Squats and Knee Problems

[theuniverse]

Hi,
I was wondering if you guys could suggest me a few tips regarding my problem:

I have osgood schlatter disease (left knee), which usually goes away as you age... I'm 20 years old right now and I almost forgot about it once I turned 18, however about 3 months ago my knee started hurting again. I've been squatting regularly for about 2 years until it happened but haven't been squatting since. I had physio, did lots of stretches and gave it rest in general, and it seems like it's healed and doesn't bother me anymore. However I really miss squatting and I feel confident enough to get back to it again.

I'm planning to keep improving my technique with some light weight for now and keep working on my hip flexors and glutes, but I was wondering if you have some more ideas as to what I should do to prevent the pain from coming back.

Thanks for you time!

 

[moya]

you squat all the way down, correct?...

 

[theuniverse]

I find that if I do parallel squats I get too much pain in my knee.. but when I go all the way down for some reason my knee doesn't hurt as much... so yea most of the time I do full rather than parallel.

 

[moya]

ok, that is good... i hit my power squats to parallel, but the deeper you get, there will be less torque on your knees... i only hit mine there because that is the depth required for a competition squat... but deeper is always better...
maybe look into a knee sleeve to keep the joint warm, or even a set of light knee wraps...
make sure you get plenty of water, healthy fats and you may even want to give some glucosamine or joint supps a try, though they never really did much for me...

 

[theuniverse]

Thanks for the advice!
I bought glucosamine few days ago so I'm gonna give it a try soon.
Is there a specific knee sleeve or wraps that you would recommend?

 

[zedhed]

Plenty of warm up. I like to do it on a bike.
Then progress up to your working weight slowly.
Progress as your bod can handle it.
Good luck bro.

 

[moya]

knee sleves are pretty much all the same, they just keep the joint warm... not much support...
wraps vary greatly, though even a light set will offer quite a bit of support... so much that even a cheap pair wrapped tightly will have to be taken off and on between sets...
unless you plan on competing a cheap set will do fine... i do have a set of Inzer True Black wraps that are super thick and stretchy and add like 30-50lbs to my squat lol... maybe used them a few times...
the sleeve should be fine for all your sets, and you might want to save the wraps for heavier sets... you can get both at a big 5 or most any sporting goods store...