I did and don’t “tough it out”. There is a fine line between foolishness and toughness.
[quote]sed26 wrote:
Could someone perhaps reccommend a good anti-inflammatory pill or something that will help based on experience? I really want to get back into squatting and deadlifting.[/quote]
Fish oil, fish oil and more fish oil. Lucky for you, Biotest makes a super high quality brand called Flameout.
http://www.T-Nation.com/readArticle.do?id=910074
Here’s a summery of what makes fish oil so good, pulled from the above article:
So to recap, here are the potential benefits of Biotest’s Flameout:
�?� Decreased systemic inflammation (thus possibly warding of heart disease, asthma, arthritis, macular degeneration, and a host of other diseases or maladies).
�?� Significant decreases in levels of body fat through increased insulin sensitivity and increased metabolism. (This increased insulin sensitivity may also prevent Type II diabetes.)
�?� Decreased muscle soreness.
�?� Decreased incidence of tendonitis.
�?� The possible destruction of existing cancer cells, in addition to possibly thwarting metastasis.
[quote]Birdman31 wrote:
listen to nikinine. It could be tendonitis or it could be IT problems, the beginnings of chondromalacia (which you do NOT want–I have it) or any number of things. See an orthopedist. Don’t play games with your knees like I did and don’t “tough it out”. There is a fine line between foolishness and toughness.[/quote]
Thanks syncharmony for your help. I appreciate it. Also ^ your advice and birdman’s. I usually stay out with my old football coach(since I’m going to college he’s no longer my current coach but will always be) and we lift weights together. I know my legs are a little behind my upperbody but that’s no excuse to put my inflammed knees under stress which according to the articles, will only make it worse.
I keep telling him that and he keeps on with his theory to “tough it out” like birdman says but I lift smart, not tough. Well you know what I mean. But I just let him have his opinion while still staying away from leg exercises for the time being. I try not to act like a know-it-all toward grown people and just let them have the last word so I never said anything after that even though I know my way is right. I still do a bit of walking just to keep them atleast in ok shape though.
This tendonitis is really kicking my ass. My legs are underdeveloped already compared to my upper body and its bugging me that I cant do anything about it until it goes away enough. For everyone that took Flameout for tendonitis, did it go away permanently after time passed? I’m planning on playing college football and this might get in my way.
I wish I had your problem right now. I’m about to go in for an ACL and meniscus repair. Although mentally it has given me so much motivation to get in top physical shape after surgery.
My coach is getting on my last nerve telling me to just squat light. I already tried squatting with just 135 and I don’t feel pain during the workout when I’m warmed up but after the workout it gets painful and that’s how I know that working out right now isn’t best.
He just keeps reminding me of how important squatting is and now he’s got the impression that I don’t like working out legs just because my upper body is bigger. He doesn’t understand the workings of tendonitis. I’ve already tried “toughing it out” and I learned quickly that its not going to work but being respectful I just let him win every time.
Should I just tell him to research this stuff because he’s just not getting it? He doesn’t buy the part of not doing things to aggrivate the inflammation. I mean, even running aggrivates my tendonitis.
Once I get a job I’ll be stocking up on Flameout but first I got to finish this bottle of Osteo Bi-Flex that my mom bought because she’d be mad if I wasted her money. lol
Ok my coaches say “squat light” and my tendonitis will get better. To get you more in dept of how it feels, well, without warming up if I just do a bodyweight squat it is quite painful to say the least.
But after a quick warmup it becomes painless, until after the workout when I cool down, then my joints around my knees become so stiff whereas it’s hard to walk right. I’m left walking like a mummy. lol If I sit down for more than 15 minutes with my knees in about a 90 degree angle it feels like with every minute passing my knees and falling apart from the inside and I have to straighten my leg for relief.
Just like the first set of squats are hard to do because of the pain but the sets afterward are ok. I’m planning on visiting a doctor sometime in the near future to let them take a look but until then I need advice. I’m taking Flameout already. For those who’ve experienced something like this before and got over it, do you reccommend light leg exercises or none AT ALL until it is completely healed?
I’m worried because football season is coming soo and this will be my freshman year in college and coaches are calling and everything and I’m worried that I might have to sit out this season.
If you keep working out the same way it will get worse. My friend still has a problem with it alomst a year after the marathon but there were things she did do to make it better. When running it’s more on the balls of her feet now. She doesn’t squat as deep although she didn’t do much anyway. She’s a rower and that still bothers her. She limits the amount she does. There is an elastic band designed to go above the knee that gives some releif. Some stretchs help too.
Only you know what works but the more you push it, the worse it will get. You will have to adapt your training so you are working around the injury. Some leg training is possible and you should continue. Avoid deep knee flexion.
Stu