torn ACL.. squatting yes or no?

[Tazwell]

i have had a torn ACL for about 3 years (surgery once but tore it again).

i am at a point where i really want to start squatting again.. does anyone know if i can do this with a torn ACL?

of coarse i will start light and be very cautious.

[956Vette]

see how you feel while going light and cautious. i had mine repaired 3 yrs ago, and was told i would never be able to squat again. I squat a weight where i can do some reps (10+). leg extensions i do cautiously as i cannot go as high or as with much weight on my bad leg....

physical therapists, doctors, nurses...all might have a different opinion (kinda complicated things and gets stressful i remember).

[doublewide]

See how it feels. You have no support on side to side movements but not sure how this will effect you.

On a side note I had my ACL replaced about 4-5 years ago and that leg is better off than my other which never had surgery. The surgery and rehab totally suck with ACL surgery.

[Doc.Sust]

you can squat but you reallly have to be careful, wrap your knees with good knee wraps with every set, if you feel pain stop. all that really happened is your anterior cruciate ligament is offering no support to the knee with any forward motion, my advice is if you powerlift and have to squat fine, but if you do this for recreation, squat light or not at all, it isn't worth an entire knee replacement when you are 50 years old

[power65]

Ok. Am I hearing you correct? You had torn your ACL in the past, had it fixed and it tore again three years ago and you've never gotten it repared?? So you're at a disadvantage right off the bat because you're not really at risk of tearing your ACL because you don't have one. Which means your knee lacks support in that area rightnow. Without that support your just asking to tear up other parts of your knee that are trying to make up for the lack of support where the ACL should be. My advice to you.......DON'T SQUAT. I know the "Iron Bug" is killing you to lift. Trust me I know. I've been there. I have had several knee injuries in the past. I had my ACL & MCL both torn playing football back in College. Not to mention a bad shoulder injury with my rotator cuff. But lets be reasonable here. Do you make a living Squating? Do you have anything to gain by it other than personal satisfaction? Is it worth not being able to walk or having your entire knee replaced?? If you love powerlifiting then find away to compete that won't render harm on your body. You may have to become a bench press specialist. Yes train your legs. Nothing worse than the guy that only lifts with his upper body and wears baggy pants at the gym. But use some common sense about it. Now if you were a professional athlete that made Millions of dollars a year with the use of his legs I would maybe say give it a try. But in your case I don't think it's a wise decision If you want maybe do extrememly high rep squats just to condition your legs. I'm talking sets of 20-30 reps. But by NO MEANS do you need to have a weight on your back that is causing you to force out even 8-10 reps. I know that may not be what you want to hear, but it's just my professional opinion.

[aminophiliac]

had my acl replaced 5 months ago. before i had it done I could squat fine with moderate weight as long as I didnt go past parallel to the ground. it effects others differently though. just listen to your knee if you have to do it.

[Tazwell]

thank you all for your responses, i will keep them all in mind.

i should add i don't compete, and i probably could have posted this in lifting technics, but i wanted more informative opinions (which i got). i was also very active in sports until i tore it, then re-tore it. i will have surgery again sometime down the line, i don't think i can mentally take it right now.

lifting is now the safest sport i can do, so i just want to give it all i can. that's why i want to push my self... I think i'll start squatting VERY light and see how i feel. i definatly won't take any chance though.

thank you

[power65]

for all of you who have had knee injuries or actullay had your knee worked on, I would suggest the following advice. It would be a good idea to use knee wraps when doing squats for anything over about 300lbs. I know many of you may see this as Too Cautious, but I've been using knee wraps on all my squats for all Lifts over 300 for the past several years since I had my knee worked on, and I've had no problems. I'm squating more than I ever did before the knee injuries. It just makes since to me to be as cautious as possible once you start having problems with your knees. Once you start having major knee trouble it's all down hill from there.

