Dislocated kneecap rehab and how much time off from squatting?

[Kraspor]

Hi there,

is dislocated my kneecap 11 days ago.
The x ray didnt show any damage, MRI hasn't been done because the pain and the ROM got better pretty quickly.
The first few days i got crutches (more as a precaution) and a tight bandage with some balm.
Now can walk almost entirely pain free, only sometimes the knee hurts (eg. when i'm walking a lot or the knee gets in certain akward positions).
My doc prescribed me a medical bandage which i will get today or tomorrow (it's already ordered).

I did some research on here (search function yay) and plan on rehabbing the knee as follows:
5x5 squats with a light enough weight that it doesn't hurt. LP from there on and as soon as it gets too much i switch back to the standard 3x5 SS LP.
What do you guys think about that?

And when should i start with the rehab (i couldn't find an answer to that on here)?

Thanks a lot in advance.

Best regards
Kraspor

[Tom Campitelli]

I am afraid I don't have any experience with this injury. Perhaps others do. My guess it that you need to move it as much as pain permits. The knee will not be subjected to twisting forces in a properly done squat, nor would your kneecap. A light wrap to help things stay in place might not be a bad idea. Whether you do something like 5x5 squats, or 3x10, probably isn't important. If you can squat and it does not make it worse, I would train as normally as possible. Power cleans probably are off the menu for a bit.

[Toot]

I dislocated my kneecap 2 years ago in a match of rugby. X-Ray didn´t show anything but the MRI showed that a small piece of cartilage from the kneecap had broken off and i had minor ligament damages. I had to get surgery to get the thing taken out. My insurance covers MRI scans, don´t know about yours and i don´t know whether it would be worth it to you to pay for it.

As for rehab: I was told to do whatever felt right. The first few weeks the knee felt very weak and was swollen most of the time. If yours isn´t, i think going light and working up from there is the way to go. I am not a doctor though.

Hope this helps. Please excuse any spelling errors or other mistake, I am not a native speaker.

[Kraspor]

If you can squat and it does not make it worse, I would train as normally as possible. Power cleans probably are off the menu for a bit.

Thank you Tom,
Which exercise should i do instead of the cleans? More deadlifts? Barbell rows?

As for rehab: I was told to do whatever felt right. The first few weeks the knee felt very weak and was swollen most of the time. If yours isn´t, i think going light and working up from there is the way to go. I am not a doctor though.

Hope this helps. Please excuse any spelling errors or other mistake, I am not a native speaker.

Thank you for sharing you experience Tom,

i'm not a native speaker myself, so no problem about that . I'm from Germany, like you are (if the "location" field is correct).

That i must train pretty light as soon as i start again was pretty clear from the beginning. Can you tell me how long you paused?
My knee was never really swolen though. Just painful as fuck.

My doc said i should wait around one more week until i'm used to the medical kneesleeve and i don't have much pain in normal daily activities like work and such.
That would be the third week without working out.

I plan to begin working out again this monday though. Maybe just without direct squatting / leg training.

[Tom Campitelli]

Thank you Tom,
Which exercise should i do instead of the cleans? More deadlifts? Barbell rows?

You can do whatever you like. You know all those curls and lying triceps extensions you wanted to do? Now might be the time.

[Kraspor]

You can do whatever you like. You know all those curls and lying triceps extensions you wanted to do? Now might be the time.

Thanks for your answer.
Beside that clean spot, i should stay with the advanced novice program, did i understand that correct?

[Toot]

I didn't even train for strength at that time. I didn´t play any rugby for about 5 months, mainly due to confidence issues I had after the injury. In hindsight, this was not a very good idea.

Since you live in Germany, your insurance probably covers the MRI. If this would happen to me again, I would certainly use this option, even if it was just to be sure everything else is fine.

I would probably do whatever feels right. These days my knee feels perfectly fine, I'm 2.5 months into my LP, squatting 341 lbs and power cleaning 165 lbs (as of today). What I'm trying to say, it's gonna be alright if you don't force or aggravate it.

Good luck!

[Tom Campitelli]

Thanks for your answer.
Beside that clean spot, i should stay with the advanced novice program, did i understand that correct?

The advanced novice program applies largely to squatting volume. Since you are taking a large, unplanned deload, I would probably just start with 3x5 on the empty bar to start. If that feels okay and your knee tolerates it, just start working back up letting pain be your guide. Provided the knee does not effect your pressing movements or chin ups, I would keep pushing those as normal. Train as much as you can as soon as you can without making things worse.

[Kraspor]

Thanks a lot guys. Im gonna give it a try tomorrow and Let you guys know how it was.

[Kraspor]

Hi guys,

i trained this morning as follows:
bw squat 2x10
barbell squat 3x5 with the empty bar
press with deload weights
deadlifts sets of 5 until it hurt

I had almost no pain at all while actually doing squats, only while resting / walking around.
While doing presses it hurt a little bit in the knee area while doing the bounce.
Deadlifts where also ok but for some reason they hurt the most (while initiating the drive from the floor and while locking out). Any idea what the reason could be / what i can do about it?

Thanks in advance
Kraspor