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Rehabilitating torn MCL


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Near the end of April I was skiing and tore my MCL, fortunately it was only a grade I tear and didn't require surgical repair. I got a knee brace for it and have been taking it easy for the past few weeks. It's still a little stiff and sore once in a while, but lately I feel ok enough doing some light cycling to help regain some leg strength. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar injury and what other exercises I can perform to help regain leg strength without putting too much strain on the ligament and what else i can do to strengthen the ligament itself.
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You'll be just fine in no time. You're probably crawling out of your skin right now with boredom, but you'll be back at it soon.

 

Hopefully you've got a good P.T. They'll be key to your long-term recovery. Cycling is probably the best thing for you at the moment, though if you have access to a pool you may want to take advantage. Once you're feeling strong, breastroke/eggbeater kicking in the pool will be your best friend.

 

Now is the time to address your imbalances. Those of us that ride or run or lift pretty much always need some inner-thigh strengthening and outer-thigh release (massage, stretching, whatever). I'm not positive, but I don't think much can be done to "strengthen" ligaments. Ligament health is generally seen as a function of surrounding muscle (and overall) health. There are probably some dietary changes you could make in an effort to improve circulation and waste removal, but you may not need or care to go that far. Get on a balance board, do lot's of supported single-leg squats (holding the frame of a Smith machine or other to pull yourself back up), single-leg deadlifts w/o weight, step-ups/downs w/ assist, curtsy squats w/o weight, you see where I'm going here....lot's of imbalance, no weight.

 

Keep on trucking, hopefully you'll come away from this stronger, more balanced, and with some hard-earned calf muscles!

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Near the end of April I was skiing and tore my MCL, fortunately it was only a grade I tear and didn't require surgical repair. I got a knee brace for it and have been taking it easy for the past few weeks. It's still a little stiff and sore once in a while, but lately I feel ok enough doing some light cycling to help regain some leg strength. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar injury and what other exercises I can perform to help regain leg strength without putting too much strain on the ligament and what else i can do to strengthen the ligament itself.

 

 

I get questions like this all the time. my blanket answer is to talk to your physical therapist about what kind of exercises you can do to help strengthen it. i'll get people who ask me the same questions BEFORE they have seen a PT. My response is: "go talk to your PT first and get the exercises".

 

While I've helped plenty of people recoup from various knee injuries, I'm not about to over step my boundaries give someone blanket advice.

 

No offense....but this is NOT the place to be asking this type of question. what you don't want is a bunch of gym rats giving you advice based on what they've done. PT's are there for a reason. use them. They help to decrease the likely hood of this happening again.

258k miles - Stock engine/minor suspension upgrades/original shocks/rear struts replaced at 222k/4 passenger side wheel bearings/3 clutches/1 radiator/3 turbos
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Ouch dude.. sorry to hear that. PT is definitely king, they can help you design exercises fit for your ACL. They will hopefully give you a nice sheet of paper outlining the types of squats etc you can do. Plus a resistance band (yeah a bigass rubberband) that you need to find a heavy desk or bed to attach it too and start easy to regain muscles. If you're not up to it, they'll put you in a hot/cold dunk tank to increase circulation of blood to improve healing. And.. if they really have fun times you get to hook yourself up to electrodes and zap yourself bruce lee style. Although that happened for me when my knee was completely swollen and immobilized, sounds like with the light cycling you're on your way.

 

If you can get yourself a badass kevlar knee brace it is wonders in compared to any other one.. of course I got my own a long time ago, but I tore a few more things. I stopped skiing, but I didn't stop playing hockey :)

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I get questions like this all the time. my blanket answer is to talk to your physical therapist about what kind of exercises you can do to help strengthen it. i'll get people who ask me the same questions BEFORE they have seen a PT. My response is: "go talk to your PT first and get the exercises".

 

While I've helped plenty of people recoup from various knee injuries, I'm not about to over step my boundaries give someone blanket advice.

 

No offense....but this is NOT the place to be asking this type of question. what you don't want is a bunch of gym rats giving you advice based on what they've done. PT's are there for a reason. use them. They help to decrease the likely hood of this happening again.

Amen! I have a couple clients I train who brought in their exercise list from their pt. Yeah...... PT > CPT

Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle yeah!!!
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PT FTW. Not sure about a tear, but I've had both ACLs surgically repaired. Rehab started the same day as surgery with some bending exercises, but PT progressed to a basic gym workout for legs - curls, presses, inside/outside flexes, stationary bike, stair climber. If you don't have access to a gym, you can do some exercises with ankle weights and rubber bands.
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