Knee pain and exercise

[IHateMyJob2004]

I've had a torn meniscus for 10 years. It was pain free but I think I need to fix it soon.

I'm currently 41.

Anyway, I've not exercised in a while. My right knee has constant minor pain (noticeable but not real pain). But last time I tried to squat (6 months ago maybe), my right knee hurt to the point where I said screw it, I'm done. And I didn't lift again. Talking 7/10 in pain during warm up sets. About 40% of my max.

I can play roller hockey (a lot of knee loading, especially on one knee at a time), run and play basketball without issue. The knee pain is there at the start but goes away once warmed up. The pain is on the inside of the right knee cap.

Anyway, I want to get back into exercising. I was considering doing upper body weights and running/sports for lower body.

I'm not looking to get ripped. Just add some muscle to be above average again and get my cardio back.

Anyway, can anyone give advice on a program? I could run a mile then do squats. That might work and I might try that out soon.

Planning on starting up again in a week or so. Need to fix other habits first (sleep patterns, etc).

 

[FIVR]

Take steroids. I was watching this netflix documentary called "Icarus" and it's all about how awesome they are and how they made the Russians win everything in Sochi. Takeaway was: Winners do drugs, losers complain.

 

[thilanliyan]

I have similar symptoms to you but I have tendinitis in the knee. Physio has helped.

 

[vi edit]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patellofemoral_pain_syndrome

 

[FIVR]

I tore my ACL and meniscus playing sports when I was younger but I had expensive surgery to have it fixed as soon as it was possible (30 days later after swelling went down). Worked out pretty good. Still have some pain, but full range of motion and 90% strength. I switched stances from goofy to regular because of the injury but my surfing improved eventually.

The doctor told me there was only a 30% chance that my meniscus would heal, and i might have to have a minivsectomy if it didn't. Got lucky, I guess.

 

[jayzds]

I had a similar injury in that area. This I know was from basketball and remember when my knee was swollen. I ignored it, eventually it went away, and didn't bother me for another 10 years. At around age 30 my knee started to hurt and I could barely get up to the second floor on the stairs. I started looking at ways to fix it, and went to get an MRI. It was a tear but, not all the way through. It healed up and when I stretched out my leg I could feel it knock/click. I think it was the Meniscus or MCL, I cant recall anymore.

Anyways I started squatting and followed the 5x5 program and that fixed my knee. It was slow moving but, I noticed a difference after 3 months. So I took it slow with a barbell weight and just kept going. I went from the bar to 315 5x5 over a few years. I haven't had any issues for many years now and I love it.

 

[deadlyapp]

Start slow, focus on form and loading, and do liberal amounts of mobility and activation before and after. Don't neglect supporting muscles such as low back, hamstrings, etc. Running and then squatting is going to be counterproductive as they are different types of exercise.

Jayzds has the right idea. Do a 5x5 program and start with light weight, working your way up. If you feel pain, then you're doing something wrong. Go to someone who knows what they're doing for coaching and has a background in PT if possible.

Most knee pain is a product of its environment. The surrounding tissue can do a lot to pull your knee out of wack that you may not realize.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Physio may help. I woke up with a sore knee a few years back, figured I slept bad on it, probably did. Problem is the pain never went away, it only got worse. After about a month I decided to see a doctor and he sent me for physio and it helped. Basically it's just specially taylored stretches and exercises.

Avoid impact exercise as well. Treadmills or just running are not that great for your knees. Biking is probably a good thing you can try though.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Great advise.

Regarding running. Running 3+ miles while weight training is bad. 1 mile to warmup isn't that uncommon from what I understand.

I will definitely be doing light weights to start.

I think diffuse peripatellar pain describes by pain. It's not all around the knee but on the inner side of the knee cap. I think that defines this. What's interesting is that I don't think my meniscus is at play here.

 

[deadlyapp]

Great advise.

Regarding running. Running 3+ miles while weight training is bad. 1 mile to warmup isn't that uncommon from what I understand.

I will definitely be doing light weights to start.

I think diffuse peripatellar pain describes by pain. It's not all around the knee but on the inner side of the knee cap. I think that defines this. What's interesting is that I don't think my meniscus is at play here.

