Knee Swelling

Yup... Years after my partially torn ACL and meniscus (both left side), I still can't train legs worth a damn. Every leg day I leave the gym with massive amounts of swelling on the left side and I can hardly walk for a few days after due to the swelling/discomfort. It affects my job and it's driving me nuts.

Some background... I developed with a malformed left knee joint (underdeveloped cartiledge and no patellar groove in the femur), so I've had knee pain and problems for as long as I can remember. The issues worstened when I was powerlifting, and PLing ended abruptly with a bad hyperextension during a PR attempt on the platform.

Saw 2 orthos who looked at my MRI and history. Tey both told me surgery won't help, so it would be a waste of time. They didn't have much positive to say about the possibility of recovering in any useful way when it comes to doing anything fitness related. And I quote, "You could try physio, but it probably won't help."

...and he was right. I tried two physios, who each took a different approach to the issue. In both cases, all the exercises did was generate a lot of swelling and discomfort. No progress was made.

Fast forward a few years and tons of fat later from sitting my ass, I got back into training last year. It's been a struggle. I've been taking it easy on legs for the above reasons. But it sucks... For the past 5 weeks I've acutally tried to push it and get in a good leg workout, but it is just aggravating the joint as described in the first paragraph.

I never wanted to be a "doesn't squat to depth" guy. I certainly never wanted to be a "never squats" guy. Now it seems I might end up an, "always skips leg day" guy. That sucks!

I don't do weighted squats or deadlifts (DDD and spinal DJD.) I've tried various machines (smith machine, hack squat, leg press.) I've also done BW single joint stuff like lunges, etc. Doesn't seem to matter what I do now. If I actually try and progress, I get the same result everytime.

Thoughts, opinions, suggestions?

It sounds like the groove issue is called trochlear dysplasia. Pretty much everything that you do will likely aggravate it, due to the fact that there is so much excessive motion of the patella because of that lack of a groove.

Regarding the ACL & particularly the meniscus, those really shouldn’t be related to the dysplasia. If the meniscus is actually torn, I’m in disbelief that they wouldn’t remove the torn area. That’s a quick & easy fix.

I could see their argument for not addressing the ACL however. The reason being is that most people are completely functional with normal activities of life with a torn ACL. It only becomes an issue with sports, which arguably you should avoid because of your initial problem.

They make knee sleeves/braces that “might” give your patella some added stability to allow you to do more without pain. But honestly, I’m in shock that you’ve done as much as you have already.