Need advise on how to minimize re-injuring myself as I slowing re-start my fitness regime?

I think squats are way to hard to start with. I occassionally will have knee problems and for me a sure way of injury is to do squats again. There are so many leg exercises you can do that will involve your larger muscles more and not involve your knees so much. One slight wrong angle on a squat and you can hurt something. No matter how careful I am with squats I find it easy to miscalculate the angle of the squat. Well at least if your going to do it, do it with a mirror and next to something so you can help balance if you land wrong.
Any kind of leg lift to the side or while bent over and doing like a back donkey kick or using an abductor machine or even exercise bands is great. An exercise bike can also help without putting too much pressure on your knees. And you don’t have to worry about suddenly pulling something. All these exercise will allow you to stop any time you feel it may be too much too fast.
On squats it just need for you to land wrong one time and your done. You can also try long walks and then work your way up to a faster pace.
Patience is key. Good luck.
Have you consider asking your doctor what exercises he best recommends. He should have a better idea of what is high risk for you.

@Pandora thanks :-) I was actually thinking about doing squats at a 45 degree angle for weeks and weeks (no weights) but not until my running is where I want it to be.

I can get up and sit down with no pain and I’ve been pain-free in that area for a couple of months.

Find a good yoga therapist who will tailor a yoga practice that will honor and strengthen those parts of your body compromised by the surgery. It will aid in your recovery…Cruiser said so!

@Cruiser I did yoga for 10 years and got bored with it :-(

@tranquilsea I can see what you might mean by that as I did too….but yoga helped me come back from a severely debilitating herniated disc in my back where all of modern medicine had failed miserably. I am merely advocating yoga in your case to help you heal….after that, feel free to be bored! lol!

If I were you I would go back to my doctor and request special physical therapy that will give you the guidance that you need. Then tell the physical therapist that you want to get back to running again and that you want special exercises that you can do to build up your leg strength and not reinjure yourself.

I severely tore/ruptured two hamstring muscles in my right leg 3 ½ years ago. Just 4 visits to physical therapy gave me the knowledge that I needed to build back my lost hamstring strength. The orthopedic surgeon told me that I will never regain my strength. So far he right but he doesn’t know me or how hard I’m willing to work. Now I’m very close to my goal of proving him wrong.

@gondwanalon Good for you for working at it. I’ve seen what pure determination can do.

I am running right now with no problems (knock on wood). The nature of my knee problems is that I feel it right away when it goes. Which is good because I can stop what I’m doing.

I did head to one physical therapist who then proceeded to bash every doctor I have seen about the compartment syndrome. She told me that doctors are too myopic in that they only look at one area of the body. Then she proceeded to tell me that all my problems come from my back and she only does one type of therapy nowadays which wasn’t myopic at all <eye roll>.

@Cruiser I’m am looking to see what is offered around me for rehabilitative yoga. It’s slim pickings thus far.

Hopefully you were able to get some benefit from your physical therapist.

Of course you want to regain your lost running fitness ASAP. But be very careful with your training. Listen to your body. It is far better to error on the side of caution and build back too slowly than to be too aggressive and wind up injured again. Remember that pain is your friend. Pain is your body’s way of telling you what is happening to it. So avoid taking pain-killer medications so that you will know what is going on with your body. Everyone is different but I’ve found that I can get away with jogging with a level #3 pain but no higher. For comparison a number 10 pain level for me is rolling around on the ground screaming in total agony (I was there when I tore my hamstring muscles). Also try to stay on flat surfaces. Take it extra easy on slight up and down grades.

Except for a few rare injuries, I’ve been running, racing and jogging consistently for 31 years. Most of my running injuries came from me being too greedy with my training while building up for a race. I’m 60 now and am still jogging full marathons and racing sprint triathlons. I’ve completed 3 full marathons so fare this year and I’ll be doing the Portland marathon next week and the Seattle marathon next month. Fun stuff!

Good heath and training to you!

I am taking it very easy. I hated being out of commission for six months. This is the first week I’ve been able to run without pain from the compartment syndrome.

As to the physical therapist. She ticked me off so much that that I walked out and haven’t been back.