Hi I’m a beginner lifter and recently hit 275 for 3 and at the bottom of the last rep I heard a massive pop in my knee and couldnt put weight on it. I got it checked out and it turns out I have a birth defect in my knees called a discoid meniscus and the more I squat, lunge and run the more I wear at my knee. I injured this area early in January and got it checked up and through PT and rest got back to squatting. It’s annoying because my squat was increasing the most among my lifts and then this happened any help or advice would be appreciated.
Is it ok to keep deadlifting?
Any alternatives to the squat that dont aggrevate this area?
Has anyone dealt with this before and what are your experiences with it?
Are their any routines that dont involve the squat and focus on the deadlift as since my injury my training has been all upper body
Hey @dannyboy1st - thanks for the questions and sorry to hear about the recent knee symptoms. I’m curious, how old are you? Discoid meniscus are variant shapes in the meniscus (think more shaped like a circle) and are able to be present without symptoms, as I’m sure you experienced up to this point. I say this to say I’m hesitant to see the need to turn this into an issue given you’ve had this type of meniscus throughout life. I understand how this can be a bit of an annoying process since you were seeing solid improvements towards your training goals. However, we all go through these periods and it is helpful to have self-management tools such as those discussed HERE.
[quote=“dannyboy1st, post:1, topic:9461, username:dannyboy1st”]
Is it ok to keep deadlifting?
[/quote] Based on the information you’ve provided here, I see no reason to avoid deadlifting.
[quote=“dannyboy1st, post:1, topic:9461, username:dannyboy1st”]
Any alternatives to the squat that dont aggrevate this area?
[/quote] If you check out the above link on pain in training, you will see how we don’t need you to be “pain free” but rather find tolerable training with some acceptance of symptoms that don’t leave you feeling worse during or after training.
[quote=“dannyboy1st, post:1, topic:9461, username:dannyboy1st”]
Has anyone dealt with this before and what are your experiences with it?
[/quote] Yes, we are familiar with helping folks through knee symptoms being attributed to meniscus issues. If you’d like, we’d be happy to consult with you remotely. Please complete our intake paperwork HERE.
[quote=“dannyboy1st, post:1, topic:9461, username:dannyboy1st”]
Are their any routines that dont involve the squat and focus on the deadlift as since my injury my training has been all upper body
[/quote] I would likely approach this a bit differently and examine how we can find tolerable dosage of activity with squat based movements.
No problem. If you are struggling with hitting full range of motion with tolerable symptoms then a pin squat or box squat to tolerance is an initial step to returning to full range of motion squat but I wouldn’t recommend it as an alternative to never squatting full range of motion based on the information you’ve provided here.
Also the day I felt the pop in my knee was the first time I used a foam roller on my quads, jammies, calves and lower back do you think this was a reason as to why I felt the pop that day?
I would check out the article linked above regarding altering training in these scenarios. We’d need a consultation with you to provide individualized advice beyond those general recommendations outlined in the article. I don’t see a reason to squat barefoot or avoid knee sleeves and a particular shoe.