Fitness

I tore a ligament in my knee. I am a runner and am sedentary right now so the weight is piling on.  I need some suggestions as to what kind of cardio I can do that does not use the legs.  Anything to get my heart rate up would be fantastic!!

thanks!

I would imagine swimming would be ideal for situations such as this, plus it's a good form of cross-training for runners.

I have no access to any pool- I live in the sticks.  Any other ideas? 

I'd say try cycling depending on the injury, because I know I can cycle with some nagging pains from running such as a tender achilles.

But short of that, I am really at a loss for a form of exercise that would be good cardiovascularly while not using the legs. You may just have to cut back your caloric intake to account for your inability to be as active as you would like to be.

 

Kind of an odd idea, but what about sprinting in a wheelchair? I doubt the availability of a loaner and it's probably not worth the cost but it's an idea.

Funny you should say that- i actually tore it cycling.  Funny.....  
Thank you though for your input, I do appreciate it. If you think of anything else, please let me know :-)

As a runner, I completely feel your pain.  When I had stress fractures and was told not to run for 4 months, I was devastated.  Unfortunately without access to a pool, you don't have a lot of options.  My gym has hand cycles, which are great, but I'm assuming you likely don't have those either.  All I can say is that you may want to focus on upper body strength training and other similar exercises (core work, push-ups, weights, etc).  You may need to control your weight primarily through diet until you can start easing back into a cardio program.

I actually tore my ACL playing softball in Aug 07 and had reconstruction surgery for ACL and miniscus in Sept 07.  A week after tearing the swelling in my knee went down and I was able to do very minimal low impact activities on my leg such as walking, eliptical trainer, and biking, though my knee would swell up for a day or two afterwards.  After the surgery I couldn't do anything.  Leg was in an immobilizer for 2 weeks, had physical therapy for 6 weeks, and lost a lot of muscle in my quad from lack of use.  I was able to bike and use an eliptical trainer after my therapy finished but my knee would still swell up afterwards for a day or two.  All this happened right at the beginning of trying to drop weight I spent years putting on.  I decided to use the time doing upper body resistance training instead of cardio.  Push-ups, sit-ups, pull ups, dips, etc. and eventually bought a weight bench to add free weights for benching, incline bench, curls, side bends with weights, sitting trunk turns with weight, as much as I could think of.  You still get your heart rate up and along with watching what I was eating the weight still came off (down to 197 from 252).  I have been able to add more cardio since about May 08 when my knee and leg got stronger and more stabile. 

How about not doing anything and letting your body heal for goodness sake?  This is the 2nd post I've seen today about someone trying to do cardio on a damaged knee.  

I tore my ACL as well and was on crutches for a month.  Once I was able to walk again I jumped back into my dancing without taking care of it and a year later it was still randomly giving out on me.  I finally got the help I needed from a sports chiropractor who did some active release 3 times a week, taped me up, and gave me a bunch of exercises specifically for strengthening the muscles.

Have you talked to a doctor yet?  I'd suggest staying off it until it heals to a certain point, then doing the exercises the doctor gives you.  See a physiotherapist or a sports chiropractor if you can.  Well worth it.  If you push it, you're just going to injure it more, which means more time on your butt in the long run.

I have been lettting my knee heal for 2 months now, crutches and sitting on my butt- I am not trying to do running or anything- I'm just trying to not put on any more weight.  Lay off me and others kukua.  My doctor has not been any help which is why I am seeing a new one in 2 weeks.  I can't afford physical therapy.  I am considering what anderds1 says, get a cheap hand cycle like dcrunner81 recommended. Those are good points.  thanks all

I appologize for my comments.  Maybe you should have put all that info in your original post.  I'm glad you've finding a new doctor.  Good luck

you could try yoga. Maybe research what positions you shouldn't do in your condition and then do the ones you can. Keep up with conditioning exercises and then perhaps also re-adjust your calories so that you're not eating more than you burn.

As a health care professional, my suggestion would be to try to come up with enough $$ to go for at least one physiotherapy session to get some ideas of what else you can do for cardio and/or a means for bracing your knee so that it can heal properly.  Undoubtedly there will be some expense - but damage to ligaments is serious and you want to ensure that the best healing possible is done.  Beyond that maybe try a stationary bike with a very low tension on it - hand bikes won't really get your heart rate up enough as they don't engage large enough muscle groups...  I hear your frustration in not being able to be active and I wish you all the luck in the world at the doc's appointment in a couple of weeks. 

Thank you too dawnnamf for the information- I will take it to heart.  you all have been a lot of help. Thank you 

I had knee surgery a couple years ago and spent my time on an arm cycle.  It is like an inverted bicycle where you peddle with your arms.  Most of the gyms I have been to have one.  I also did a lot of time on a rowing machine (though I didn't start that until after I had regained some movement in my knee).

Upper body cardio. I'm a wheelchair user and had to rely on this to lose weight which worked wonders.

Lifting light weights for a rep range of 30 after a sufficient warm up is good.

Or you could try shadow boxing.

Just use your imagination.

Hi, I injured my knee a bit a little while ago and I did some rowing and upper body workout and weights until it was better (and it did not impact on my knee and allowed it to heal).