Knee Injuries: Any Advice?

Does anybody have any advice on avoiding knee injuries when training in general? And i don't mean as a result of a leg lock, just that my knee ligaments never seem to feel 100%. There's always a little bit of pain when my knee is fully extended (NOT hyper extended). It's only on one side. I feel like maybe it's a result of stretching for rubber guard, but I dont think it's my ACL but one of the other ones. Does anybody have any advice on improving their flexibility without destroying their knees and/or any exercises they may have used to strengthen them???

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Probably just a sprain, I had the same problem from D1 wrestler who single legged me.

I am going through the same thing. One major point of advice that I was lazy about: when playing rubber guard, keep your knee closer to your head than your foot, that way you don't wrench on your foot and twist your knee. Also, keep your foot flexed toward your knee to help strengthen it during rubber guard. I got lazy about doing these details and ended up spraining my left knee. Then I was late to class one day and jumped into rolling without warming up and streteching, and tweaked the right knee.

Also, watch how you stretch. RG is all about the hips, not just bringing your foot to your face or behind your head. Butterfly stretches and lotus position help with the hips.

I also have been taking some gelatin each day plus Vitamin C and Omega-3 to help with collagen maintenance and joint lubrication. I'm over40 though.

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Originally Posted by VaughanChinje

Does anybody have any advice on avoiding knee injuries when training in general? And i don't mean as a result of a leg lock, just that my knee ligaments never seem to feel 100%. There's always a little bit of pain when my knee is fully extended (NOT hyper extended). It's only on one side. I feel like maybe it's a result of stretching for rubber guard, but I dont think it's my ACL but one of the other ones. Does anybody have any advice on improving their flexibility without destroying their knees and/or any exercises they may have used to strengthen them???

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Knee injuries are not a flexibility issue. In most cases, they happen when your leg is trapped and/or bent in one direction and your body turns in the other direction. So just as a general preventative measure, get a sense of when you are in this kind of situation (such as being stacked while trying to enter a leglock) and then employ strong awareness to avoid the type of counter movement that will tear your ligament, which could entail abandoning the position entirely.

Regarding strengthening your knee, lunges are by far the best exercise you can do, followed closely by squats. Just make sure that you have good posture and are putting your weight back on your heels rather than your toes. If you're looking to stretch your ligament before class, you want to do flamingo-style stretches (standing on one leg doing functional movements, maybe even on a balance disc) rather than extension stretches (like the lotus position). The stronger you can make the small muscles around your knee, the more support you will get when you're in the positions that give you pain, and the more you will be able to withstand an actual tear.