Just about a year ago over spring break I woke up a day after playing basketball and my left knee was totally screwed up. I couldn't move it at all with out huge amounts of pain. Well all of the pain went away after a month or so, the orthopedic had me taking lots of Motrin. Even after the pain went away I still had a problem with it, and that is when I crouch down, like I would for squats or leg press, then I get this popping around the upper left part of my left knee cap. When I squat down, if i put my fingers over that part of the knee cap, I can feel something kind of slide across it to make the pop. It also looks as if my left knee (injured) is skinnier than the right one. The orthopedic was not the greatest, he could never really classify my injury and told me it could be tendonitis. I really want to bulk up on my lower body for jumping, but this knee problem still scares me. There is no pain, just lots of akwardness. Anyone had anything similiar to this or know anyways to help fix this? Thank you for any help!
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Problem with squats, knee injury
- Thread starter cps
- Start date
What is your quad flexibility like? Lacking or good...? I would definitely start with a stretching protocol, and then begin a strengthening protocol that does not immediately involve squats, obviously. You have probably been favoring this leg for quite some time now, so you need to retrain the muscles almost completely. Begin with exercises that don't require as much range of motion into flexion, such as split squats or lunges. If your stability is out of whack, begin with one-leg leg press, but making sure you don;t go much beyond 90 degrees of knee flexion. Have you ever re-consulted for the knee? If you can, go see an athletic therapist or physio...always best to get a second opinion, plus, you make sure the problem isn't likely to get even worse.
Have you tried leg extensions and leg curls? After I had knee surgery I started doing them in sets of 100 with the smallest weight the machine had and gradually worked up to 500 reps and then started adding weight. It took a few years, but eventually my knees got much better. I still get some knee pain if I don't do the leg extensions and curls at least twice a week. It only takes 2 sets of 15 reps or so each to make a big difference. Of course I also do a lot of heavy squats and leg presses now that my knees can handle it.
I can only get down to about a 135 degree angle before my knee cracks and the thing slides over the side of the cap. Also I dont have the best flexibility in my lower body, but oddly enough I can put my leg over my head and other wierd things like that. I am currently trying to get an appointment to my doctor so he can send me to another orthapedic, I have been pretty stupid to wait this long to get another doctor. I was reading about tendinitis and the more I think about the more it seems like it is tendinitis. And what is a split squat, also I can't really do lunges without it cracking alot. Thank you both for your replies!