Lets talk Knees

[Montana Slim]

Surprised that no one has mentioned walking lunges yet. I've found that they are the single most helpful functional movement strength building regimen for my mountain endeavors. They really translate well into packing down slopes.

^^this.
Working up to heavy pack weights will make a world of difference. Going from relatively sedentary, or even active but not wearing a heavy pack, and going right into a backpack (hunt or other trip) is a good way to blow up your knees and be 'uncomfortable' or worse in the backcountry.

 

[Squamch]

I had (have) a meniscus tear in my left knee, pain is exacerbated by my work as a finish carpenter. I do all I can to protect my knees, using knee pads, and sitting rather than kneeling when possible.
My physiotherapist and personal trainers both recommended stabilizing excercises, as well as not pushing for max weight or reps in the gym.
For excercises, single leg squats, as low as possible before your knee starts to destabilize (starts wiggling back and forth), while standing on a bosu ball.
LIGHT single leg press.
Resistance bands and side stepping.
And the one that honestly helped me the most...the exercise bike. Motion is lotion. Getting blood flowing and using the joint, in it's comfortable range of motion, does wonders. I do 10km on the bike as a warm up for the gym. Increase resistance as you can comfortably, change seat heights to change the range of motion.
Back bridges helped too, as did using slides to just straighten and flex the knee joints.
I also used an elastic knee brace for a few months, which helped a lot.
Also worth considering is your daily footwear. Good supportive shoes, that don't have broken down soles or insoles help a lot.
I got fitted for custom work boots, and went from a size 10.5 off the shelf, to a 9.5 extra wide when the boots were built for my feet. That helped with the pain as well, actual proper fitting boots.

Hope it helps, having shitty knees sucks.

 

[amassi]

I had (have) a meniscus tear in my left knee, pain is exacerbated by my work as a finish carpenter. I do all I can to protect my knees, using knee pads, and sitting rather than kneeling when possible.
My physiotherapist and personal trainers both recommended stabilizing excercises, as well as not pushing for max weight or reps in the gym.
For excercises, single leg squats, as low as possible before your knee starts to destabilize (starts wiggling back and forth), while standing on a bosu ball.
LIGHT single leg press.
Resistance bands and side stepping.
And the one that honestly helped me the most...the exercise bike. Motion is lotion. Getting blood flowing and using the joint, in it's comfortable range of motion, does wonders. I do 10km on the bike as a warm up for the gym. Increase resistance as you can comfortably, change seat heights to change the range of motion.
Back bridges helped too, as did using slides to just straighten and flex the knee joints.
I also used an elastic knee brace for a few months, which helped a lot.
Also worth considering is your daily footwear. Good supportive shoes, that don't have broken down soles or insoles help a lot.
I got fitted for custom work boots, and went from a size 10.5 off the shelf, to a 9.5 extra wide when the boots were built for my feet. That helped with the pain as well, actual proper fitting boots.

Hope it helps, having shitty knees sucks.

Sorry to hear about your meniscus, I had an opposite pt approach where I squatted heavy asap and do a lot of heavy leg extensions and hamstring curls. Granted I'm only 33 and dont haven't slide around on my knee at work but so far I'm 8 years pain free and stable as the day is long.

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[Squamch]

Sorry to hear about your meniscus, I had an opposite pt approach where I squatted heavy asap and do a lot of heavy leg extensions and hamstring curls. Granted I'm only 33 and dont haven't slide around on my knee at work but so far I'm 8 years pain free and stable as the day is long.

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That's funny, I'm the same age, but my initial injury was as a result of going too heavy when I went back to the gym last year, after 10 years of not focusing on fitness. I also had an untreated (I "walked off" the back of my leg turning black and purple) ACL tear in the other knee a few years back too. The 2 years it took for that to recover was what pushed me to ask a professional how to fix this one!

Leg curls are the only ones that hurt me these days in the gym.

 

[amassi]

Its interesting how many different approaches the medical profession takes on injuries. Hope you have a speedy and complete recovery. I'm 1 year out to the day from a biceps tendon tear playing turkey bowl football so I feel your pain on getting back

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[Coach Chris]

Lots of great advice about general and specific strength.
Something that I see a lot hiking on the local ski hill in the summer is people posting their legs on the downhill. They step down onto a locked knee. Walking downhill is like descending on ski's or a bike. You want keep your knees soft and sit down on your legs so that your leg muscles are decelerating the force. Posting your legs on the descent delivers the forces directly into the joint. Of course the force travels up through your skeleton.

 

[soupcan]

Lots of solid advice in this thread. I’d echo/emphasize 2 points:

1. Walk with soft legs (not locked out)
2. Focus on functional strength. To me that means stay off the leg machines and pick your favorite squat/lunge, hinge, and loaded carry. The supporting cast of muscles that assist in balance are equally important to the gross strength in your major muscle groups.

That and put in the miles. For those of us in the flat lands, that might just mean lapping to biggest local hill.

 

[soupcan]

Forgot the trekking poles! They are worth their weight in gold when descending.

 

[*zap*]

Bulgarian split squats are good for knee strength if your up to them....and very heavy trap bar carries with correct form.

 

[Austink47]

All good stuff. Just don’t forget stretching. For me tight IT bands kill my knees. And yes trekking poles are essential for down hill.

 

[jumpinmule]

Every once in awhile I will get extreme pain in my knees only when I'm coming down hill also. I have found that rolling my quads and IT bands with a foam roller as soon as I start noticing it will solve the problem. Only takes a couple days of rolling for it to go away. If I don't they will get worse and worse until I can hardly walk. Not sure if it will help you guys but might not hurt to try it.

 

[Hunt41]

Man!! You guys are good! Every time I read about workouts on this site I fill up my phone with new ideas.

 

[P Carter]

At the risk of sounding too obvious...walking steep downhills in training with a pack will help. Work up to it, obviously, start slow and then work up. I see some guys talk about using water or rocks for weighted pack hikes so they can empty/remove the weight to “save the knees in the downhill.” Unless you plan to ditch your pack on the uphill while hunting, that seems a bad idea. (Maybe I’m wrong in that but it sounds very silly to me.)

Hiking up, down, and side hill in training is a good way to prepare for the real deal.

 

[Werty]

I shorten my stride going down hill, helps tremendously.

 

[Deadfall]

Stretching. Stretching. When you tired of it, more stretching. Also helps with strength. Most overlooked are your hip flexors. Also no weight exercises. I.e. wall sits. Lunges.

Stretching, stretching, stretching. Not just the big muscle groups either.

 

[Mattmcd]

Do lots of leg extensions, quad strengthening. Nothing is wrong with your knees, just need to work on strength. I had this problem for a few years.

 

[*zap*]

My knees were pretty bad/weak a few years ago. Full range of motion weighted leg exercise's, posterior chain exercise's and hip hinge exercise's have done wonders for them. Also proper walking when packing is very important......engaged hip's, soft knees, shorter strides and upright posture. Never land on your heels with your knee locked out when packing, running or walking. I think one more year and they will be much better, I will be adding split squats to my fitness program soon. @63 I am not complaining but it took work and will require more work/maintenance.

 

[Moosehunter]

Super interested in this all to. I have a knee that's been bothering me for about a month and a half. Doesn't bother me to bad just walking around but when I stop for any amount of time it's like it gets really stiff or something. The pain is more under the knee cap and don't really know what to do about it. Been doing some of what's been said but one leg quats are fairly painfull on that leg. I'm 18 so not really sure what's up. If anyone has any ideas or any experience with this let me know.