Think I'll ever be able to squat again?

[EmptyWallet]

I've posted this on a few other boards and I'm looking for more opinions. I've recently undergone surgery for two tears in my miniscus in my knee, one was repaired, the other tear was smoothed out and shaved away. However my ACL is also torn, though not the normal way as in torn in half. I have a vertical tear in my ACL. Going long ways and I have a sugery to repair, not reconstruct as in bone drilling and such, at the first of may. They are going to use part of my hamstring. :sigh: I just really started enjoying squatting and now it seems like everything I read tells me that squatting is a big no no after an ACL injury. Anyone shed any light here? Do I have a good chance to be squatting just as heavy as I did before my ACL injury and will I be able to squat how I want after the surgery?I'm young, only going on 22, and I would hate to think I'll never be a good squatter for the rest of my life.

Anyone help with an answer?

 

[RoadHouse]

Give it a couple years, i tore every ligament in my knee, ACL MCL PCL and the meniscus, and now im squatting heavier than before, just dont squat too hard right away

 

[EmptyWallet]

Should I even try to do shallow squats with really light weight at all within a few months after the surgery? I know it takes a while, I've just been told it could mess up the graft if I ever do the things I did before.

 

[RoadHouse]

MAke sure you do your rehab hard, the hardest part is getting the range of motion back. i would try shallow squats maybe after 6 months. Train your good leg hard, studies have shown this cuts down on atrophy in the opposite leg. Most NFL and NBA players comeback after 9 months, but of course these are the best athletes in the world. I would start smith squats with moderate weight 9 months afterwards, and the a little over a year later, start high rep free squats, once you get into a year and a half after surgery, start pushing the weight up more and more, but listen to your knee(that sounds odd) if it hurts quit. I can do all out squats about 3 years later, but sometimes even now, my leg will "slip" out of joint so to speak (im sure your know what im refering to) and it gets sore for a few days.

 

[DADAWG]

dislocated knee cap , torn miniscus cartiledge and partially torn tendon for me and i squat just fine , i was back to 90% in about 6-7 months , sorry i cant give you any help with the acl part but good luck

 

[fatchops]

That sucks bro, good luck on your rehab!!!! Take it slowly

 

[DEVILtrainer666]

metal rulessss!!!!!!

damn ! what drugs they giving you ?

 

[Rj*]

check this link out broly

 

[Rokomuscle1]

I had ACL surgery done and have no problem squatting.. I had the one where they take part of the tendon from your patellar tendon and make a new ACL... I never really squatted a lot before the surgery.. but I squat every week now.. the key is what RoadHouse said.. when you go to rehab...work your ass off.. I had some Nazi therapist that cared nothing for my pain in therapy..but I have full mobility in my knee... and he was right.. I would thank him later... anyway..make sure you do plenty of therapy on your own too..

 

[EmptyWallet]

I had ACL surgery done and have no problem squatting.. I had the one where they take part of the tendon from your patellar tendon and make a new ACL... I never really squatted a lot before the surgery.. but I squat every week now.. the key is what RoadHouse said.. when you go to rehab...work your ass off.. I had some Nazi therapist that cared nothing for my pain in therapy..but I have full mobility in my knee... and he was right.. I would thank him later... anyway..make sure you do plenty of therapy on your own too..

How long ago was your ACL surgery? How long did it take you to squat again? Walk again? Walk without crutches and no brace? Do you ever have problems with your knee at all? Ever? I will make sure I do everything possible to make myself as normal as possible. I will do anything, seriously. I've considered taking some deca post surgery, as I read quite a bit about it over at anabolicfitness.net from alot of the guys who said it really advanced their ACL protocol.

 

[Rokomuscle1]

I had mine done a few years ago... I was back to work in probably 2 months... They had me running on a treadmill and other things.. also had to wear a fancy knee brace for a while..the only problem I have now is that I don't like to kneel down on the one I had surgery on...it doesn't hurt or anything..just psycological I guess......

 

[jonjrambo]

knee surgery

You'll be fine man. I tore my acl, meniscus and sprained my pcl when I was 22. They took part of my hamstring and made a new ligament out of it. Since you didn't tear it completely, you should be in better shape than I was. I had a small atrophy problem. With my left calf and quad. But that was 14 months ago and now my left quad(the bad one) is only 1 inch smaller than the right. I squat more than most people but don't like to because when I get fatigued, I begin to twist as I go down. So if I were you, I would center my leg workouts around LEGPRESSES(there isn't enough room on the machine for all the plates I could do, seriously), DEADLIFTS(I deadlift 500 now) and smith machines. Do light squats once you get your range of motion back. That is the hardest part and it takes about 4 months until you get all of your range back. Also, once you get it back, don't just jump into heavy presses, deadlifts or squats. I would go very light on all of that and do a lot of 1 legged and 2 legged squats with no weight. I think this helped me a lot. I got great definition out of it and really fatigued the muscle every workout. Also, you might even think about doing a cycle after about 6 months after surgery. I did and it helps.
later,
jonj

 

[EmptyWallet]

