Squatting form for injury recovery...

[samcanadian]

So I've been off of anything involving legs for about a year now due to pain in both knees through the ROM of a squat (patellofemoral syndrome). I lost a lot of muscle mass due to the inability to stick to a solid program because I could NOT keep a split going without my leg day to break up the upper body stuff. It's impossible to keep your morale up when you can't do squats/deads.

Anyway, long story short, I was prescribed knee braces...now, lo and behold I can squat without pain. That being said, I figured I'd post a couple videos to get some extra analysis on my form in order to prevent doing more damage to my knees.

Here are a couple videos of me squatting in my underwear and socks (I was not planning on putting these online...it just sort of turned out that way.) while listening to Power Metal.

How does my form look?

Sorry if this has been asked a million times before, but I figured if I went through the effort of uploading a few videos for you guys it'd be worth a few honest replies.



Notes:
-135 on the bar, just enough to make me squat in the form I used to, but not too much right off the bat...just to be on the safe side.
-I'm doing these as close to good form as I can. I try to look straight ahead, and I'm desperately trying not to arch my back.
-Yes, chicken legs, yes yes, I know. It's been a year. Shorts season was abysmal.
-The band is Stratovarius, and I think in the one vid I'm whistling along to one of their Power Ballads. Like I said, I originally had no intention of posting these online.








Anyway, if any could give me some advice or comment on form, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

[-Lucifer]

Your form looks good to me. Are the braces limiting your range of motion?

I've started squatting after about 9 months. Good to hear there's someone else like me, lol.

[samcanadian]

The braces aren't limiting at all, they just keep the Patella from moving laterally while I flex my knee. theres a bit of a horseshoe of foam that circles underneath the patella to do this.

[crupiea]

I used to have knee pain whenever I squatted.

What I did to solve it was to really concentrate on pushing my knees out throughout the movement. One rep when i dont think about ti and they will hurt right away again.

What made this a bit easier was a bit wider stance. I also get better depth.

Make sure you are warming uo enough too. This will make it easier to get going at working sets quicker. I have noticed that I get a real good warm up by walking on the treadmill at an incline for 15 minutes or so. Gets the hams warmed up good. Just one less thing to have to get going when squatting.

[-Lucifer]

Originally Posted by samcanadian

The braces aren't limiting at all, they just keep the Patella from moving laterally while I flex my knee. theres a bit of a horseshoe of foam that circles underneath the patella to do this.

That's what I thought at first.

If you can go any lower (break parallel) without hurting your knees then do it. Otherwise, your form is good.

[samcanadian]

Originally Posted by -Lucifer

That's what I thought at first.

If you can go any lower (break parallel) without hurting your knees then do it. Otherwise, your form is good.

One more thing...do you think going any deeper than parallel is necessary, especially when I've got a touchy situation with my knees? I'm worried I might have been going too deep back when I COULD do squats, and perhaps it was hurting my knees so I'm going to parallel now just to be safe...

[-Lucifer]

Originally Posted by samcanadian

One more thing...do you think going any deeper than parallel is necessary, especially when I've got a touchy situation with my knees? I'm worried I might have been going too deep back when I COULD do squats, and perhaps it was hurting my knees so I'm going to parallel now just to be safe...

Going deeper will activate more fibres, so that's good for you. I'm not sure if it'll make a big difference, though. Do whatever feels comfortable.

[SB100%Natural]

Originally Posted by samcanadian

So I've been off of anything involving legs for about a year now due to pain in both knees through the ROM of a squat (patellofemoral syndrome). I lost a lot of muscle mass due to the inability to stick to a solid program because I could NOT keep a split going without my leg day to break up the upper body stuff. It's impossible to keep your morale up when you can't do squats/deads.

Anyway, long story short, I was prescribed knee braces...now, lo and behold I can squat without pain. That being said, I figured I'd post a couple videos to get some extra analysis on my form in order to prevent doing more damage to my knees.

Here are a couple videos of me squatting in my underwear and socks (I was not planning on putting these online...it just sort of turned out that way.) while listening to Power Metal.

How does my form look?

Sorry if this has been asked a million times before, but I figured if I went through the effort of uploading a few videos for you guys it'd be worth a few honest replies.

Notes:
-135 on the bar, just enough to make me squat in the form I used to, but not too much right off the bat...just to be on the safe side.
-I'm doing these as close to good form as I can. I try to look straight ahead, and I'm desperately trying not to arch my back.
-Yes, chicken legs, yes yes, I know. It's been a year. Shorts season was abysmal.
-The band is Stratovarius, and I think in the one vid I'm whistling along to one of their Power Ballads. Like I said, I originally had no intention of posting these online.








Anyway, if any could give me some advice or comment on form, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.

Hi buddy,

Your form looks very good, you don't have to squat past parallel if you don't want to. Going deeper will activate the glutes more and that is fine also, its up to you. What sort of knee brace do you have?

I have struggled with my knees for the past 2-3 years. Now they are so bad i can't train and quadraceps dominat exercise at all. I've wasted hundreds of dollars on specialists, but none of them have been able to help me at all.

I have no noticable cartalidge damage or wear and tear. I've had many xrays and MRIs done and they all show that my knees are fine and i shouldnt be getting pain from sqauts, legpresses or lunges.

I've also tried wrapping the knees but that doesnt help either... i really believe after reading this post that i to have patellofemoral syndrome. I will be the happiest guy alive if i ever get this problem fixed, its destroying my training!!!!

[samcanadian]

Originally Posted by SB100%Natural

Hi buddy,

Your form looks very good, you don't have to squat past parallel if you don't want to. Going deeper will activate the glutes more and that is fine also, its up to you. What sort of knee brace do you have?

