Can't so squats - what to replace em with?

[cgc]

Yeah - I feel like an idiot.

I quit taking aspirin for the pain in my knee because It wasn't doing a whole lot.
But - Three doses of 500 mg of Naproxen (anti-inflammatory) and I believe the pain in my knee is down a couple of notches.

Man, you guys don't know how happy I am that this will probably be an easy fix.

[VDubb]

I have acute patella tendonitis. It's pretty much only in one spot where I feel pain - looks like a little knob in the middle of my kneecap that flares up when overused. This is also commonly called "jumpers knee."

I saw a physical thereapist for a little while, and pretty much, you just need to rest your knee, and strengthen the muscles that support your legs/knee. I was playing basketball at a time where I was as big as I'd ever been - unfortunately not though lifting, but eating.

I've since lost 20+ pounds through cardio/weights, and can easily see the difference in my speed and pain associated after running/jumping. I'm back to dunking without much effort/pain.

During therapy, we also tried a technique of massaging the area - which hurts at first, but then the area swells, you ice it, and it feels SOOO much better.

My problem is that I'm too active to rest it significantly.

Good luck! I will say the bands that wrap around the knee, just below the kneecap, reduce the stress on your knee immensely. I highly suggest using these during activity/lifting.

[cgc]

I have acute patella tendonitis. It's pretty much only in one spot where I feel pain - looks like a little knob in the middle of my kneecap that flares up when overused. This is also commonly called "jumpers knee."

I saw a physical thereapist for a little while, and pretty much, you just need to rest your knee, and strengthen the muscles that support your legs/knee. I was playing basketball at a time where I was as big as I'd ever been - unfortunately not though lifting, but eating.

I've since lost 20+ pounds through cardio/weights, and can easily see the difference in my speed and pain associated after running/jumping. I'm back to dunking without much effort/pain.

During therapy, we also tried a technique of massaging the area - which hurts at first, but then the area swells, you ice it, and it feels SOOO much better.

My problem is that I'm too active to rest it significantly.

Good luck! I will say the bands that wrap around the knee, just below the kneecap, reduce the stress on your knee immensely. I highly suggest using these during activity/lifting.

I'm thinking of the knee bands that I saw on this site...supposed to give a bit of support and keep the knee warm. I just don't want to rely on them and have weak knees.

The only thing I worry about is that I am top heavy and just started a new workout routine that is built off of squats, and Deadlifts...I'm already top heavy with weak looking legs, so I would really like to bring them up.

We'll see though...time will tell.

[cgc]

OK-
I haven't posted about this in a while but here is an update on the knee situation.

It still is messed up. I did two months of PT with little to no improvements. I have strength in the leg…but it hurts pretty good at times and squats are still a no go. So I've started focusing on my hamstrings.

Anyways, the PT could never hit where the knee was hurting no matter how hard he mashed around the area (to the point of me having thumb mark bruises around my knee).

The Doctor wanted to do cortisone shots, but I don't just want to mask the pain, I want a resolution.

He sent me home last time telling me to go back on the naproxen and try and exercise with it (not going over board). Now the knee is getting tight as a whole. He said we may do an MRI on it this next time - which I wish they just would have done from the get go.

Getting pretty discouraged by this though.

I know it could always be worse - but I just want to be back up and running 100%

[Nainoa]

OK-
I haven't posted about this in a while but here is an update on the knee situation.

It still is messed up. I did two months of PT with little to no improvements. I have strength in the leg…but it hurts pretty good at times and squats are still a no go. So I've started focusing on my hamstrings.

Anyways, the PT could never hit where the knee was hurting no matter how hard he mashed around the area (to the point of me having thumb mark bruises around my knee).

The Doctor wanted to do cortisone shots, but I don't just want to mask the pain, I want a resolution.

He sent me home last time telling me to go back on the naproxen and try and exercise with it (not going over board). Now the knee is getting tight as a whole. He said we may do an MRI on it this next time - which I wish they just would have done from the get go.

Getting pretty discouraged by this though.

I know it could always be worse - but I just want to be back up and running 100%

Well Bro it's MRI time NOW!

The fact that your doc and PT have put you through this much crap, with less than zero results for this long, tells me that you've run into a bunch of Doc's that quack more than an AFLACK commerical, and it's time to get a second oppinion, with a doctor who will refer you to a compitant Ortho, who will send you to get an MRI.

I was once in your positiong for almost two and a half years... Finally I went to the doctor's office, he walked through the door saying "I see you have a problem with your knee." I grabbed him by the lapel and said "I can't live like this!"

In retrospect I should have done it at the two months mark, instead of the two year mark...

It's time you get away from the Quacks and get an MRI.

Good Luck Bro...

Pick up the phone and start calling for the appointment NOW!
It sucks to live like that because someone else is passing the buck around on your health care needs.

[cgc]

I appreciate the input.