[Doc.Sust]

for all of you who have had knee injuries or actullay had your knee worked on, I would suggest the following advice. It would be a good idea to use knee wraps when doing squats for anything over about 300lbs. I know many of you may see this as Too Cautious, but I've been using knee wraps on all my squats for all Lifts over 300 for the past several years since I had my knee worked on, and I've had no problems. I'm squating more than I ever did before the knee injuries. It just makes since to me to be as cautious as possible once you start having problems with your knees. Once you start having major knee trouble it's all down hill from there.

good advice, knee wrap for safety, especially if you have already had knee injuries. safety first, or you may lose your sport for good

[lifter76]

Powerlifting without an ACL is possible. I tore my ACL and PCL in 2000 and still have not got it fixed. I played football for the next 4 years after that I even played university for 1 year. I am recently retired and started powerlifting and just squated 562 in my first meet with no pain and plan on doing 650 in November. I use knee wraps for anything above 405. Just keep pluging away and dont let people tell you you cant lift with such an injury because there wrong.

[power65]

lifter76- Not trying to knock you bud, but that is horrible advice. I think you are extremely lucky you haven't had a major knee blow-out. Or maybe you didn't actually tear your ACL or PCL. I don't see how you played football for 4 yrs. if you had actually torn both ACL and PCL. I'm not calling you a liar, I just think you got a bad evaluation at the time of the injury by whoever checked you out. I've worked in many Sports Labs and have actual formal education on this subject and I'm telling you, if you do actually have these injuries you are walking around on a ticking time-bomb. Telling someone that they can continue to go all out on a damaged knee is CRAZY!!!!! I've seen too many athletes who lived by this mentality and are now paying the price. Many of who now walk with a little limp. It is always better to be cautious than thinking with your ego. The "No Pain No Gain" mentality doesn't apply to true injuries. Just wondering, if you knew you had these injuries why didn't you ever get them fixed, and how did you ever continue playing? When I was playing HighSchool and College football we always had to under go a complete Physical before every season. They always checked out our knees. If you had these injuries there is NO WAY you could have passed a knee examination. Your knee would have way to much movement in it. Like I said, I doubt you have these injuries. You were just given a bad evaluation .

[lifter76]

Thats to bad you dont belive me I have had 2 yes 2 MRI's both telling the doctor I HAVE NO ACL OR PCL. As far as doctor exams for playing ball in Canada its diffrent all they do is a basoic physical. If you want private message me I will give you phone numbers of coaches, players doctors who will back up my statement. Or maybe you want photos of me on the team or even playing. Just tell me I got a huge scrapbook I could show you.

[Doc.Sust]

Thats to bad you dont belive me I have had 2 yes 2 MRI's both telling the doctor I HAVE NO ACL OR PCL. As far as doctor exams for playing ball in Canada its diffrent all they do is a basoic physical. If you want private message me I will give you phone numbers of coaches, players doctors who will back up my statement. Or maybe you want photos of me on the team or even playing. Just tell me I got a huge scrapbook I could show you.

if you planed on continuing playingball and powerlfting, y didn't you consider getting both ligaments repaired?

[lifter76]

When it happened I was only 17 and I wanted to play university ball when I was done high school. The problem was the following year was my grade 12 year and it was to important to miss. So all I did was rehab. Plus the stronger you hams and quads are it helps stabilize the knee more.

[Doc.Sust]

When it happened I was only 17 and I wanted to play university ball when I was done high school. The problem was the following year was my grade 12 year and it was to important to miss. So all I did was rehab. Plus the stronger you hams and quads are it helps stabilize the knee more.

have you ever considered an orthopedic consultation? my concern is that for now you are fine, but in the future, when your muscles atrophy, you won't have the same stability that you have today. an MRI to see if it is causing any more damage to your knee because of the repetitive microtraumas from squating and deadlifting maybe a good idea

[power65]

Thats to bad you dont belive me I have had 2 yes 2 MRI's both telling the doctor I HAVE NO ACL OR PCL. As far as doctor exams for playing ball in Canada its diffrent all they do is a basoic physical. If you want private message me I will give you phone numbers of coaches, players doctors who will back up my statement. Or maybe you want photos of me on the team or even playing. Just tell me I got a huge scrapbook I could show you.

