MCL injury, knee strengthening exercises?

[Hammer_Fist]

I imagine some of you guys have had an MCL injury before so I'm thinking this might be a good place to ask. For any of you guys that have had knee injuries, what kind of exercises brought you back to normal?

 

[grrthetree]

I've heard of preventing knee pain by strengthening the VMO. Deep front squats work for that.

 

[Revok]

Never had knee probs myself so I'm no expert. However Terminal Knee Extensions are said to be teh shit...



Dave Tate's article on the exercise:

EliteFTS - Superior Products and Knowledge for Lifters, Athletes, Coaches, and Trainers

 

[milano]

Your focus should never be on one exercise or one muscle (TKEs and VMO). Strengthen ever muscle surrounding the joint. Squats, Deadlifts and Unilateral exercises.

Read bulletproof knees.

 

[Revok]

Your focus should never be on one exercise or one muscle (TKEs and VMO). Strengthen ever muscle surrounding the joint. Squats, Deadlifts and Unilateral exercises.

Read bulletproof knees.

It's not always that simple. Compound lifts are good, but they only highlight problems such as compensation patterns, they don't necessarily fix them. That's where isolation work comes in.

 

[ozbrawler]

yeah the bulletproof your knees article on tnation is pretty good, ya wont be able to do em all but gives ya a guideline i think

 

[miaou]

Targeting the VMO has mainly to do with patellofemoral pain, not the MCL (proper VMO strength and activation results in proper control of how you patella tracks on the trochlear groove).

The MCL usually heals well on its own, as long as you don't stress it prematurely. If you want to prevent a future re-injury, then general strengthening, fixing any imbalances/flexibility/postural issues, and learning/using proper sport technique is your answer.

The bulletproof knees book pretty much covers what you need to do to keep your knees healthy.