Is this smart or not so smart?

[Stebby]

First, some background. I've been having problems with my left knee for a couple of months now. Ten years ago I had an ACL reconstruction and since then, my knee gives me trouble and flares up every couple of years. I've been seeing a chiropractor and athletic therapist, and they have diagnosed me with an overly tight IT band & overly weak VMO. I have quite a bit of irritation on the outside of my knee due to the IT band being inflamed. I have lots of stretching and exercises I've been given to start to correct the imbalance, and I see the athletic therapist every week to get tortured. She told me I can continue with my activities, but (a) I must ice my knee after every session, and (b) I must not go below a 30 degree bend in my left knee when doing squats, etc.

So here is my concern. I've been keeping up with the 3-month STS rotation and am currently in the 2nd week of Meso #2. I am modifying the leg exercises so I don't go below 30 degrees. I am using weight 75% of my 1RM as prescribed.

Does it make sense to do this? Am I benefitting my body, or is limiting myself to the 30-degree bend just a waste of time? (Needless to say, my glutes are not kicking in the way they normally would for the paper plate slides and low lunges.) Am I going to put myself into further imbalance? I'm wondering whether I should drop STS Legs for now and just do STS Upper Body until my knee is settled.

Opinions welcome.

Thanks,
Stebby

 

[Ffte]

Someone else here may be qualified to answer, but I have a feeling you may want to discuss this with your Therapist. Show them the program and see what they say. JMHO since I'm not qualified to answer.

That being said:
I don't think just going to a 30% bend will cause an imbalance. Cathe and other instructors always recommend to keep your moves shallow if you're a beginner or if you have knee problems. As long as a 30% bend doesn't cause discomfort.

 

[NY25]

I have knee problems, as well. They're a catch-22 situation. You need to strengthen the supporting musculature, but doing so is hard on the knees. arg. What I've taken to doing is doing the exercises to my ability (which frequently is the 90 degree bend), but I don't go too heavy with the weights, especially on lunges, as they are the most problematic for me. I also make sure not to rush through them, to keep my form good. But that works for me. It may not work for you. As the previous poster stated, you may also want to check with your ortho-doc or your physical therapist to be certain.

 

[john_and_am]

That's great advice. Show the training system to your physical therapist.

Do you wear any knee supports? Those can really help if you buy high quality supports.

 

[lightening16]

Hi
I also have knee problems from a torn MCL and I never was able to get my knee to fully recover. I have had the most gains with STS for knee stability and pain reduction over time. When I started STS my range was much less and I could not use any weight with the plate exercises. Now I can use some weight and the pain is less. I really think many of the gains have come from Meso 1 and some of the bonus leg work too. Getting all those stabilizing muscles to come back to life has been huge. One of the things that I ended up buying was a foam roller. I am sure that they have had you on one for physio, but now that I have one at home I can use it when ever I feel tight. let me know if you don't know what I am talking about and I'll send you a link.

I would show your physio what you are doing and if not make sure that you have really good form and stick to the guidelines they give.
Heather

 

[bethj]

Definitely check out the foam roller for IT band syndrome. It has worked wonders for me. It is waayyyy better than the usual PT stretches.
Beth

 

[theclam]

The foam roller is great for the IT band. The usual stretches were doing nothing for me, but I've seen progress with the foam roller. That said, it nearly made me scream in the beginning until I figured out how to ease into the movement.

If your IT band isn't your only over-tight area, you might like Keli Roberts' Flexibility for the Inflexible (http://www.collagevideo.com/workout-video/keli-roberts-flexibilty-for-the-inflexible-7716).

ltg

 

[Stebby]

Thanks, everyone. That was a great suggestion to show the STS program to the athletic therapist - all I really told her was "I lift pretty heavy" and do a variety of different exercises using videos.

Heather, Beth, theclam - I do have a foam roller already. I have a love/hate relationship with it. That rolling hurts but it sure is effective.

Thanks for the video link, theclam! I love Keli Roberts and that video sounds good - I hadn't heard of it before.