My latest physio has shown/demonstrated a new exercise I'd not tried berore.
It envolves stairs or double step ups. If using stairs you step up two steps with the weak leg, bring good leg up to that step, step up two steps bring good leg up and continue. If a small set of stairs, go back to bottom and repeat to failure.
With double step ups it's the same thing, step up with weaker leg, bring bring good leg up step down, etc.
Rest for as long as needed to get back to beening able to walk stairs normally/get home. It will hurt so don't do again for at least a day, or more if necessary.
It's like doing one leg 'lunges' but with out the balance problems some people have.
Huskyman,without support some may struggle, depending on bodyweight I suppose.All these things are worth a try. I would suggest, for a bit of incentive you monitor your progress. Cheers.
It's better if you try not to use support, as you can become reliant on it.
If necessary use a bannister or the like to aid you for balance, but not to 'pull you', up.
That's what I was shown/told, this works your whole leg to add stability. Works not just your Quads, but the muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. in your ankle. so can/will add to your stabilty. That's what I've found so far, my ankle has become stronger and don't have as much of a problem balancing doing one legged squats.
It my not work for every one but could be worth a try.
Oh forgot to add, I've 14 steps up to my home, so far have worked to 12 reps to failure.
I can now do so with out using banaster for support and can do one legged squats with out using some thing to aid balance. One rep of 10, one rep of 8 and one rep of 7. With 60 secs between reps.
As I get stronger I will try to do 4sets of 15with 30secs between sets. Or as there is a 14 story high rise near me, will see if I can reach the top of stairs !!
Huskyman, They are really good results, I did'nt know your fitness levels before your problem,but nine out of ten on this website would be very pleased to achieve these results. Those results have taken some hard work,and will power to get. Great stuff keep at it,with caution in mind. Cheers.
They certainly sound more reasonable than single leg lunges and suspect that the going up and down the stairs is doing more than the lunges on their own would.
Consultant has told me not to work through my pain barrier so limiting me significantly as even taking the stairs normally can cause pain so no chance of doing the exercise you're now onto. Slightly different scenario to you though Huskyman as I've had microfracturing done. We're now working on what I can do via cycling. Have got the milage up on flat stuff so now starting to play on undulating stuff and not trying to do anything more than up to a mile walking. Progress is slow but on the plus side I'm not getting the knee blowing up like a balloon every time I do something.
Hope your knee benefits from all your hard work and keeps you going to get you back on the hills
Cycling its that simple, feather the pedals in a light gear on flat roads works every time. I am so lucky to live in Nottingham because of the QMC Hospital, my knee bloke is responsible for the England cricket team, All the top tennis players and even some footballers who can't afford that Danish fella!
Lunges on a knee injury is madness! Simple madness! Pain is a message! this No Pain no Gain is bollocks,
I'm not saying it's "good" for every one. As my knee has healed, (more or less), I'm /we are at the stage of building up the muscle strength I lost because of injury.
I suppose if you can't manage two, you could start with one step and not go to failure. Then try to work up wards.
I'd agree that single leg lunges are hard if your knee has not healed, even then can be to much for some people, but i'd say knowing your pain threshold can help, as you'd know when your getting close to it and can stop before it and rest.
I has taken me longer to heal than was thought at first. My consultant though it would be around May I'd be healed. So it's taken a few weeks longer than expected.
As for Phyiso I started off doing light exercises. She now reckons I am healed and capable to do the harder exercises.
Yes it's painful, but like bodybuilders, you won't build up the muscles unless you go to failure. That's how you build up strenght, but insteadof going for out right strenght, hill walkers want to go for endurance, stamina. If you look at endurance atheletes, compared to say sprinters, they are 'skinny' and less musculer.
Strength n muscle mass are not the same the ability to recruit muscle fibres and ther synchronise firing along with fibre number and size is all applicable.
Pain usefulness depends on what you mean/ the user perceives by pain.
Bryan, I agree that strength and muscle mass are not the same. The strength athletes, bodybuilders, etc. need 'short' bursts of strength.
Hillwalkers, climbers, mountaineers, etc. need/want muscles for endurance/stamina.
There for they will usually have 'smaller' muscle mass than people who train for 'pure' strength. They should also train the 'slow twitch' muscles, rather than the 'fast twitch', it's the slow twitch muscles that provide endurance.
As to pain thresholds, yes they are different for everyone, what one person finds painful others may not. I think it's useful to know what your pain threshold is.
I have quite bad arthritis and what I perceive as 'no' pain maybe what might be a 2/3 or more on a scale of 1 to 10 for others. That might mean I could feel less pain than someone else who starts at a 0 threshold.
I ain't no physio, but this all sounds a bit odd to me. Single leg squats put massive stress on the knee. For most fit people they are not advised. If they're working for you then persevere, but I'd avoid them like the plague!
As for cycling being good for your knees... I'm not so sure. The most common cycling injury is to the knee. I was doing big mileage on the bike last year and it ruined one of my knees.
If anyone's going to mention swimming - yes it's a good idea, but not doing breaststroke, which can also wreck your knees.
Knee problems are often due to tightness surrounding the joint, and gentle stretching and low impact exercises are likely to be a lot less damaging.
The stairs thing is what I was told to do by my physio after an op to tidy up my knee (tear in the meniscus). No other damage was evident, I just need to get the knee stable again. I also had to do single leg thusts on a wobble board - that's hard!
Interestingly I can walk fine now, did 3 days on the Grey Corries Ridge with no problems, but cycling, which was fine pre-op, is causing some discomfort, so I am having to build up mileage again.
The pain thing is a nightmare for me. Pre op it was swelling and stiffness that alerted me to something being not right not pain. Even post op it's been the swelling and stiffness but now I also have pain. Considering I've ran on a broken leg without knowing it I think I have a high pain threshold. Not helpful when the doc says work within it
Cycling can cause knee problems if the geometry of your bike isn't right for you're riding style both road and MTB. I've discovered that I can only do 10 min on a gym based exercise bike for the very reason the geometry is wrong.
It really is a minefield but good luck to all who are going through it
Was at Physio again today. Latest exercises are 'lunges' but only going as far as is comfortable and not beyond leg parallel to ground.
An other 'new' one is a sort of 'dead lift', but not going full way down, again no further than legs parallel to ground, (if you find this one is "easy" !!), you can add weight!!
Other ones to try are different types of 'bridging', lie flat on ground with knees close to your bottom, using your knees lift up keeping your body as straight as possible. Hold for about 10 sec and lower to floor as slowly as you can, work up to 3x10 reps.
Once you can manage that, do a bridge again but this time lift a leg up straight and return, do other leg and repeat, again to 3x10 reps.
Other new exercise is again from bridge position, take 'tiny' steps away, (about 4" at at time), as far as you can manage. Return to start again taking tiny steps, again working up to 3x10 reps.
I hope these exercises may help people. I am back ay phyiso next week, if I'm showen any more new exercises, I'll post them here.
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