Squatting and fluid on the knee

[fluidontheknee]

Morning All
Anybody here have any experience of squatting after getting "fluid on the knee"?

Since the medical diagnosis, Ive done a months rehab, wobble board exercises, leg ext. Was told the knee didnt need to be drained, that the situation needed to be "managed/tolerated"
Since doing the rehab, the stiffness and soreness is much less than before.

It still causes discomfort after driving, sitting down and esp after getting out of bed in the morning

When walking etc its generally fine and gets better more I walk

Am intending to squat in next day or so in order to strengthen the legs, get some muscle tone back etc etc , but was wondering anybody here have the same experiences?
Anyone have any tips/advice/thoughts to pass on .

Obviously intent to start back slowly but just a bit nervous. Forwwarned is forearmed !
Thanks

 

[Zyglamail]

Nervous about squatting but you were doing leg extensions??? Leg extension put a ton of shear force on the knee. In the extended position the back of the femer is supported, leg is straight and there is weight pushing down on the shin. The knee was NOT designed to take pressure that way!

Look at the squat, even in a full squat, down in the hole, ass to the grass you dont have any shear forces working against the knee, its working as intended. Leg extensions put a crazy unnatural load on the knee where as the squat is as natural as it gets. Look at any toddler when they pick something off the ground, they dont bend over, they squat! Looks at a lot of poorer countries, you will often see people squating in fields for hours or in groups conversing.

Put your ego aside and listen to your knee. place importance on full range of motion, even if that means using little or no weight.

 

[oxymoron]

Back in highschool football i got water on the knee and my orthopedic doc put me on an extensions routine for bottom 30 deg for a few sets then top 30 deg for a few sets at low weight. the idea is that the limited range extensions build up the joint without causin damaging friction to the cartilage. it helped but the best thing I did was drop squats out of my leg routine. I went purely with leg press for my heavy exercise for a few years.
now I'm back to squats and I run for cardio. As much as it sucks i'd say lay off the squats for a while and stick to press. gains are harder without squats but theyll still come.

Sent from my htc t-bolt using the elitefitness app.

 

[Zyglamail]

Back in highschool football i got water on the knee and my orthopedic doc put me on an extensions routine for bottom 30 deg for a few sets then top 30 deg for a few sets at low weight. the idea is that the limited range extensions build up the joint without causin damaging friction to the cartilage. it helped but the best thing I did was drop squats out of my leg routine. I went purely with leg press for my heavy exercise for a few years.
now I'm back to squats and I run for cardio. As much as it sucks i'd say lay off the squats for a while and stick to press. gains are harder without squats but theyll still come.

Sent from my htc t-bolt using the elitefitness app.

Damaging friction? The cartilage is designed as a shock absorber and a smooth surface for the bones to interact with each other.

One of the main causes of damage to cartilage is trauma due to impact or prolonged use of a weakened joint. Specifically when the tendons/ligaments in the joint can no longer hold the bones in proper alignment which results in the moving around on the cartilage which is where the damage comes from.

Think of a wrench and a nut. A healthy joint would be where the wrench is the same size as the nut. An unhealthy joint would be like using an oversized metric wrench on an ASE nut, where it grabs and wont spin freely but is not a nice snug fit. Over time using the slightly larger wrench will damage the nut. Same thing applies with your knee.

If you have a sloppy knee, which is often the cause of the fluid in the first place and caused by the body trying to provide additional lubrication and then you jump on a leg extension machine you are taking the stress off the cartilage and putting it directly on the tendons/ligaments.

The reason docs will often have you do partial movements is because over time it causes reduced flexibility which has a side effect of "pulling" the joint together. But this is a side effect of lack of flexibility and doesnt really address the weakened tendons/ligaments that are often the underlying cause.

 

[XMAN.]

well it's great to have Zyg in this forum it's always a pleasure to learn from this guy

 

[thelion2005]

I believe in prevention for joint pain. Learned this the hard way including a hip joint replacement.

For knees ... All squats done with knees not extending beyond toes ... No deeper than 90 degees ... Both wrapped with blue Thera Band. Exercises include 3x12 very light warm ups of extensions. Then 3x8 leg presses and 3x8 Smith squats. No pain and lots of weight.