Right knee pain

[pottyab]

ok so this is the situation. I play football and I hurt my meniscus. I received surgery and had about 50% of it removed. I felt good and I started squating to get my legs stronger again. Everything was fine till football conditioning started, and the first week I noticed my R knee (the one I got surgery on)swelled up really bad. So I iced it and tryed to relax it. Then the second week of practice it wasn't as bad and it felt alot better, but now when I try to squat very light weight it hurts so bad that I can't stand it.

My question is should I just tough it out and hope that it will get use to all the running and ill be able to go squat again, or is there some type of excerisise I should do to get it stronger?

[Heidi]

If something hurts then you definately shouldn't do it. If football causes no problems then continue with this. To strengthen your legs, try reverting to a leg press machine initially. If this is pain free, build up the weight a lot, before you try squatting again. Another alternative is lunging. This places less strain on the knees.

Good luck!

[pottyab]

I tryed some lunges today like you suggested and it still hurt a little, but there was a popping sound when I came back up after a lunge. Do you think it is possible I torn more? Also would walking and running build up the muscle as well?
I can do knee extensions without any pain, but the first rep I do my knee pops as well.