I think I am going to go to the doctor this Friday and see about getting the MRIs done. Then I am going to see about getting all my records and talking to the Doctor I spoke with about my shoulder from earlier this past year. My insurance doesn't need a referal for a specialist...so. That's the game plan.

It's one of those things....you have the thought in your mind but with stuff like this you kind of think "Am I expecting too much"?

Thanks for the info!

[Nainoa]

I appreciate the input.

I think I am going to go to the doctor this Friday and see about getting the MRIs done. Then I am going to see about getting all my records and talking to the Doctor I spoke with about my shoulder from earlier this past year. My insurance doesn't need a referal for a specialist...so. That's the game plan.

It's one of those things....you have the thought in your mind but with stuff like this you kind of think "Am I expecting too much"?

Thanks for the info!

The simply fact that it was diagnosed as taking 3 weeks...

Two months go by... No answer... Problem is the same or worse...
Still no answer... And then they think that they "MIGHT" need to give you an MRI...

What that says to me, having been put in the same Quack-tastic style of run around TWICE (Knee and shoulder) It tells me that they were just "Guessing" and hoping... Passing you from Doc to PT to Doc to PT, and back...

That they were more interested in keeping you in their system, by playing the guessing game with your health, and quality of life, when they could have simply sent you to get the MRI, and would have "Known" the answer, or at least "Confirmed" their diagnosis, so a specialist/ortho could get you back onto the path of a high quality of life.

The fact that doctors behave this way pisses me off to know end... This pattern of Hog **** practices, cost me a combined total of 38 months of my life (Knee and shoulder) and damn near a combined total of $10K...
(Cost does not include paying for my actual medical insurance.)

And the reality was that had they acted in "My Best Interests" instead of theirs it would have been a total of 12 months of my life, and around 2 grand.

[cgc]

Man, if I have to go through all this, I'm gonna kill someone...

My legs are already behind and I'm getting aggrivated by it so much...I know I could be at 225 lbs if I could get my stinken legs in proportion to my upper body.

I'm trying to get ahold of the old Doctor I had for my shoulder early last year...he was real great. This guy is just wanting to stick a needle in my knee and be done (is the impression I'm getting). I don't want to band-aid this...I want the problem corrected.

[Nainoa]

Man, if I have to go through all this, I'm gonna kill someone...

My legs are already behind and I'm getting aggrivated by it so much...I know I could be at 225 lbs if I could get my stinken legs in proportion to my upper body.

I'm trying to get ahold of the old Doctor I had for my shoulder early last year...he was real great. This guy is just wanting to stick a needle in my knee and be done (is the impression I'm getting). I don't want to band-aid this...I want the problem corrected.

Yeah get the MRI, and have the second oppinion doc look at it, if they mention Cortisone after that, then get the old needle...

While a CS does mask pain, it does aid in healing... You'll just have to take it easy for 3-6 weeks, as Cortisone weakens the integrity of connective tissue for a short time...

***
As for any appreciable atrophy... Don't worry Bro... Atrophy builds itself back into powerful muscle INCREDIBLY FAST... As Defiant1 told me when I was suffering the slings and arrows of my own self pity...
"Don't worry Bro, your gains really are a premanent investment!"

[TheReason]

Heh, I have no problems whatsoever with upper body development. My legs, however, are starting to lag behind due to their lack of training. I am blessed with good genetics though, and naturally have very muscular legs, but I feel the need to do SOMETHING to them, even if I can't train my quads/hams. That just leaves calves.

Legs need the monster attitude to train.

You need to have the mentality when you enter the gym, "I'm going to make them hurt and then I'm going to pump out a few reps beyond the point I'm about to scream."

Anything less, and you're wasting your time. It's very hard, its demanding, it makes you sick thinking about it, but once you can reach that level, you feel like Hercules leaving the gym.

Oh and good luck, trying to drive a Manual car home, trying to depress the clutch as your leg locks up and starts shaking more than "Shakin Stevens" himself. If you're riding a motorbike home, don't stop at any lights....

Calves are another kettle of fish.... drop the weight right down to almost nothing and work on form. Stretch all the way down and all the way up, holding the contraction at the top for a few seconds. Work on stretching the calves every single time you go in the gym.

Standing calves 5 sets x 15 (no matter what)
Seat Leg Press doing Calves 5 sets x 15 (no matter what).

When you can master 5 x 15 at a given weight, 2 weeks in a row, increase the weight by 5 pounds only.

Best of luck.

[DC20]

I have tendonitis in my knee too. It usually hurts when I do squats but not that much. However, if I do any sports that require multiple bursts of sprinting like football, my knee will feel like **** for like a week. You know, pain when you go up and down stairs, pain when you extend you leg, and pain when you sit too long. It sucks, but I've just accepted it. I find that if I stretch and ice it after doing something that aggravates it, then it doesn't end up hurting enough to stop me from working legs.