I have struggled with my knees for the past 2-3 years. Now they are so bad i can't train and quadraceps dominat exercise at all. I've wasted hundreds of dollars on specialists, but none of them have been able to help me at all.

I have no noticable cartalidge damage or wear and tear. I've had many xrays and MRIs done and they all show that my knees are fine and i shouldnt be getting pain from sqauts, legpresses or lunges.

I've also tried wrapping the knees but that doesnt help either... i really believe after reading this post that i to have patellofemoral syndrome. I will be the happiest guy alive if i ever get this problem fixed, its destroying my training!!!!

I would not be surprised in the least if this is what you have.

The brace I have looks similar to this

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DN%26um%3D1


What it does is stabilizes the patella (The little thing at your kneecap which you can wiggle around with your leg in a straight position). It forces it to track up and down over the femur the way it's SUPPOSED to rather than sliding laterally to either side (which causes the discomfort).

When do you experience the pain?

I had these symptoms forever, and it was driving me nuts because I couldn't train legs at ALL. Now that i have these knee braces, it's like my knees are back to normal...it's bizarre how simple the fix was.

[SB100%Natural]

Originally Posted by samcanadian

I would not be surprised in the least if this is what you have.

The brace I have looks similar to this

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...a%3DN%26um%3D1


What it does is stabilizes the patella (The little thing at your kneecap which you can wiggle around with your leg in a straight position). It forces it to track up and down over the femur the way it's SUPPOSED to rather than sliding laterally to either side (which causes the discomfort).

When do you experience the pain?

I had these symptoms forever, and it was driving me nuts because I couldn't train legs at ALL. Now that i have these knee braces, it's like my knees are back to normal...it's bizarre how simple the fix was.

Hi man,

Thanks for the reply. I've had these symptoms for about 3 years but as of late they have gotten so bad i can't train quads at all. Like i said all the experts didn't know what to do. I get the pain on squats, legpresses, extensions, lunges and riding a bike. I get no pain at all doing hamstring exercises.

The doc said i probably had patellofemoral syndrome, but then followed that up by saying: "dont worry about it, its just pain, its not dangerous!" Pretty crappy advice if you ask me. I think I will by the braces you have or similar... My god i will be happy if it thay make my knees even 50% better!!!

Do the braces you use get in the way at all? I mean, do they stick or scrap the back of your legs when squatting or doing leg presses???

[samcanadian]

Originally Posted by SB100%Natural

Hi man,

Thanks for the reply. I've had these symptoms for about 3 years but as of late they have gotten so bad i can't train quads at all. Like i said all the experts didn't know what to do. I get the pain on squats, legpresses, extensions, lunges and riding a bike. I get no pain at all doing hamstring exercises.

The doc said i probably had patellofemoral syndrome, but then followed that up by saying: "dont worry about it, its just pain, its not dangerous!" Pretty crappy advice if you ask me. I think I will by the braces you have or similar... My god i will be happy if it thay make my knees even 50% better!!!

Do the braces you use get in the way at all? I mean, do they stick or scrap the back of your legs when squatting or doing leg presses???

Nope. they're very comfortable, and they have a hole cut out in the back of the knee so it doesn't crinkle when I flex them.

They almost work like magic. You expect the pain to come, but it never happens with these babies. As soon as you take them off it goes back to normal.

For what it's worth, do a search on Patellofemoral syndrome. There are a few good threads on here.

[SB100%Natural]

Hi, about to order those knee braces you gave me the link to. Do you know if they normally come as a pair? Or do i need to by singles? Cheers.

My thigh measurement was 21.5" which is just over size medium, i was wondering if i should order medium anyway? I think it would be better for me to have them slightly small to keep maximum stability of the kneecap. What to you think?

[SB100%Natural]

Originally Posted by SB100%Natural

Hi, about to order those knee braces you gave me the link to. Do you know if they normally come as a pair? Or do i need to by singles? Cheers.

My thigh measurement was 21.5" which is just over size medium, i was wondering if i should order medium anyway? I think it would be better for me to have them slightly small to keep maximum stability of the kneecap. What to you think?

Just noticed it?s gonna cost me 85$ to get them shipped, wow!

[samcanadian]

Originally Posted by SB100%Natural

Hi, about to order those knee braces you gave me the link to. Do you know if they normally come as a pair? Or do i need to by singles? Cheers.

My thigh measurement was 21.5" which is just over size medium, i was wondering if i should order medium anyway? I think it would be better for me to have them slightly small to keep maximum stability of the kneecap. What to you think?

Hmmm, well I bought a Medium and they can be manually tightened to fit your thigh and calf. It's pretty critical that the little horseshoe foam thing fits aroun your patella, and that the brace doesn't slide around on your leg while using them. They're snug and don't move at all on my legs while using them.

[samcanadian]

Originally Posted by SB100%Natural

Just noticed it?s gonna cost me 85$ to get them shipped, wow!

There's GOT to be a place in your city that sells them. 85 bucks is pretty expensive to ship!

[kcurran]

Being a runner who is somehow plagued with runner's knee once every season.. I find that deep squats do the trick. I also do my squats on a machine when this happens so I don't risk having bad form.. also it helps me focus on getting the knees engaged properly.

[samcanadian]

Originally Posted by kcurran

Being a runner who is somehow plagued with runner's knee once every season.. I find that deep squats do the trick. I also do my squats on a machine when this happens so I don't risk having bad form.. also it helps me focus on getting the knees engaged properly.

I hurt my knees by doing a squat on a Smith machine, I think. Even if it wasn't the Smith Machine, I have bad connotations with it now as a result!