1 mile warmup is probably more than most would do, but it's not going to set you back. Your warmups should be a product of your work set. If you're doing ultra-high intensity work sets that will get your heart rate up, then your warm up should echo that. If you're doing low intensity lifting with big rests, then you need less warmup.

My typical warmup consists of something like the following:
2-5 minutes general mobility (lacrosse ball, foam roller)
2-5 minutes static or assisted stretching (lats, pigeon pose, lunge pose, wrist mobility, etc)
2 minutes light cardio (400m run, 500m row, 2 minutes jump roping, etc)
5 minutes medium intensity work (kettlebell swings, air squats, push ups, pull ups, etc) - targeted based on whatever I'm planning on doing that session.

 

[cbrunny]

I can't tell you the number of times I've diagnosed myself and then gone to a dr only to have my diagnosis completely incorrect. Often by a wide margin. I'm assuming you've been diagnosed with a torn meniscus, but if you haven't it is unlikely that it is the problem based on what you've described. Sounds more like PFPS or just straight up friction and inflammation to me. How much do you weigh?

If you haven't seen a doctor, go see a doctor.

 

[highland145]

Posted some of this before so it might be a repeat.

3rd knee surgery in 1985. 1X acl reconstruct, 2X torn cartilage. No running, weights, racquetball since. 30 years later, I am biking 3X/wk and elliptical 3X/wk. Have had pain off and on so this is what I've done that has worked at different times over the years.

Fish oil, 6 caps/day
Stretching. Hams, calves every day. Quads/hip flexors 2 or 3 times/week
PT. The glute/inner quad muscle were not activating right. Lots of boring muscle retraining.
Deep tissue massage. IT band really hurts but it helped.
Rumble roller.

I try to stay away from the ibuprofen.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I weigh 208 right now (202 if I suck weight for a few days).

This issue has been here for about 1-2 years.

MRI confirmed the meniscus about 10 years ago.

Ya, I need o go see my doctor soon anyway so I might go talk to him about my knee at the same time and get referred to a specialist.

Forgot about fish oil. That stuff has helped me in the past.

I'm trying to fix some issues like sleep patterns. Once I won that I intend to add exercise back into my life.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

What sucks is that I think I now also have Achilles tendonitis in my left foot. What is strange is that I have some pain near the left pinky toe also that is identical.

 

[cbrunny]

208 is a lot of weight while running. I can attest to that as I was 212 when I started again (now down to 147 on race days).

A good place to start. Best of luck to you.

 

[highland145]

What sucks is that I think I now also have Achilles tendonitis in my left foot. What is strange is that I have some pain near the left pinky toe also that is identical.

Rossiter massage. Worked for my achilles and forearms. The short story is that the massage guy stands on the calf or forearm while you actively work your ankle or hand/wrist. It breaks up adhesion's and works your tear ducts at the same time. Win, win.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

208 is a lot of weight while running. I can attest to that as I was 212 when I started again (now down to 147 on race days).

A good place to start. Best of luck to you.

Was 238 at my worst. I need to get back under 200. And one day get to 180.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Geeze and I think I'm getting overweight when I start to gravitate towards 160 lol. I had stopped lifting for a while because my basement was a mess for some work I was doing down there, but I got it back in order, need to start again.

 

[highland145]

..

 

[chinmay.sahoo]

Exercise is a standout amongst other things you can do to enable your knees by keeping up scope of movement and reinforcing the muscles that help them. Research demonstrates that even moderately minor increments in the quality of the quadriceps – the muscles that keep running along the front of the thigh – can help diminish the danger of knee osteoarthritis and its movement, and lessen torment.

 

[SlitheryDee]

My approach lately has been simply to avoid exercises that hurt. Squatted for a year through some hip and knee pain. Switched to front squats for about 6 months with no real relief. Finally said eff it and cut barbell squats in favor of split squats. Now I have no joint pain.

I know that pain from squats is usually a result of poor form, but I tweaked my form for months. I watched video after video of what's supposed to be proper form and used a mirror and camera to try and match that and stuff still hurt. Changing to split squats also made my quads start to grow like I had always wanted them to. Go figure...