Help me squat again (tendons)

[burnthiscorpse]

Since I am on the shelf now for apx 3 months I may as well do myself some good. I welcome any and all suggestions.

Back in late april I tore the shit out of my medial meniscus in my knee. Being a traumatic injury to the knee, the brain shuts down the quad muscle. So in the near two months before I could get it repaired my right quad shrunk from 28" to 26" !!!!
I have managed to get it back to 27". Problem is trying to work the quad or even go down a flight of stairs since it became so weak, the patellar tendon and quadraceps tendon (at the knee) and LCL are taking the brunt of the load from everything including walking and stairs. (holy run-on sentence)
The quad has gotten alot stronger but the tendons are taking a beating still. Walking is ok now. Upstairs is good. Downstairs is still a little weak. I can dealift without an issue. It helps infinitley now that i started wrapping my knee. Leg press isnt too bad. Last time I tried I got around 1,000 lbs for 4 reps to finish off my sets. It felt good but ended up being prety sore for a few days after. But It hurts too much to squat still. My only option if it stays as is would be to use a really wide stance for squatting.
Ice is awsome but I need more ideas.

 

[BKDFKUP]

That must have hurt real bad! just never give up try and get back ino it slowly if it isnt going to be a major risk to your knee. Consult with your doctor and if he says its alritght then go hard!

 

[moya]

how deep are you trying to squat?... try (starting light of course) going as deep as your flexability allows and realy focus on getting the load to settle on your ass and hams... (that sounds funny... but i thunk you'll know what i mean...)....

 

[burnthiscorpse]

The knee is fine. The spot where he fixed is fine. The quad muscle will take all the beating i can throw at it. Problem is the tendons, while taking alot of the load in the beginning, got sore as hell and still are.
I have only tried to squat once since the surgery (mid june). I got 225 for 4. I have kinda been avoiding it for the time being because leg press was doing ok and deads were doing great (til the ab tear a few weeks ago)
Squatting all the way down would be alot less painful. Trying to stop partially through the rep would put alot of load on those tendons.

 

[b fold the truth]

Wide stanced box squats, start with a height that you can manage.
Body weight x 50 or so
bar x 20 or more
1 plate x 20 or so
...just go from there

I've heard guys say that to repair bicep tendon injuries they needed to do 30 reps at a minimum to repair and strengthen them

Shins straight up and down...has to be this way.

 

[future]

It is possible that squatting is out for you. Be prepared for that. Its not worth damaging yourself more otherwise.

 

[burnthiscorpse]

It is possible that squatting is out for you. Be prepared for that. Its not worth damaging yourself more otherwise.

Honestly I dont think so. But even "IF" it were Im just happy I can deadlift.
They are improving really slowly. The first time I tried the leg sled after surgery I got around 350 lb (both legs together ofcourse) for around 12. I stopped after that set because the quad was pretty fatigued from no work for a few months and shrinking. I actually stopped because the tendons began to hurt from taking alot of the load because of the weak quad. I didnt try again for another couple weeks.
The second time I got around 400 lb for 10 before I stopped. Knee felt great rest of the day. tendons less sore day after but still sore. Fast forward another month to try # 3....(and this is after getting back into deads) .... I banged out 6 sets ramping up to the aforementioned set of around 1,000 lb. Which I stoppeed after not because of tendons but it was at about my strength capacity at that time. However the lateral side of my knee was pretty sore for a week. Deep tissue helped immensely.
I think as mentioned earlier I just need to suck it up and do extremely light weight 20-40 rep movements that stress the problem area to "rehab" them. As opposed to hammering them.
Giving the few months off I now have due to this ab tear I will have time to do tons of recumbant bike and light leg extensions.

 

[future]

Well I hope not as well but you hope for the best and prepare for the worst, right?

 

[SaiBoT]

I agree with moya, go light and all the way down, also box squats with various stances and box heights will help alot, stopping at paralel and reversing from negative to positive it's the most critical part of rom for the knees, so going atg or pause at a box it's IMHO the best.

 

[burnthiscorpse]

Well I hope not as well but you hope for the best and prepare for the worst, right?

Yep....pretty much

I will look into box squats too. I read your thread talking about box squats from the strength coach. I am like you were. I just was like why do those? They are so gay!! Honestly I have never tried them or researched anything about them. But I am going to look into it.

 

[bblazer]

It sounds to me that you may have developed a case of Jumper's Knee. The usual protocol for that is RICE. I have the same thing. Let me ask, does it hurt say just sitting in a chair with your leg at a typical 90 degrees, but the pain goes away - at least some degree - when you stand?

I use a device called a Chopat. Essentially it is a wrap that put pressure on the tendon on top and bottom of the patella. You can buy then pretty cheaply here. THe place is owned by a real stand up guy and pro stongman, Karl Gillingham. You might want to give one of those a shot.

B-

 

[burnthiscorpse]

It sounds to me that you may have developed a case of Jumper's Knee. The usual protocol for that is RICE. I have the same thing. Let me ask, does it hurt say just sitting in a chair with your leg at a typical 90 degrees, but the pain goes away - at least some degree - when you stand?

I use a device called a Chopat. Essentially it is a wrap that put pressure on the tendon on top and bottom of the patella. You can buy then pretty cheaply here. THe place is owned by a real stand up guy and pro stongman, Karl Gillingham. You might want to give one of those a shot.

B-

No bro. No pain unless under load. The quad just atrophied so much that it was so weak. Any post surgical load was just beating up the tendons. I just gotta strengthen them some how.
I actually have a jumpers knee band that I used to use on my tricep/elbow insertion.
When I deadlift the ligaments will get tight on me and hurt somewhat. I bought some wraps and BAM, problem fixed. Wow what a difference when wrapped.