Re: knee surgery

You'll be fine man. I tore my acl, meniscus and sprained my pcl when I was 22. They took part of my hamstring and made a new ligament out of it. Since you didn't tear it completely, you should be in better shape than I was. I had a small atrophy problem. With my left calf and quad. But that was 14 months ago and now my left quad(the bad one) is only 1 inch smaller than the right. I squat more than most people but don't like to because when I get fatigued, I begin to twist as I go down. So if I were you, I would center my leg workouts around LEGPRESSES(there isn't enough room on the machine for all the plates I could do, seriously), DEADLIFTS(I deadlift 500 now) and smith machines. Do light squats once you get your range of motion back. That is the hardest part and it takes about 4 months until you get all of your range back. Also, once you get it back, don't just jump into heavy presses, deadlifts or squats. I would go very light on all of that and do a lot of 1 legged and 2 legged squats with no weight. I think this helped me a lot. I got great definition out of it and really fatigued the muscle every workout. Also, you might even think about doing a cycle after about 6 months after surgery. I did and it helps.
later,
jonj

Actually I competely tore my ACL. After getting in my leg, he found its much worse than we thought. Its like gone. Not there. Complete reconstruction hopefully on May 8th. I'm going to be as aggressive with the rehab as I can, however I probably will be taking deca post surgery, maybe some test. I've read some guys have alot of luck in healing with it. One guy said it really advanced his ACL protocol. I'm going to be really careful on the squats, however I am going to do them around the 9 month mark after surgery, but not heavy, just bodyweight, or very light. I want to get back to never having to worry about my knee again, not thinking about it no matter what I'm doing. However it will take alot of work, alot of time, and alot of determination in rehab. I'm going to do it though, no matter what. I've read in alot of places the twisting you start to do could be the result of a weak point in your hips. Watcha think?

 

[jonjrambo]

The physical trainers tell me that the twisting is very common. It is a mental thing. It is what you do when you are afraid of stressing your bad knee too much. You twist in order to put the weight on you good knee. I had my surgery may 15th 2002. I did a deca dbol cylce(my first cycle) in july and august. It's april now and i'm getting ready for a national qualifying competition in september. If you're a bodybuilder, it's going to be mentally hard on you because you won't look like you used to. But, that should also be a driving force for you. It is for me. I want to get back to what I used to look like. Now i'm so determined to win this competition, I don't think anyone is going to stop me.
So give it atleast a year. Push it, but don't push it. If you know what I mean. You don't want to have to have it done again. I almost did. I slipped on a wet floor and it sort of loosened-up the ligament. Get to know when it is quitin' time. And ice everyday. That is one thing I should have done more.
Good luck man,
jonj

Oh yeah, take glucosamine chondroitin sulfate after a few months, when you get more active. It helps with the healing of soft tissue

 

[EmptyWallet]

The physical trainers tell me that the twisting is very common. It is a mental thing. It is what you do when you are afraid of stressing your bad knee too much. You twist in order to put the weight on you good knee. I had my surgery may 15th 2002. I did a deca dbol cylce(my first cycle) in july and august. It's april now and i'm getting ready for a national qualifying competition in september. If you're a bodybuilder, it's going to be mentally hard on you because you won't look like you used to. But, that should also be a driving force for you. It is for me. I want to get back to what I used to look like. Now i'm so determined to win this competition, I don't think anyone is going to stop me.
So give it atleast a year. Push it, but don't push it. If you know what I mean. You don't want to have to have it done again. I almost did. I slipped on a wet floor and it sort of loosened-up the ligament. Get to know when it is quitin' time. And ice everyday. That is one thing I should have done more.
Good luck man,
jonj

Oh yeah, take glucosamine chondroitin sulfate after a few months, when you get more active. It helps with the healing of soft tissue

I know what you mean. When you slipped on the floor, how much time had passed from the surgery? I mean, a year or so from now, if I slipped on the floor, I don't want my joint to just loosen up!! I want to be able to be normal the rest of my life!! Also, is the new hamstring ACL as strong or stronger than the one your born with? I read somewhere that it is stronger eventually, once it mends to the bone and the screws are absorbed. You just have to be really carefule for the first 12 weeks as that is when its at its weakest point. Thats what I've read. I think what I'm getting at is I want to be able to not worry about my knee and be able to push it after a while. I don't want to be scared to jump off of something after this since I wasnt before. I want this leg to be as stronger or stronger than the other one. I know this takes ALOT of time. But after a year or so, shouldnt I be good to go?

 

[Gredavcox]

Patience is a virtue....Give it time bro and it will heal.

 

[jonjrambo]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I slipped on the floor about 3 months after the surgery. The doc said it won't ever get any tighter unless they do the surgery all over again. No thanks!! You will definitely be able to push it to the max. I beat the shit out of my legs. Probably more than any other bodypart. I hear that after a few years, it is like new. For me, it has been 14 months and it isn't like new. It feels weird. If I flex my hamstring, I feel a slight pull on my upper shin which is where they went in to go shave my hamstring. That is also the general area where the screw is. But as far as it being stronger. The quad on my left leg is definitely not stronger than the good one because when you do leg extensions, the tibia and femor sort of slide against eachother putting pressure on the acl. It's weird. But my hammy on the bad leg is stronger than the one on the right. I'm not sure why but it is. It doesn't hurt to do leg curls one bit. So I just beat the shit out of them. Also, during rehab, I never did ham curls with my good leg. This might be one reason. The bottom line is, just push it in the gym. But be careful running or walking on water or ice. Or even just foolin' around. It could get messed up easily if your not careful. But after about 2 years, I hear we won't have to worry at all.
later,
jonj