Advise for judoka worried about knees.

**Weezaholic** · Posted On: 2/25/2013 7:19pm

I started judo at age thirty Now I'm 34 and do four days a week randori on most days and also do one night rolling with a jujitsu class Problem is I'm icing my knees nightly now and worried I may someday need some kind of surgery if I don't change something up Cardio strength energy all that I have in abundance it's these damn knees! Does someone know of some basic ways to strengthen or otherwise save on wear and tear on knees

**Hedgehogey** · Posted On: 2/25/2013 8:33pm

Wear kneepads, stop doing drop knee techniques, start squatting or pulling guard while rolling and eat lots of turmeric. This is obvious advice but I didn't follow it and had to go to urgent care for chondrocalcynosis.

**Ming Loyalist** · Posted On: 2/25/2013 9:18pm

get a good orthopedist.

do all the stuff hedge said, of course, but you can also "pre-hab" your knee by doing strengthening exercises now *before* they get injured. i suggest heavy squats and single leg RDLs, pistols, and single leg balance drills. see a PT for guidance.

and yeah i wasn't kidding about the orthopedist. if you don't have a really good sports doc, you may want to start looking now, because when you need one, you might already want to at least have him on your radar. going to a doctor who doesn't understand full contact martial arts can be a huge waste of time, so ask around and know who you want to go to when the inevitable happens.

**doofaloofa** · Posted On: 2/26/2013 2:03am

When I started judo i got pain in my knees when I knealt down

wearing knee pads cured this

Four years on I find I don't need to wear the pads anymore

@Hedge can you expand on the tumeric?

**Hedgehogey** · Posted On: 2/26/2013 4:27am

Following those two urgent care visits (when you don't have health insurance, that's where you go when things are wrong with you), the docs there told me basically "take as much ibuprofin as you can without dying". They even gave me a scrip for super giant ibuprofin pills. After a couple days my knee wasn't any smaller and I was developing ulcers. I did some research on anti inflammatory foods. Turmeric is high in curcumin and cheap, so I began eating and applying it and cut back on the ibuprofin and within a week could resume full practice.

**itwasntme** · Posted On: 2/26/2013 9:14am

What's your bodyweight, and how much turmeric were you consuming?

***jnp*** · Posted On: 2/26/2013 9:59am

Originally Posted by Hedgehogey

Turmeric is high in curcumin and cheap, so I began eating and applying it and cut back on the ibuprofin and within a week could resume full practice.

Note: You can also buy Curcumin as a supplement by itself, although it's probably more expensive than buying Turmeric.

**Weezaholic** · Posted On: 2/26/2013 1:27pm

Thanks for the advise. I stopped the drop knee stuff a while back though I keep doing them at tournament. I'm stopping to grab some turmeric after work. I love heavy squats but quit doing them a while back, looks like ill have to make time.

**Weezaholic** · Posted On: 2/26/2013 1:29pm

I'm going to look into the curcumen too. Thanks.

**Gypsy Jazz** · Posted On: 2/26/2013 3:05pm

I don't want to turn into a one trick pony around here, but it's very important to note that pain and injury are not the same thing and not even always related. Fear of pain will increase the likelihood of future pain regardless of the presence of tissue damage.

Fun facts: sham knee surgeries were demonstrated to be exactly as effective as the real thing in one study. In another studym after a 5 year follow-up period in young (18-35) active males with acute ACL injuries there was no statistical difference between outcomes of either pain or function in those who had surgery + rehab or rehab alone.

Chronic pain is generally not "caused" by inflammation, but even so I have been very underwhelmed by the research on curcumin.

Orthopedists are important, but when all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail. I would seek out either some sort of strength coach/personal trainer or physical therapist who understands that pain is an output of the brain, not a signal from tissues. This is unfortunately very rare.

With nothing more than intuition to guide it, single leg resistance training would seem to help strengthen the muscles around the knees for single leg stance. You could probably get a similar effect, but less time efficient by working all the muscles around the hips and knees.