Are squats bad for knees?

[Grover]

Have a look at the thread that was posted up earlier re HSR Patella Tendon program and see if that helps

[Terrymundo]

The only time i ever had issues was when first started. It does take time to build the stability in the knee. take it slow with increasing the weight by nominal amounts. keep the movement incontrol at all time no over extending at the top like an idiot. also avoid soft sole shoes like running shoes they turn to jelly under weight

I find alot of the damage to the knees is incurred during the walk out and setup. think about it. all the weight is one straight leg at a certain point. small and controlled movements are key

Stick with them!!! if you manage to get big quads without squats youd be the first :wink:

[mrgeeky]

Have a look at the thread that was posted up earlier re HSR Patella Tendon program and see if that helps

which area of the message board was that posted under?

[timeoutmode]

i had a minor injury from doing squats a couple of weeks ago. weird that i injured the lower part of my right lat. :roll:

[AZIDE]

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[mrgeeky]

thank you for posting that..

much appreciated.. thanks..

[quadzilla]

For years I had no problems with my knees from squats. In the last couple of years I have had on going problems. The dull ache in both knees after squatting for up to a week.

I guess that this maybe because I'm getting older and the depth of squat is very low.

I'm going to take a look at the stuff Pseudonym talked about.

Do you think it would also be worthwhile getting a powerlifter to critique my technique incase I've picked up a bad habit or two over the years?

[Farksake]

It's an interesting question, Obviously squats have huge benefits to strength, balance and muscle growth but many people have problems with knee pain. What i've found is that most people who get knee pain either have a pre exisitng condition, flexibility issues or a technique problem. I know this is a question on are squats bad for you knees but I was actually reading a study recently on the torque involved in squats on both your knees and lower back, Basically it found that while a higher amount of torque on your knees, (which in many cases can lead to pain) has a direct correlation to the amount of torque/strain put on the lower back and even a little more pressure on the knees can take a huge amount of strain off the lower back. From my training I can confirm that the more pressure you put on your knees the less you feel it in your lower back, I think the most important thing to think about is making sure there is a good balance in your technique making sure the weight is sitting over your feet and isn't too far forward or back putting increased pressure on one or the other. Personally i'd take a bit of knee pain over a stuffed lower back (and as someone who has a herniated disk between there L3 and L4, I can attest it sucks).

Obviously flexibility as already mention is a huge factor as well if you dont have the flexibility in your hamstrings the increased pressure on your lower back becomes huge the lower you try and go and in most cases you'll struggle to bend your knees properly with weight anyway, what I see with a lot of people is "the tuck" when they don't have flexibility and try to go low there lower back curves and there bum goes under their body. Once again may sound like i'm off topic but without decent flexibility you're putting the wrong kind of pressure on your knees and this can lead to technique problems and injuries.

Another thing I have talked with people about alot is the no knees infront of toes theory when it comes to squats, and I'll admit I used to be a huge proponent of this, however through years of training I've find that if you want to squat properly and reduce lower back pain your knees may need to come forward in order to have balance especially if you're 6ft + like me. Does it put more pressure on them, yes but if you have good technique this shouldn't be a problem, alignment is key.

Which actually brings me to my next comment and this one is purely my own opinion I know there are other opinions ideas when it comes to this but I feel that knee and feet alignment and flexibilty are key when it comes to squats and preventing injury especially when starting out, I know alot of people especially when going ATG like to have their legs wider and feet pointed out a bit but the pressure on your knees can be huge and it puts you knees largely out of alignment, powerlifters obviously have their techniques down pat so I trust they know what their doing but your average guy who comes in and squats 40kg doing this isn't really helping him any, especially with higher reps. If you stand up straight and your feet naturally point outwards you have a postural issue so why for the average squatter would it be beneficial to squat like this? You would just be exacerbating the problem.

So in summary, and after a nice tangent on my part, I feel that squats are largely beneficial and if done properly are fantastic for increasing knee strength and with knee stabilisation, and once again if done properly are actually good for your knees.

[OB rocker]

It can. But if anything it makes them stronger