For a few years now I have been experiencing chronic knee pain in both legs, pain that moves around the knee joint and varies in severity. The good news is that during actual training I have full ROM and the pain decreases as the weight on the bar going up. The bad news it that the pain quicking returns after my knees cool down, I’ll feel fine during the squat but the leg drive for the bench can be painful. I’m a truck driving and the long hours of sitting in the truck are very uncomfortable with the pain getting to the point where I must pull over. However if I get out and do some body weight squats the pain will subside enough for me to continue. Getting out of bed or getting up from the couch are painful as well unless I do a few sets of squats…then I’m fine.
I have yet to go to see a doctor about this because of the fact that I am able to train pain free. The fact that my pain goes away with activity makes me believe that my family doctor will be of little help based on past experience. I am looking at the BBM Knee Rehab template but I wanted to make sure first.
Some background info… I’m 43yo, 6’6, 285#. Pretty much my whole life I’ve been overweight, smoked and my only exercise was from that of my job. I have since quit smoking about 5 years ago and have recently started losing weight. I have been training seriously since last May, first starting with a month long run at SSLP followed by a month of programming un Derek for a shoulder rehab. Presently I’m on week 7 of the Bridge 1.0
I’m mainly looking for a little guidance. Do you think the knee rehab would be suited for someone in my situation or do you think it would be better to go the consult route? It has been a long time with this pain coming and going and I just want it gone for good. I joke with my friend that I’ll have no problem squatting 600# someday…I’ll just have to be carried to the rack first.
First awesome work with smoking cessation and becoming active.
The “moving around” pain in the knee joint certainly sounds like what we label as Patellofemoral pain syndrome. The knee template was designed to address this issue. You could run the knee template and then plugin your upper body training from the Bridge into the knee template. However, I’d recommend altering bench as well, perhaps to non-competition and no leg drive if you’ve been having severe symptoms during or after. Given this has been ongoing persistent knee pain and no recent traumas to the area - the knee template will likely be beneficial. If you need assistance, we’d be happy to consult with you: Contact Us | Barbell Medicine.
i think I’ll do just that, the rehab teamed up with the Bridge for the first half and something else for the second half seeing that the Bridge is only 8 weeks.
Being familiar with your programming and progressions, I think you are fine to continue with normal programming and don’t require a consult. You have a good understanding of what you need to do and what your limitations are. Some of this is an exercise in patience and the other part is not burning too hot on RPE as there is often a propensity to do. The symptoms will often wax and wane, but the ultimate goal is to increase the periods without symptoms and have as few exacerbations as possible. Keep squatting, keep posting, you will get there.