Quote:
Originally Posted by Gorilla4Sale
I'll have the wife post her leg ext experience, cause they pretty much saved her, post ACL surgery.
TL;DR warning, cliff notes at the end:
So after my ACL surgery (freak accident) I was told to NEVER do leg extensions again because of the shear they place on the ligaments, etc. I've been doing leg extensions my whole lifting life and love them...never had knee problems despite years of gymnastics, track, long distance running on pavement, teaching step aerobics on a concrete floor, olympic lifting, powerlifting, etc. I focus on reps and don't do them crazy heavy, always use good form, and don't go down past 90 degrees. I honestly feels that extensions have HELPED keep my knees in check with all the crazy stuff I do!
The quad muscles on my operated leg just REFUSED to catch up despite seriously hardcore rehab. Nearly 18 months later I was still having swelling, tracking issues, and of course and atrophied quad. I was functional and could walk, lift, etc. but was having a lot of problems with quad strength.
I was like...ya know what? They have pro football players back on the fields 6 months post-op from ACL surgery taking crazy hits, I think 1.5 years after my surgery I'm gonna go crazy and try single leg extensions...how much worse can I get? My quad strength and size rapidly came back which fixed all my tracking and swelling problems and got me back to 100%. The one exercise I was strictly prohibited from doing, was the one that fricken cured me...wish I'd started sooner.
Cliffs: I've done leg extensions my whole lifting life with no issues. After ACL surgery from a freak accident leg extensions were the exercise that got my operated leg back to full strength and size.