Anyone who's a Doctor/Trainer/Orthopedic/Knows about knee injuries...

[GoldEagle]

I've been doing these things lately called Hindu Squats, from a book called Combat Conditioning by Matt Furey (Website)(Wiki). It's where you Squat down, knees farther than your toes, and elevate your heels.

Well, I've heard reports that you're not supposed to put your knees past your toes. I've heard it can cause serious knee damage. The bad part is, whenever I do these things, it never hurts and I get a great workout...but I just dont want anything to happen to my knees later on in life.

Here's a website showing Hindu Squats (scroll to the first picture), and everything else Ive been doing.

Anyone information on whether or not these will affect me in a negative way is greatly appreciated.

-GE

 

[newfangle]

Many knee injuries are caused when your tendons and ligaments are not up to par with your muscular development (I encounter this frequently as a distance runner).

I can't comment about whether or not this exercise will damage your knees, but I can say that adopting some additional knee-strengthening exercises would be a good idea.

 

[cairo140]

I have to agree with newfangle. Even if you do not feel any pain now, you should add some tendon and ligament strengthening exercises in your repertoire.

I have been the genetic beneficiary of strong leg muscles all my life, but earlier on, I neglected my joints and ended up with occasional incidents (hyperextension, inflammation due to overuse or substantial stress) that knocked me out of action for a while.

From what I can see from these "Hindu Squats," they emphasize the muscles while neglecting anything close to a "natural" leg motion. As a result, regular "load-bearing" joints are not worked and load is shifted on weaker ones. The consequences are twofold. You will probably be more suceptible to injuries while performing the exercise because weaker joints are used. Also, you will be more suceptible to injuries while engaging in physical activity because the typical joints are less prepared.

As I suggested earlier, there should be no dramatic consequence to this exercise as long as you compliment it with regular squats and so on. That way, you ensure that you get the benefits of this exercise without neglecting other parts.

 

[GoldEagle]

So, maybe I should start out with machine squats (sitting down, pushing a weighted platform forward), and then do 30-40 Hindu Squats? (30-40 is all my Quads are able to do. It's an awesome exercise, minus the knee problems.)

 

[Syterion]

Could anyone recommend ligament and tendon strengthening exercises? I am recovering from a strained ligament (ACL) right now and it would be beneficial. The physical rehab guy mainly worked with strengthening muscles around the knee, especially the hamstring, to take pressure off the ligament. I didn't know there were things that you could do to strengthen ligaments(isn't stretching permanent?). So any help would be great.

Oh, and after reading about this guy, he sounds like a hack. His "mentor" actually hates him and denounced him, he makes unsupported claims about his exercises and he's a fat slob right now.