Knee Injury Left Medial Meniscus

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Knee Injury Left Medial Meniscus

by Gary M

Hi Josh,

I have your excellent Weight Lifting Complete Program and I've been on the Phase I program for a while now and recently injured my left medial meniscus.

My doctor has advised me to stop squats for at least 2 months until the injury has healed. I can still continue with deadlifts, however, I have been told to do them from just below the knee (aka rack deads).

I was wondering if you might be able to advise as to how I might incorporate an additional upper or mid body exercise in place of squats until my knee has rehabbed.

Much appreciated and I look forward to your response.

Cheers,
Gary M

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Knee Injury Left Medial Meniscus

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More Info About Knee Injury
by: Josh -- Author WLC System

Gary,

Can I ask more about your injury? Just tell me anything else about how it happened, etc if you don't mind.

Have you thought about incorporating foam roller exercises and mobility exercises as warm ups before your workouts? They could really help and prevent future injuries. I do them myself regularly and they've really helped my knees, posture, and my entire body.

Were there any other exercises your doctor may have mentioned? I don't want to go against what your doctor tells you BUT I would try to incorporate sled pulling and dragging exercises that work your legs very well. I mean very well. And it's just like walking which shouldn't bother your knee at all.

Trap Bar Deadlifts are another great exercise for the overall body (I mean great too!!!) but this may put too much stress on your knee right now.

I also don't want the injury to happen again to you. Have you used the Starting Strength book for proper form or have you seen the free videos on my website? Have any ideas what may have caused the injury?

Core Weight Lifting Exercises

I just want to make sure you have everything you need. Let me know.

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Diagnosis of Medial Meniscal Damage
by: Gary M

Hi Josh,

Thanks for getting back so quickly! I'm quite happy to tell you more about my injury - for a few weeks I was having post workout discomfort in both knees (usually the next day).

Not sure they liked squatting 3x week nowadays, as I am 56 years old now and still think I'm 30!!

Unsure if arthritis might be starting to rear its ugly head, hopefully not.

Anyway, my knees had been a little sore and I wasn't doing anything strenuous at the time (mopping a floor) when I felt a sharp pain up first the outside of my left knee and then it moved to the inner side.

I had problems straightening my leg as this would give me a sharp dose of pain.

End result was diagnosis of medial meniscal damage.

I don't have an issue standing or walking around etc and have done upper body workouts plus (lighter weight) rack deads.

My doc (who is an avid gym-goer) said it would be preferable for me to focus more on working upper body for a couple months.

I'm OK on cardio machines such as stepper and bike but I do have probs walking long distance.

I have a foam roller and use it post-workout - never thought about using it with my warm-up though so that is a good tip and thank you for that.

I have seen the sled pulling and dragging exercises on some of the strongman sites - that possibly could be a great substitute, for sure.

I feel that once I can walk distance then I might be up for some further work.

I really appreciate your response and wish to say that, thanks to your great program, my workouts have been fantastic and strength is on the up and up.

I have been keeping right on top of my meals and really trimmed down on some bodyfat as well, (monitoring my caloric intake and getting my digital calipers onto skinfold) - it's all good there, so I'm really pleased with my progress!!!

I have taken some before pics and hope to get updated ones mid December for comparison. Will shoot them through for you to see.

Will remain positive and just hope this damn knee situation won't set me back too much.

Looking forward to hearing back from you,

Cheers,
Gary

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Light Sled Pulling and Dragging
by: Josh -- Author WLC System

So what type of rehab are you going to be doing for your knee injury?

Even light sled pulling and dragging would really keep your leg strength up. I highly recommend it if your doctor says it is ok which I believe that he would.

If you've never tried mobility exercises like front to back leg swings, cradle walks, side to side leg swings, etc...

You might want to take a look at them for your warm-ups.

They are also called dynamic stretching exercises. The book I highly recommend is Magnificent Mobility.

Magnificent mobility shows you how to do the best mobility exercises so the muscles around your knee are always healthy. There are so many muscles that affect the knee and you need to learn how to work them properly so knee problems never arise again.

For example... if you sit in a chair much of the day for your job, you'll need to do certain types of mobility exercises to counter the shortening or specific muscle groups due to sitting in a chair for long periods of time.

Can't wait to see the progress pics. Keep up the great work. And always think positive. The knee injury will not hold you back at all. Always thinking positive leads to even better results.

Let me know how the knee injury is coming for you. You can shoot me an email or respond here. Thanks again Gary, and I'm glad you love the WLC System.

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