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Comment by jedberg | Hacker News Reader

Protip from someone who is 45 and has had bad knees since he was 15: Strengthen the muscles around the knee as much as possible. The stronger your quads and calves are, the better your knees will be.

The best way to do this is squats with either no weights or just a couple of pounds. You may need to wear knee braces when you do this (in my case I was able to skip the braces after about 10 years)

This is actually true for most any joint in your body -- the stronger the muscles surrounding the joint are, the better that joint will perform.

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The surgeon who fixed my first knee injury advised me to do single legged squads if in any way possible: the balancing aspect is good for activating many small muscles around the knee, and the weight is high enough to maintain muscle mass even after age 50.

pulling a sled also strengthens the acl which are a weakpoint for many.

Any easy way to start out with single-legged squats (pistols) is to find yourself a step up or box jump box. Start out low and just step up onto the box for several reps/sets. You can increase the height until just below the knee. You don't want to go too high. After you strengthen from that, you can start doing other progressions for true pistols if you want.

Agreed! I injured my knee back in January, and my physical therapist's main focus has been on strengthening my all the muscles around the knee in addition to the knee itself. It's been a slow recovery, but I can definitely see how it works better this way.

My sister has been having foot and hip problems, and her PT has been taking a whole-musculature approach to healing those issues. It's really nice to see these kind of thoughtful interventions, rather than immediately getting prescribed a steroid shot, or, worse, surgery.

Many people have reported good results from Ben Patrick’s knee rehab workouts. I can't personally vouch for them, but people who are struggling with knee injuries might want to research his protocol.

https://instagram.com/kneesovertoesguy

I decided to try sled pulls after seeing a YouTuber KneesOverToesGuy, who claimed it was great for knee strength. I do sets of sled pulls at least a couple of times a week now, and imo it’s been great for my knees. I can do 3-4 6+ mile runs a week without ever getting sore knees.

This is why I do squats: chronic knee and back pain melted away after taking on weighted squats for a few months.

Any recommendations for people already finding they have trouble doing squats (other than going to PT)?

I guess it depends on your specific problems, but my general advice would be to start small. Don't worry about getting a deep squat at first; start shallow. You can also use a chair back or counter to support some of your weight.

Take it slow, and start off preferring more sets of fewer reps. If 4 or 5 reps is all you can do, that's fine!

Work your way up over a period of weeks or months, increasing the depth of the squat and number of reps. If you're using something to support some of your weight, slowly wean yourself off of that. Eventually you'll want to be doing fairly deep squats, 10+ reps per set, while holding some light weights. But it's ok if it takes you months (or even over a year) to get there.

(This is of course not medical advice; you should speak to a doctor who knows your specific situation before starting a new exercise regimen, especially if it's something you're already having trouble with.)

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