Hello Sirs,
Posted this over on SS forums and got zero response
I don’t see a question here.
Hello Dr Baraki,
Sorry about that. No idea why what I wrote didn’t get posted. Anyway, let’s try that again 
…
Will try my best to make a very long story as short as possible…
First, 48 years old, long time power lifter, eventually making transition to Crossfit-like training with strength bias (mostly Crossfit Football and Johnnie WOD from the PAHQ folks). Was at one of the highest levels of fitness and health (for me) middle 2016, felt invincible, training was amazing. Then the crap hit the fan. Still to this day not exactly sure how I did it, maybe squats, sprints, box jumps, combination of age and pushing it too hard, who knows. But one day noticed my knee was tight and felt “off”. Got progressively worse, locking up, some pain (but not debilitating, more background annoying)…Fast forward to more recent time …
Four months ago (January) had surgery (after MRI and diagnosis of course by ortho) … Torn medial and lateral meniscus, ortho performed debridement (meniscectomy). Plus I had damaged/rough cartilage both articular (on the femur) and also under knee cap, for which he did some “smoothing”. Since the surgery it has been terribly frustrating. Even now I have a background level of pain (though it is minor, no sharp shooting pain, mainly a bit of a dull ache now and then). But worst is the swelling. It goes up and goes down, but never goes away. No matter how much I rest it, no matter how much I ice it, always there. I have tried “testing” it when it did feel a bit better with some very light box squats and lunges, even deadlifts, and always the next day it is pissed and swollen, which eventually goes down. Knee feels a little better, I “test” again, and here I go again, same thing…Swelling, minor aching. Note I do have mostly full range motion, can’t quite touch my heal to my hamstring (due to tightness, just won’t go there), and I think I have about 185’ extension, but still I have a slight limitation there also (not quite as good as my good knee).
And yes, I did go back and see my ortho few weeks ago, and all he did was say give it few more months, no squats (or any weight bearing activity), gave me a shot of cortisone, and sent me on my way (cortisone didn’t do crap by the way). That was it. No PT, nothing. He said if after 3 months still I am having issues, then he said he better go back in and take a look. No thanks! Last thing I want is to have him back inside my knee poking around again. I am not so sure he did more harm by doing the surgery than maybe just leaving it alone and trying some PT or something (with someone that knew what the heck they were doing!). I guess I should have run from this guy as soon as he told me squats are bad for your knees(!), but I was so desperate to get back to normal again I trusted him and guess I expected a miracle, plus he had a good reputation with local college sports teams.
Needless to say, I am beyond frustrated. I have no idea where to go or what to do. Mainly what I want to know is what I am experiencing normal, especially being 48, and simply I do need to be more patient as healing time longer?, is there some specific rehab protocol I should be doing (besides just riding a damn stationary bike and walking), or is this the best my knee is going to get and the new “normal”, should I start strength training (including squats) and push through the low level pain and swelling as it is normal and I am not doing new damage and the strength training will help to rehab the knee? I have no frickin idea as I just don’t know where to go for help now. Worse part is I actually live overseas (had surgery in US) and while I could maybe try to find a local ortho or PT, in the country I am in, not sure if they would maybe make matters worse (I am in Japan).
Would really appreciate any insight and advice anyone could give, especially if you have been in similar situation. I have lost 20lbs(!) of muscle in past 4 months and I have the strength of a pre-pubescent girl (this is what happens when all you do is bench press and can’t squat, deadlift, or power clean any longer!).
Thanks for reading this very long post.
A very frustrated “old dog of the iron”
…Plifter
Hello Dr Baraki (or anyone else reading this),
Do you have any inputs or experience with this kind of a situation?
Would really appreciate any guidance you could offer.
Thanks
So they didn’t send you for any sort of post-op PT?
Where are you located?
Hello Dr Baraki,
No, no post op PT. Only some very basic stuff to do just after surgery, to get through acute phase and basically back on my feet. Single sheet of paper with few excercises I did at home. Never saw a PT, which I think should have been the case for more long term recovery and so they could monitor my progress and adjust as needed. Like I said, I was completely on my own
Yeah, I’d actually see if you can get a referral for that as a first step here.
Hello Dr Baraki,
Thanks, will try to find ortho and PT here in Japan. Medical care here is good, but they certainly do things a bit differently than western medicine, so who knows what I will get myself into. Worried they might make things worse, but doing nothing is obviously not working either.
Plifter
Hello Dr Baraki,
Forgot to mention I am located in Japan, my doc is in US. So maybe now you can see part of my dilemma finding someone local that can help.
Anyway, while I am trying to figure out my knee situation, I am going to do what I can (some strength training better than none!) and focus on my bench and press. But, not sure what kind of programming to do to focus on these lifts. I posted this question in the unmoderated forums and got a couple recommendations. One was to run Smolov Jr (that seems like a lot of volume, at 48 maybe just asking for overuse injury), other was to run the 12 week BBM program and replace the DL and SQ with other upper body movements.
What would you recommend? Would appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks
Yes, any of our templates are fine places to start.
I had my meniscus removed over 10 years ago and have suffered knee pain ( both knees ) ever since. For a while I was doing pistols and found that that helped for a while, then I started barbell training and made a big difference. I just need to be careful that I’m not letting my knees track in. Some times I get a bit of pain while warming up, but I find if I “crack” my knee the pain doesn’t come back.
I’m not a doctor or anything, just someone with a similar experience. My squat was up to 125KG and DL 140.