As I struggle through my 40’s, I attempt to maintain the same physical shape as I’ve had the past 20 years by continuing to work out with weights. I’ve had some knee issues in the past that a Orthopedic Surgeon claims was the result of years of doing free weight squats. Now I do squats with a Smith machine to help with stability and form.
With the difficult winter we’re had in the northeast, I took the longest break from working out in quite some time and am trying to ease my way back to “normal”. The only longer break that I took was 3 years ago (for about 5 months) after I ruptured my achilles tendon playing basketball and had surgery. The break did seem to fix my knee problems for the most part.
Now that I’m back at the gym, I’ve noticed that I feel stress in some ligaments that run around and through the knees. It’s not pain but more of a tightening depending on how I move the knee.
Does anyone recommend any supplements? I’m sort of lactose intolerant so I don’t drink milk, but am fine eating cheese and yogurt for the most part.
I have asked several doctors that I know and can’t seem to get a consistent answer except for Vitamin D. I’ll probably start taking it, but wanted to know if anyone here recommends anything additional.
You can try one of the many glucosamine / chondroitin / hyaluronic acid supplements on the market. Opinions are mixed - some people say they’re fantastic, others think they’re a waste of money.
With your workouts - if you haven’t already, doing a session or two with a trainer may help to ensure you’re using the correct form. Otherwise, did you get physical therapy after the tendon repair? As the song suggests, the heel bone’s not too far from the knee bone, so I could easily see effects from the tendon repair causing knee issues.
Vitamin D insufficiency - yes, this seems to be the latest undiagnosed epidemic. My doc recently suggested I add some to my diet last month.
Glucosamine/chondroitin supplements and the like are supposed to help repair cartilage, not ligaments (and the evidence for their effectiveness is mixed to say the least). They are also not cheap, and you run the risk (as with other supplements) of getting products lacking the ingredients stated on the label (or maybe with other things you don’t know about mixed in).
Vitamin D supplementation may be advisable in some people, but again it’s not going to help with the problem the OP describes (if that in fact is what is causing his discomfort).
Finally, rickets is a deficiency disease tied to bad diet, not “sunscreen abuse”, whatever that’s supposed to be.