knee pain

[sfischer]

Hi guys,

I am 56yo, 170lb, 5'11.

new to SS, about 8 workouts in:
squat: 95lb
deadlift: 85

I have read SSBBT:3 very carefully. I also have a coach, an experienced trainer, who was a noteworthy collegiate power lifter.

I feel good about my form, and everything feels great.

Problem is my left knee. I blew out my ACL 30 years ago, and have been working around it (no surgery) ever since. Orthopedists are amazed at how well my knee is doing. It rarely gives me trouble, mostly because I don't do sports that put it under strain. I have been pain free for 30 years.

But now my knee hurts, a persistent ache, like arthritis. It seems logical to conclude that the squats and deadlifts are irritating it, causing inflammation, since this new pain coincides with this program.

Form: my knees are tracking out to keep parallel with my feet, and are not moving forward, as described in SSBBT:3 pg 55.

I am considering doing less deep squats, just to parallel.

I understand that in theory squatting is neutral on knees. But my knee pain doesn't seem to respect that theory.

If I can't correct this problem it might be the end of a short SS career. I can't risk introducing chronic knee pain into my life.

Anybody have thoughts on this?

S

[Dave Klopp]

What is frequency of your workouts? Are you doing 3 worksets of 5 reps? Does your knee hurt when you're doing squats, deadlifts? I have found if my knees start to ache in between workouts that I need to lower the volume and/or frequency of squats.

[sfischer]

I've been doing 2 workouts / wk. About 4 warm up sets, starting empty and increasing to about 80% of work set weight. then, for squats, 3 x 5 and for deadlift 1 x5.

these weights are still light, i am just about reaching weights that are hard for me.

so my frequency/volume seem pretty mellow so far.

S

[Dave Klopp]

I've had good results with foam rolling, using a lacrosse ball on and stretching the hips, glutes, upper and lower legs when I have some knee discomfort.
I would also recommend getting a form check on your squats. Perhaps you're getting some forward knee slide at the bottom of your squat.

[Tim Lofton]

I wouldn't give up yet. Give some more time for adaptation to take place. Probably prudent to go ahead and get some knee sleeves as well. Many here can speak more to that as I'm about to get some myself, probably opting for the Rehbands on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Rehband-Knee-S...s=knee+sleeves.

[Bohn]

This may just be tendonitis because of the new stress to the old injury. See the knee section in Ch 2, "Common problems everyone should know how to fix." Sorry I don't have a page number. I only have SS on Kindle, but the technique is illustrated in Fig. 2 - 51. This relieved the pain in my knee almost immediately and it totally resolved in four or five training sessions.

Our older bodies don't seem to respond to stress as well as time goes by, but they do respond. I am older than you and my numbers are about the same as yours. I am still trying to sort out recovery issues too. However, the dopamine seems to flow more easily than ever as compensation!

Because this worked for me early on, I thought I would mention it. I was pretty sure my knee wasn't going forward too. I even had an observer tell me it was not sliding. However, I tended to knock over the board.

Hope this helps.

[Skel]

Does the pain respond to anti-inflammatory drugs?

[RobinVdBroecke]

It's very probable that a ruptured and unrepared ACL has caused late degeneration of the knee joint. When is the last time your doctor made a RX or did other imaging?

What kind of pain is this? All day long or does it hurt only when you use your knee?

[sfischer]

I seem to have made reasonable progress with this knee problem. It is almost definitely arthritic inflammation induced by strain from the squats, on account of preexisting instability in the knee and likely some degeneration.

To address it i have:
1) decreased my depth. i now go just to parallel
2) used a knee wrap as described in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FonRc8ANxY

It is a work in progress. Some days it feels fine, some a little achy. But the real soreness and ongoing significant achiness are not present.

Thoughts?

S

[skid]

Get some knee sleeves that fit tight. SBD's are the best. Then get some tiger balm, HEET, or similar and rub it all around your knees front back and sides and up and down 4 inches at least from knee center. Pull then knee sleeves over the knees. skin contact, nothing in between. That'll warm the knees up and provide support. Works well for me.