Mountain Hunting w/ Knee Problems

[LedSled]

In the last 3 years I've developed a problem in my right knee. Long story short, my knee has "locked up" on me 4 times, 3 times while rolling over in my sleep and I had to pop it back into place, which isn't fun. At only 27 years old this concerns me for my future. I had an MRI done and the doc said it was all caused by swelling of the plica in my knee... I'd never heard of it either... I ended up getting a cortisone steroid shot which helped a lot for about a year, on top of wearing a brace while hiking. Has anyone had any success rehabbing a knee problem through stretches, specific exercise, or whatever else?

 

[hereinaz]

Building quads is a good way to strengthen a knee. Body weight exercises and kettlebell routines are easy on knees. Good form barbell squats with weight, high reps over high weight, IMO. I went for years with a torn ACL because of my leg strength. Doc didn’t think anything was wrong because he couldn’t feel any “looseness” in the joint when I finally went to check on an old injury. I heard a pop like a chicken bone snapping and had swelling for a week or so. I did a lot of road biking for a couple years as a kid that really built my quads.

Look at “Knees Over Toes” and see if they have anything specific for your issue.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Doing slant board squats has done wonders for my knees, it might be worth looking into.

 

[robby denning]

Been mountain hunting on a bad knee (torn meniscus, missing lateral ligament, ACL very compromised) since I was 16. Very careful, spend my miles wisely, light packss, and use ice (snow in camp has worked) and NSAIDs (limited use) and still going. Going to need a replacement at some point.

Definitely weight training is what bought me all these years.

See a physical therapist who works in sports if you want to make sure you're doing your workouts right.

I'll bet you have a lot of good years left.

 

[ddd-shooter]

Building quads is a good way to strengthen a knee. Body weight exercises and kettlebell routines are easy on knees. Good form barbell squats with weight, high reps over high weight, IMO. I went for years with a torn ACL because of my leg strength. Doc didn’t think anything was wrong because he couldn’t feel any “looseness” in the joint when I finally went to check on an old injury. I heard a pop like a chicken bone snapping and had swelling for a week or so. I did a lot of road biking for a couple years as a kid that really built my quads.

Look at “Knees Over Toes” and see if they have anything specific for your issue.

Came here to recommend knees over toes guy.
Look him up in YouTube. I have not rehabbed a knee, but he’s done many.

 

[Ross]

I would get a second opinion from an orthopedic surgeon. A knee should not pop out simply from sleeping. Sounds like some significant instability issues. 35 yr history of 14 knee surgeries on one leg, two acl replacements and now a full knee replacement. You don’t want to go down that road. Many ways to build strength and support, but IF you have something torn you want it repaired.

 

[BLJ]

In for more information.

 

[HuntHarder]

My knee used to lock up as well. I had a torn meniscus as well as a small hole in cartlidge from blunt trauma. Cortisone shot did nothing. My last moose hunt finally pushed me to get surgery. Nothing worse than extreme knee pain on the tundra with over 140lbs in pack.

Meniscus surgery was easy and left minimal scarring. Iirc it was 6 weeks recovery to get to 100%. Doc cut out 5% of my meniscus and smoothed out the hole in my cartlidge.

 

[greyghostnw]

2 acl reconstruction, both knees, 1 miniscus 1 ankle surgery. Consistent training all year round with a healthy diet will be your duty to obtain your mountain freedom. You slack on your legs you wont be rewarded doing the things you love. Keeping my legs strong allowed me to big mountain ski, climb mountains, hunt alpine etc with a fully torn acl for over a decade. Life didn’t allow a surgery on one knee for some time but proper training bought time. If you have a torn ligament id consider the liability to yourself and others if a hunting partner and find the best surgeon you can insurance wise and get it fixed sooner than later in your life. Trust me you will heal better younger. If you roll the dice and wait you do risk additional injury to knee further complicating surgery and heal time. If you do have surgery find and go to a real sports clinic that specializes in athletes that want to be a athlete again. I am fortunate and have one near that deals with professional athletes that was within my insurance It is a night and day difference in what you get out of your crucial time healing and strengthening immediately after surgery. Like days after. I have 100% mobility and range of movement from the time put in. Your situation seems odd to me with how you explained your pop. The pop generally happens as the ligiment tears and swells immediately after not allowing range of movement. You would know if this happened that sound feeling you wouldn’t miss it happening nor forget it. Definitely a path that is rewarded with your efforts put in. A life long commitment to obtain strength to function and participate up there…. Those that know know….Good luck.

 

[keystone112]

Not all meniscus surgeries have the same result. I’ve had four of those. Three on the left knee and it feels great. One on the right and still having problems.

Best of luck to you.

 

[Poser]

I had a torn meniscus completely fall apart on me just over a year ago. I rehabbed it using a linear progression with barbell squats starting with an empty bar as soon as I was capable of performing the movement again. Some days were ugly, others uncomfortable, but there was noticeable improvement with every single Stress-Recovery-Adaptation cycle: More knee stability, more range of motion.

After I maxed that progression out, I switched to box squats exclusively and am still on that progression. Since box squats interrupt that eccentric/concentric conversion and allow for an almost vertical shin angle, they'll ease up stress on the knee but allow you to progress with heavy training.

Stretches aren't going to benefit the knee itself, however, if you are getting hamstring tension due to your body attempting to stabilize the knee, RDLs and Good Mornings can be a great way to stretch those muscles out.

 

[LedSled]

2 acl reconstruction, both knees, 1 miniscus 1 ankle surgery. Consistent training all year round with a healthy diet will be your duty to obtain your mountain freedom. You slack on your legs you wont be rewarded doing the things you love. Keeping my legs strong allowed me to big mountain ski, climb mountains, hunt alpine etc with a fully torn acl for over a decade. Life didn’t allow a surgery on one knee for some time but proper training bought time. If you have a torn ligament id consider the liability to yourself and others if a hunting partner and find the best surgeon you can insurance wise and get it fixed sooner than later in your life. Trust me you will heal better younger. If you roll the dice and wait you do risk additional injury to knee further complicating surgery and heal time. If you do have surgery find and go to a real sports clinic that specializes in athletes that want to be a athlete again. I am fortunate and have one near that deals with professional athletes that was within my insurance It is a night and day difference in what you get out of your crucial time healing and strengthening immediately after surgery. Like days after. I have 100% mobility and range of movement from the time put in. Your situation seems odd to me with how you explained your pop. The pop generally happens as the ligiment tears and swells immediately after not allowing range of movement. You would know if this happened that sound feeling you wouldn’t miss it happening nor forget it. Definitely a path that is rewarded with your efforts put in. A life long commitment to obtain strength to function and participate up there…. Those that know know….Good luck.

I appreciate the info. I have had opinions from two different doctors and one is a well known college athlete orthopedic surgeon in the area. They both suspected torn meniscus but saw no tears on the mri only swelling. After the steroid shot my knee pain was gone but I still felt unstable when pivoting on the leg. Straight walking/hiking is fine. Downhill hiking under load causes some pain, uphill is no problem. The doc said it was most likely bad swelling pushing things at odd angles causing it to lock up when I rotate my knee. Hence the rolling over in bed thing.

The knee locking issue was so painful it woke me from a dead sleep followed by the excruciating pain of me popping it back into place. But after the shot this has only occurred once.

 

[The Harbor Master]

Every now and again I will get a sharp pain under one kneecap or the other, and knee issues keeping me out of the mountains is my greatest fear. I appreciate the info in this thread so far.