WOW. You totally misunderstood everything I said in my previous post. I wasn't trying to call you a liar. I even said that in my post. What I said was I found it really hard to believe that you made it through several seasons of playing football with a torn ACL & PCL. I just thought that you had been diagnosed wrong because I just find it about 99% unlikely that a football player could play several seasons with these injuries and not suffer major damage to their knee. Just so you know, I'm not just pulling these statements out of my ass either. I do have years of experience in working with athletes. Not to brag, but just to let you know where I'm coming from....I have a degree in Sports Medicine and a Masters Degree in Biomechanics. Biomechanics is the study of Human Motion as it is related to the body, muscles, and yes joints. I was just trying to warn you of the damage that you're doing to your knee rightnow. The reason you don't notice any knee problems rightnow is that your knee joint is being supported well by the muscle density in your leg. That is fine for now. But what you don't know is that your knee is in constant warfare with micro-trauma every day. Yes it may feel o.k. for now, but as soon as you lose some of the muscle density in your legs (and sooner or later you will in life no matter what) your knee is going to be destroyed. I'm not talking about you'll have to have the surgery then, I'm talking about knee replacement type destroyed. And once that happens you can kiss squats good bye for good. You may not even have to wait until later in life, this could happen any day at the gym now. All you need is one back walkout on squats and BOOM!!!!! No more knee. I'm serious here. If it is at all possible I say get your ACL & PCL fixed now while you're still young. Every day that goes by you're just causing more and more damage. It may only be micro-damage, but over time that all adds up. I'm not trying to discourage you, I just don't want to see you sitting around thinking about if you could only go back in time you would have done things differently. From one powerlifter to another. I do care. I hate to see people suffer. And it's not a matter of it your knee gives way, but when. I know I'm right about this. I've seen it a 100 times. Trust me. No Hard Feelings? Just bringing the truth.

[Doc.Sust]

WOW. You totally misunderstood everything I said in my previous post. I wasn't trying to call you a liar. I even said that in my post. What I said was I found it really hard to believe that you made it through several seasons of playing football with a torn ACL & PCL. I just thought that you had been diagnosed wrong because I just find it about 99% unlikely that a football player could play several seasons with these injuries and not suffer major damage to their knee. Just so you know, I'm not just pulling these statements out of my ass either. I do have years of experience in working with athletes. Not to brag, but just to let you know where I'm coming from....I have a degree in Sports Medicine and a Masters Degree in Biomechanics. Biomechanics is the study of Human Motion as it is related to the body, muscles, and yes joints. I was just trying to warn you of the damage that you're doing to your knee rightnow. The reason you don't notice any knee problems rightnow is that your knee joint is being supported well by the muscle density in your leg. That is fine for now. But what you don't know is that your knee is in constant warfare with micro-trauma every day. Yes it may feel o.k. for now, but as soon as you lose some of the muscle density in your legs (and sooner or later you will in life no matter what) your knee is going to be destroyed. I'm not talking about you'll have to have the surgery then, I'm talking about knee replacement type destroyed. And once that happens you can kiss squats good bye for good. You may not even have to wait until later in life, this could happen any day at the gym now. All you need is one back walkout on squats and BOOM!!!!! No more knee. I'm serious here. If it is at all possible I say get your ACL & PCL fixed now while you're still young. Every day that goes by you're just causing more and more damage. It may only be micro-damage, but over time that all adds up. I'm not trying to discourage you, I just don't want to see you sitting around thinking about if you could only go back in time you would have done things differently. From one powerlifter to another. I do care. I hate to see people suffer. And it's not a matter of it your knee gives way, but when. I know I'm right about this. I've seen it a 100 times. Trust me. No Hard Feelings? Just bringing the truth.

couldn't have said it better. good post, this man knows his stuff