Training Olympic Weightlifting with Chondromalacia

[dman257]

Dear Mark,

I started training for Oly-weightlifting in December 2011. I am 33y old, 195cm, 137kg
I hit a 110kg snatch/140kg CnJ in February. My knees begun hurting when squatting and end february I was diagnosed witH Chondromalacia and doc suggested 15 days Meloxicam/one month rest & ice as often as I can

Started training early April but knees are not in "condition" to squat a lot. All competitions we aim for are after September. My coach suggests that we focus on training power clean/snatch and snatch/clean pulls and leave the squats for 2-3 weeks. Leg strenght was never a problem so he thinks we can get away with that. In the meantime we are doing several exercises with a band to "fortify" the knees

What is your experience with similar situations ? What would you do/suggest ?
Thanks for your time to review

Regards
Dman

[Mark Rippetoe]

I have found that chondromalacia heals while you squat, but front squats will aggravate it. Maybe you should be a splitter. You're starting the sport late, and you may have to make some adjustments.

[sunetdanne]

Maybe you should be a splitter. You're starting the sport late, and you may have to make some adjustments.

Do you mean that he should try split snatch or both split snatch and split clean?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Both, if his knees are giving him constant trouble.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

OP, how much high-bar squatting were you doing? If your coach has you doing lots of Oly/high-bar squatting, you might want to try switching to low-bar squats for your strength work. I find that low-bar squatting is far easier on the knees.

[Will Morris]

Dear Mark,

I started training for Oly-weightlifting in December 2011. I am 33y old, 195cm, 137kg
I hit a 110kg snatch/140kg CnJ in February. My knees begun hurting when squatting and end february I was diagnosed witH Chondromalacia and doc suggested 15 days Meloxicam/one month rest & ice as often as I can

Started training early April but knees are not in "condition" to squat a lot. All competitions we aim for are after September. My coach suggests that we focus on training power clean/snatch and snatch/clean pulls and leave the squats for 2-3 weeks. Leg strenght was never a problem so he thinks we can get away with that. In the meantime we are doing several exercises with a band to "fortify" the knees

What is your experience with similar situations ? What would you do/suggest ?
Thanks for your time to review

Regards
Dman

Chondromalacia is kind of a garbage can term for pain in the anterior knee. True chondromalacia would only be able to be diagnosed via arthroscopy, but even evidence of cartilage softening during arthroscopy doesn't necessarily mean it is your pain generator.

When you go into knee flexion, what happens to your symptoms? Given the diagnosis, the activity modifications the doc gave you, and research experience, i wouldn't be surprised if your condition wasn't more accurately described a PFPS (patella femoral pain syndrome) ....which is an equally nondescript garbage can term, but there seems to be better evidence on treatment.

[dman257]

I was doing 3 times/week back squatting (I guess what you refer to as high bar-Olympic) & 3 times/week heavy front squatting
The back squat was never max, we only used 10-20kg more than the best front squat

[dman257]

At the moment when squatting down there is a mild pain on both knees, on the way up there is no pain. When flexing the knee (I dont no if this is the correct term in English) like when doing a leg-extension there is no pain only a feeling of rust and some cracking noise sometimes.
I did single front squats (controlled onteh way down - after catching high cleans) up to 100kg with no pain
We staying optimistic and gettingthe full versions of lifts back in the training within May and doing a max single testing end of May (hopefully !)

[Mark Rippetoe]

I was doing 3 times/week back squatting (I guess what you refer to as high bar-Olympic) & 3 times/week heavy front squatting
The back squat was never max, we only used 10-20kg more than the best front squat

So you were beating the piss out of your knees while at the same time not getting strong. Excellent coaching.

[Gunnhild Bruno]

I was doing 3 times/week back squatting (I guess what you refer to as high bar-Olympic) & 3 times/week heavy front squatting
The back squat was never max, we only used 10-20kg more than the best front squat

*facepalm*

So you were beating the piss out of your knees while at the same time not getting strong.

Think hard about this, dman.

I suggest you read Practical Programming if you haven't done so.