Right knee pain.

[ak0693]

Hello

I did heavy leg presses without warmup and now my right knee is injured.
I have a sharp pain in the right knee at the bottom position of the squat. I rested for a week and it was fine and I was able to do squats without barbell without any pain, but the pain came back when I did squats with 20kg warm up set.
How do I manage my injury? How long do I refrain from squatting?

Thanks for your time!

[Mark Rippetoe]

I did heavy leg presses without warmup and now my right knee is injured.

Good.

[porcopedico]

You might have torn your meniscus

[Devyn Stewart]

You might have torn your meniscus

That is quite the conclusion you've drawn.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Hell, he might have. Consistent with the symptoms. This is also good.

[ak0693]

I did the thessaly test and there was no pain so maybe it not the meniscus.
I remember that when I was doing the leg press, my right leg was completely extended while there was still some bend im the left leg. I’ve heard that fully extending the knee in leg presses can cause injury. Is that the case here?

[Devyn Stewart]

I did the thessaly test and there was no pain so maybe it not the meniscus.
I remember that when I was doing the leg press, my right leg was completely extended while there was still some bend im the left leg. I’ve heard that fully extending the knee in leg presses can cause injury. Is that the case here?

I think that the "fully extending" thing that you heard is referring more to this kind of thing, not meniscus tears.

If you want my honest opinion, I'll give it, but know that I'm probably not qualified enough to be entitled to an opinion.

You probably haven't seriously torn anything. You would almost definitely know if you did. There would have been an acute pain and some swelling that you would remember and probably wouldn't fail to mention in a post like this. My guess is that you're dealing with some minor aches and pains, possibly the beginnings of a tendinopathy. I've had friends and PT clients(not my own, only those I have shadowed) deal with similar knee pain near the bottom of squats due to stress on their ACL. If you've got the money/insurance, an evaluation could be useful, though you should probably stop listening to the PTs recommendations after hearing what she has to say about the nature of your injury. If you can't be bothered, my, once again to reiterate, unprofessional, opinion would be to do some sort of pin squat to a depth that is very minimally painful (perhaps a 2-3 on a scale of 10) with a decent load. Over time, this depth should get lower and lower until you can perform full squats without pain. If this pain is from what I would guess from the information you've presented and you want to take a more proactive approach, you could even perform some leg extensions with light weight. This exercise wouldn't be for strength and can be dangerous if it is treated so, so leave the ego behind if you choose to perform it.

Anyway, feel free to disregard all of that if someone more knowledgeable/experienced weighs in.

[ak0693]

I think that the "fully extending" thing that you heard is referring more to this kind of thing, not meniscus tears.

If you want my honest opinion, I'll give it, but know that I'm probably not qualified enough to be entitled to an opinion.

You probably haven't seriously torn anything. You would almost definitely know if you did. There would have been an acute pain and some swelling that you would remember and probably wouldn't fail to mention in a post like this. My guess is that you're dealing with some minor aches and pains, possibly the beginnings of a tendinopathy. I've had friends and PT clients(not my own, only those I have shadowed) deal with similar knee pain near the bottom of squats due to stress on their ACL. If you've got the money/insurance, an evaluation could be useful, though you should probably stop listening to the PTs recommendations after hearing what she has to say about the nature of your injury. If you can't be bothered, my, once again to reiterate, unprofessional, opinion would be to do some sort of pin squat to a depth that is very minimally painful (perhaps a 2-3 on a scale of 10) with a decent load. Over time, this depth should get lower and lower until you can perform full squats without pain. If this pain is from what I would guess from the information you've presented and you want to take a more proactive approach, you could even perform some leg extensions with light weight. This exercise wouldn't be for strength and can be dangerous if it is treated so, so leave the ego behind if you choose to perform it.

Anyway, feel free to disregard all of that if someone more knowledgeable/experienced weighs in.

Your diagnosis makes sense to me.
I’d like to point out that the pain occurs only when in a certain position, a few inches above the bottom of the squat. Above and beyond that position there’s no pain. Pain also occurs when doing lunges.
I’m refraining from squatting and other leg work till it heals. Only doing leg extensions.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Yes. Lunges and leg extensions on a knee injury. Do those. Best thing you could possibly do. Excellent. You have this figured out.

[ak0693]

Yes. Lunges and leg extensions on a knee injury. Do those. Best thing you could possibly do. Excellent. You have this figured out.

What should i do then?
Should I just take a week or two off until it heals?