Show Posts
14836
Injury, Prehab, & Rehab talk for the brittlebros / Re: Rest Cures Effusion
« on: March 19, 2012, 04:38:42 am »Looks like I really needed to rest from all squatting and jumping for a good long while.
I read a very old book online about knee effusion. The suggested treatment was months -- not just weeks -- of total rest. I finally gave in and stopped all lower body training. Remember I was at the point where walking more than a quarter mile or standing more than fifteen minutes would cause my knees to fill up!
I haven't squatted with a barbell since early December except for a couple overhead squats a few weeks ago. My knees got better almost daily with the rest. Pain cleared up after about a month and effusion stopped refilling and actually went down. My left knee remained just a tiny bit puffy and so I finally drained it one more time a couple weeks ago. Got only 6-7 cc of clear fluid which has not come back.
I can squat down with knees forward without pain, though I get uncomfortable if I remain in that position more than a minute. I have walked for miles without causing effusion. I've even jogged here and there. My knees still get a little tired if I carry a lot of stuff as I did during my own move and a friend's recently. But I am largely pain and effusion free now because I've stopped traumatizing my knees with frequent heavy squatting.
This brings me to my problem. I'm obviously afraid that squat and jump training will never be tolerated well by my banged up knees. I figure I should take a page from the American style of training and limit my squats to once per week when I test them again. Clearly I wasn't giving my knees enough time to recover between heavy loading and use. I am also wondering if I should wait another three months before reintroducing squats.
My stated plan is to wait another three months, then do a linear progression with squats only one day per week, using wraps and starting with 1RM - 150 lbs and adding 10 lbs per session till I am doing triples with my old 1RM four months later.
This is actually an old routine popularized by Ricky Dale Crain. Two sets of five regular followed by two sets of five paused with ~50 lbs less. Halfway through switch to triples. Nice limited volume, half of which is paused squats which are must gentler on the knees. Very low frequency. I also like how it starts with very light weights, the kind I'll be forced to use because my squat will likely be around 60% of my old pre-layoff max (It was after my last layoff of several weeks).
really glad to hear about the knees healing up man.. pretty crazy how wrecked your knees were with all that draining going on.. stay healthy.
as for what to do... all i know is you should start out VERY slow. maybe even less than 150.. bodyqweight, 45, and 95 for 3-4 weeks, progress very slow, keep frequency low, and just feel it out.. i wouldnt worry about any goals for now other than figuring out if you can progress slow & squat pain/effusion free.. the last thing you want to do is jump in to 150 & have a severe response, imo.
pC man
that's what can happen when a comma disappears.
