What are some cardio exercises to do with a broken knee?!
Question: My girlfriend shattered her knee cap about a year ago and is looking to get back in shape. She is not able to bend her knee very much without severe pain (I'm talking 15-20 degrees). She has tried the elyptical and almost falls off when her knee buckles. Same with the treadmill. Rowing machines require knee bending. Stair climbers are also difficult...She wants a high intensity workout to lose weight but cannot stand the pain of any of the previous exercises.
Swimming is an option, but what are some other good cardio exercises for her? I'm out of suggestions for her and she's getting frustrated with dieting with no results.
She has already done months of physical therapy and they say this is the best she is going to get...
Answers: My girlfriend shattered her knee cap about a year ago and is looking to get back in shape. She is not able to bend her knee very much without severe pain (I'm talking 15-20 degrees). She has tried the elyptical and almost falls off when her knee buckles. Same with the treadmill. Rowing machines require knee bending. Stair climbers are also difficult...She wants a high intensity workout to lose weight but cannot stand the pain of any of the previous exercises.
Swimming is an option, but what are some other good cardio exercises for her? I'm out of suggestions for her and she's getting frustrated with dieting with no results.
She has already done months of physical therapy and they say this is the best she is going to get...
First of all this is by no means the best she can potentially get. Second, there is a machine that a lot of physical therapists have for rehab of arm and shoulder injuries. This machine looks like a bike wind trainer only you use your arms instead of your legs. This would almost surely do the job. Maybe you can arrange the useage of the one at the PT office. Lastly, her injury, albeit a huge bummer, is not insurmountable. You have to have a benieth the skin understanding of her knee in order to understand what needs to take place from here. Three of the four quadricep muscles of the leg cross the knee with their tendons via the petella (knee cap). The middle of the three, vastus intermedius, crosses directly centered. The inside, or medial, appropriately called vastus medialis extends the knee and pulls the patella medially. The outside-vastus lateralis extends the knee and pulls the patella laterally. Now if you break the patella in half what do you figure will happen to these muscles, which are under tension? Yep! The will yank that patella up like no tomorrow leaving you with really short quad muscles and a drastically ill placed patella. Modern surgical medicine can put you back together but you're kinda on your own with the stretching thing, but it sounds to me like she needs a whole lot more of it. This is not an easy road. It will hurt like the dickens, but you can regain what you lost. Remember, the PT office is where you go to get tips on how to recover, not where you go to recover. There's just too much to say about this here. Look up an experienced sports injury massage therapist. They'll get you going. Besides this thing will come back to haunt you if you don't.
tell her to see a pain doctor. get perscribed oxycontin. then she will have no pain.
What about a stationary bike? Does that bother her too?
i think swimming is the best option...hand bikes too, but it won't give a really high intensity workout. if you are able to get outdoors, kayaking or canoeing could be a good cardio exercise as well. there probably isn't a lot of options with the knee being so fragile. talk to a physical trainer for more options.
maybe those excersize bikes where the pedals are way out in front of you would help that way she doesnt have to bend so much. swimming like you said is probably her best bet cause it reduces the stress on the joint there are probably lots of water arobics classes at your ymca or community center. instead of just being bored with swimming laps. jumping rope might be an okay thing to do if she can handle the impact its small jumps so it might not be to bad. even that sounds questionable i would definately start small with that one like just a few minutes and then build up. if she does some high rep low weight lifting that might be good cause it will burn calories and she can firm up which might be just what it takes to make her feel good.