Lately though, my lower back has been another issue. If I approach the 300 mark when doing squats, I'll get a twinge in my back and it will hurt pretty bad for like a week. After a week, I can do like 250 fine, but if I go above that, it starts hurting again. It has been acting up like this for a couple months. If I take like a week or two off to the point where it feels fine, then as soon as I up the weight, it comes back. It's definately agrivating to be restricted by the back, when the legs feel like they can take a good amount more. Today, I had to cut out a set of squats and even incline bench cause it hurt my back to get the weight into position. I'm thinking I might avoid all squats and deads for a long while to see if I can fix it.

Sometimes I think it may be connected to my right hip which has been weird for the past 6ish years. I went to the doctor when it started, and of course, they found nothing. At that point, it was pretty bad. When running I would feel a shooting pain down my entire right leg. Now it will just get really stiff and hurt mainly after any type of cardio/sport activity. I assume it may be something with the sciatic nerve.

[smokeater]

Don't exercise one leg. If you can't train one, don't train the other. Do you honestly want one huge leg and one skinny leg? Don't you think you will look like an idiot?

No leg training till the knee recovers.

Didn't Dorian Yates train only one arm when he got hurt a number of years back?

[fuzzyfozzie]

I think something happened when I was playing with my dog...stupid I know...but I went to stomp at her like I was going to grab her and apparently kicked the ground...something hurt like crap when I did it.

It got better...but as I was doing squats, I started to get a pain at the base and in the center of the knee cap.

I looked on webMD (don't know if that is a good thing or not) and this is what I found that feels/sounds almost identical to what I am dealing with...

Eh...I can't find it now...but it was "Patella something scientific sounding" that talked about the knee alignment when in movement, pain when in a seated position (as opposed to a problems with the meniscus that causes pain when the leg is extended).

It's just kind of crazy, because at one moment, it feels fine then all of a sudden "pow"...I get pain. I've been icing it and keeping it wrapped...but I'm going to go by the doctors office on the way home to get my referral to an orthopedic (that they were supposed to give me over a month ago).

you might have developed a slight tear in your ACL. I am recovering from a reconstruction right now and four months later I am ready to start very light leg workouts this week.

[cgc]

you might have developed a slight tear in your ACL. I am recovering from a reconstruction right now and four months later I am ready to start very light leg workouts this week.

See, and this is what I am worried about....
I don't want knuckle head giving me a cortisone shot and there be something really wrong. So I go out with the knee feeling pretty good (from the shot) and start squatting again and really mess something up.

I want this fixed fast...but I want it corrected properly.

[cgc]

Dr Report -
Went back in and he asked me how I was doing, and I told him that I was still hurting except that the knee was getting stiff a week ago - however seemed to be loosening up this week.

Again he wanted to do a cortisone shot and I said no. Told him I thought it would make more sense to find out exactly what's wrong with the knees as opposed to getting the inflammation down and me getting comfortable on it - then re-injuring it worse. Lets find out what's causing the problem. I don't have a medical degree and this made logical sense to me.

He just is pissing me off at this point, so on Monday, I'm going to get a hold of the other doctor I went to for my shoulder. Every time I go in to see this guy, he says "how did you injure it?" Dang man, I know you have a lot of patience, but skim over my freaken chart before you come in to see me. He sat there and told me while he was moving my leg around "it feels better this time." How are you going to sit there and tell me it "feels better" if I have to tell you what happened to it every time I see you?

So, I have an appointment to have a MRI done next week. After this is done, I think I am going to see what he says, but go to another doctor with all my X-rays and see what they says (if I go to the first doctor at all).

[Tim_G]

He sat there and told me while he was moving my leg around "it feels better this time." How are you going to sit there and tell me it "feels better" if I have to tell you what happened to it every time I see you?

LOL

do you have an update hopefully with good news?
I'm feeling what i'm 99% sure is patella tendonitis and found this thread doing a search. flared up bad when i ran on the treadmill then after a while it got better. Did squats a week ago and its been in pain ever since. sucks cause today is leg day and i'm going to try and work through it by stretching and wrapping it up first.

[cgc]

LOL

do you have an update hopefully with good news?
I'm feeling what i'm 99% sure is patella tendonitis and found this thread doing a search. flared up bad when i ran on the treadmill then after a while it got better. Did squats a week ago and its been in pain ever since. sucks cause today is leg day and i'm going to try and work through it by stretching and wrapping it up first.

No, I canceled the follow up appointment with this knuckle head and my schedule has been chaotic every since. I'm going to try and call this other Doctor today and pick up all the films from the x-rays and MRI as well.

But as soon as I get into the Doctor about this and what ever he says, I will up date this post.

I can tell you this though...if you have patella tendonitis, you should be able to feel it when you press on it with your thumb or when you kind of mash around with your fingers...that's one thing the physical therapist was concerned about with my knee...he could never hit it.

So, we'll see.