Knee Injury - Can't Squat

[ryderuveze]

Hi Coach,

I sprained my knee about ten days ago and it hasn't been stable enough for me to squat heavy, though my DL hasn't been affected. I've made the following adjustments to my leg routines and have subbed out PCs for BB Rows. Is this a reasonable plan until I can resume squatting at full strength?

Mon
DL 1x5
Squat 2x10 50% 5 rep max
Wed
Leg press 3x5
RDL 2x10
Fri
DL 1x5
Squat 2x10 50% 5 Rep max

[Mark Rippetoe]

"Sprained" isn't much information.

[ryderuveze]

On Friday the 24th, on the 2nd rep of my 2nd set at 280, I went down too fast and felt a "pull" in the back of my left knee. I got the weight back up, but ended the squats and finished the rest of the training session. There wasn't any swelling and I limped around for the next three days and it hurt to bend my knee. I skipped Monday's session (swam instead to try to loosen it up) and tried to squat 255 on Wednesday, but my knee wasn't able to handle it, not even close.

It hasn't affected dead lifting and I'm walking just fine now. I can still feel it when I'm squatting light and during the leg press. I wouldn't call it painful, but it definitely doesn't feel right.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Might be a muscle, might be a meniscus. If it doesn't settle down in another week with the program you're doing, you might want to get it checked.

[ryderuveze]

Based on your reply and did some internet research and I feel confidant that it's a pretty minor miniscus injury. Don't have much money or insurance so seeing a medical professional isn't really an option at this point, but since there was no visible swelling and it's been improving quite a bit, I'm not too concerned. Just chalk it up to the occasional inconvenience that goes along with BB training.

After two very unsatisfying workouts of doing "heavy" leg presses I decided to screw it and just do the squats. It felt wrong not to squat. This last Friday I warmed up to !85, did that 2x5 and then did 1x5 at 225. Monday I'll do 2x5 at 225 and 1x5 at 250. So I should be back up to full strength in a couple weeks. Just wanted to say thanks for addicting me to the squat.